What exercises for recently fractured thumb?

[Davey101]

As above, what are the best exercises to restore movement to a hand that has spent 4 weeks in plaster after a fracture to the long bone of the thumb, at the end closest to the wrist?

I have almost full movement of the hand but of course I'm avoiding heavy lifting with that hand and I'm continuing to write with my other hand for the time being. One position that does cause some pain is placing the hand palm-down and flat to a table with the thumb extended.


Many thanks in advance
Dave

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[physiofi]

Hi Davey101,

are you having any physio? Generally the best way to go after a fracture is start off slow and gentle - some pain and stiffness is perfectly normal after coming out of plaster. If you make a gentle fist with your hand (palm facing down) and practice flexing and extending the wrist (lifting back towards your forearm and then down towards the floor), moving side to side, and turning your arm over and back. This will help to recover full movement in your wrist. As for making sure your thumb gets back to normal, tapping your thumb to each finger, practice making a fist and gentle squeezing to work on grip strength - can build up to gripping a soft ball or harder object as you improve. Then moving to specific exercises moving your thumb to strengthen and reduce stiffness.

Hope this helps!

[Davey101]

Thanks for the reply!

I will try each of those things. My wrist seems pretty much back to normal now, despite having been pretty bad when the plaster came off on Wednesday. I may break the powerball out of the cupboard to use at low speed later in the week.

No I'm not having any physio, hence my question. To be honest I'm trying to shortcut the process here... I was given a strap-on splint to wear for decreasing periods over three weeks and I assume physio will be discussed after that. It lasted about an hour plus half of the first night and now I just want to get on with stuff.

Thanks again,
Dave

[Davey101]

I've just taken most of the weight off one of my dumbbell sets so it is down to just 2.5 kg and that seems pretty comfortable for wrist work. Bonus.

[physiofi]

Sounds like you're doing well! Just remember that finger/thumb fractures can sometimes be a bit more fiddly with regards to stiffness...give it a bit more time and keep going with gentle mobilising exercises, sounds like you're doing just fine - wishing you a speedy recovery!

[Davey101]

I was back at the fracture clinic today for the first time since the cast came off 3 weeks ago. It's 7 weeks since the injury.


I saw the doctor for less than 5 minutes and he tested my range of movement and did one test of my strength: he had me extend my thumb as far upwards as possible with my palm facing down. I was then to try to keep the thumb still while he pushed it downwards.


The diagnosis was that I was fine and could go. I asked about physio but he said I didn't need anything other than the movements he'd just asked me to do.


Thanks again for the help because I am only at this stage because of the exercises I have been doing by myself for the last 3 weeks. For the first two weeks I protected the hand and concentrated on range of movement and touching my thumb to each finger. For the last week I stopped protecting the hand, used it for all writing, used a gel therapy ball and increased my dumbbells to a modest 5.5kg (not that I have used them a huge amount).


I still have some pain and stiffness but I figure that will ease with time and use. The main problem areas are raising the thumb upwards (with the palm facing down) and moving my thumb towards my forefinger with the palm flat. The latter is also my main source of pain, although the pain comes from the muscle between thumb and forefinger, rather than the region of the fracture.