Move Forward Guide

    Physical Therapist's Guide to Wrist Fracture



    What Is Wrist Fracture?


    There are 3 types of bone fractures:

    • Type 1 – a "nondisplaced" fracture, where the bone is broken but is still in a normal position.



    Wrist Fractures - Small

    Wrist Fractures: See More Detail


    How Does it Feel?


    • Tenderness to touch in the wrist.
    • Difficulty and pain when moving the wrist or fingers      

    How Is It Diagnosed?




    How Can a Physical Therapist Help?


    While Your Wrist Is In a Cast or a Sling


    Most people with wrist fractures will slowly return to exercising the other arm and the legs, so that the rest of the body doesn't get out of shape while the fracture is healing. Your physical therapist can help you adapt your exercise program, so that you can maintain your overall strength and fitness without interfering with the healing of your wrist.

    When the Cast or Sling Is Removed


    Your rehabilitation will include treatments to:



    Increase Your Strength and Ability to Move. Physical therapists prescribe several types of exercises during recovery from a wrist fracture. Early on, your physical therapist can help you begin to gently move your elbow, using "passive range-of-motion" exercises. As your arm gets stronger, you can exercise it yourself without weights ("active range-of-motion" exercises). Once the bone is well-healed, you can begin to perform resistance exercises, using weights or elastic bands. In addition to prescribing range-of-motion and strengthening exercises, your physical therapist can help you retrain your muscles to react quickly when you need to protect yourself from a fall.




    • Returning the arm to a strong level of fitness.

    Can this Injury or Condition be Prevented?



    Real Life Experiences

    Ellen is a 52-year-old teacher who also coaches junior varsity girls basketball. She keeps to a strict schedule. This morning, following a cold rainstorm last night, Ellen took a quick step outside her front door, and slipped on a patch of black ice. She extended her left arm to break her fall, but hit hard on the heel of her hand. She felt a sharp pain in her wrist.

    Her neighbor witnessed her fall and rushed over to help. Ellen was able to stand and walk, but her left wrist was throbbing with pain, and she realized that she couldn't move it. Her neighbor kindly drove her to the emergency room.

    Upon review of Ellen's x-ray, the emergency room doctor diagnosed a type 2 wrist fracture, where the radius bone was fractured and shifted from its normal position. The doctor assured her that surgery was not needed, and placed her arm in a cast, telling her it would need to stay on for 6 weeks. He referred Ellen to physical therapy, explaining that, by following the guidance of her physical therapist, she could speed her recovery in the safest way possible.

    Ellen's physical therapist took her health history, and asked her to describe how she had sustained the fracture. Luckily, Ellen was holding her briefcase in her right hand when she fell, and fractured her left wrist. She was relieved to know that she could still use her dominant right hand to perform her daily tasks.

    Ellen's physical therapist evaluated her left wrist after the cast was removed, noting that it was stiff and weak. She taught Ellen some gentle range-of-motion exercises for the wrist and hand. She also showed her how to apply heat at home to help ease any stiffness and pain.

    When Ellen had restored normal motion in her wrist, her physical therapist instructed her in the use of light weights and resistance bands to begin strengthening exercises. She designed an individualized home-exercise program for Ellen, to continue strengthening at home.

    A month into treatment, Ellen's physical therapist introduced some easy basketball drills, including passing and shooting. Ellen also worked on the stationary bike in the clinic to maintain her cardiovascular fitness, and continued to perform her leg-strengthening routine, so that when her wrist healed, she would be ready to resume basketball coaching.

    Five weeks after the cast was removed, Ellen felt her wrist was back to its normal strength, and more. She performed all of her daily activities, in the classroom and the gym, with her usual verve. Last evening, Ellen coached her junior varsity basketball team to its first win of the season!



    What Kind of Physical Therapist Do I Need?


    • A physical therapist who is experienced in treating people with orthopedic problems. Some physical therapists have a practice with a orthopedic focus, and some even specialize in upper-body injuries.





    Revised by Julie Mulcahy, PT, MPT. Authored by E. Anne Reicherter, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, CHES. Reviewed by the MoveForwardPT.com editorial board.