What is the range of motion (wrist) traditionally associated with a
scaphoid fracture?

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Request for Question Clarification by denco-ga on 05 May 2003 15:11 PDT

Howdy alakon,

Are you speaking of immediately (or soon) after the fracture
occurs, or after treatment (surgery or cast, healing, etc.)
is considered to be complete?

Thanks!  denco-ga

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Clarification of Question by alakon-ga on 05 May 2003 17:36 PDT

Immediately.

Howdy alakon!

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I am also posting this as a comment because I could not find
anything that indicated that there is any limit of movement
of the wrist that is always associated with a scaphoid fracture.
That is, it appears that one can have a scaphoid fracture and
not suffer a substantial reduction in wrist movement.  But it
does appears that wrist movement usually induces pain to a
certain degree.

The eMedicine Journal, June 4 2001, Volume 2, Number 6 has an
article Authored by Bryan Hoynak, MD, Assistant Professor,
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California at
Irvine and Coauthored by Laura Hopson, MD, Staff Physician,
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan on
wrist fractures, with a section titled "Scaphoid fracture"
that has some information on scaphoid fractures.
http://author.emedicine.com/emerg/topic844.htm

"The scaphoid bone is based in the proximal row of carpal bones but
extends into the distal row, making it more vulnerable to injury
than the other carpal bones. It is the most frequently injured 
arpal bone, accounting for 60-70% of all carpal fractures. It is
also a frequently missed injury, as approximately 10-15% of
fractures are not demonstrated on routine x-rays.
...
Mechanism of injury: Hyperextension of the wrist is the most
common mechanism of scaphoid fracture, either by a fall on an
outstretched hand or by a direct blow to the palm. Often the
wrist has some degree of radial deviation."

From my reading,it appears that a scaphoid fracture is not all
that unusual (one site suggested that if you fall on your wrist
and injure it, you should presume it is a scaphoid fracture) and
it can be very dangerous, as blood flow, etc. can be affected.

In other words, get to a doctor with any wrist injury.


Search Strategy:

Google search with keywords: "scaphoid fracture" range movement
://www.google.com/search?q=%22scaphoid+fracture%22+range+movement

Looking Forward, denco-ga