Joe A Shaw PA-C - 12/26/2012

Question
About 2 months ago, I was playing goalie in a soccer match and suffered an injury to my right wrist. The opponent kicked a fast ball into my hand and my hand/wrist extended backwards violently (wrist was not tensed as i was not expecting such a fast ball). I continued to play because the pain was not excruciating enough for me to call it quits and sit out the game. It has been 2 months since then, and I have seen an orthopedic doctor who said it is possibly tendonitis or ligament damage (took an X-ray and ruled out any fractures/broken bones). He also said that since it has been improving (after my second visit), I do need to get an MRI done. Thankfully it has been improving as the weeks go on even after the 2 visits.

Question:
Aside from playing soccer and other sports occasionally, I made it a hobby of mine to go weight-lifting close to 5x/week. However, since suffering the injury on Oct. 23, 2012; I have stopped going to the gym completely. As of now, my wrist feels almost completely healed (90%) and I can do most wrist movements. However, I am not able to put my right hand/wrist (100%) in a pushup position (fully flat - creating a 90 degree between wrist and forearm). Also, I am only able to put 60% of my body weight on it while doing a pushup (only tried one pushup to test improvements in my wrist every few weeks - it has been improving).
*Knowing this information, I wanted to know if I could return to the gym; going maybe 2 to 3x/week (not 5x/week or with the same intensity as before) just to perform some minor exercises like pullups, curls, etc with wrist straps on? Also, would going to the gym reduce my gradual wrist improvements/healing or cause even more damage and reduce my chances of making a full recovery?  

other notes: I am on December break from University and want to know if I can start my workouts again.
- Thank you so much for your time and your response is greatly appreciated.

Answer
ZA,
It has been going on 3 mos. and still not healed. I would advise a wrist MRI to rule out a TFCC tear, a type of ligament tear in the wrist.Before you continue to train and use it more. No xray or exam will determine this. In fact MRI's aren't 100% , but about 90% accurate along with history. So you have the mechanism of injury,it's probably not a strain,as it should have gotten better by now(unless you are reinjuring it).If no tear you need physical therapy etc on  the wrist.If a tear you may need to have it scoped and repaired.