Joe A Shaw PA-C - 2/18/2008

Question
Two weeks ago, I broke my wrist (Radius).  First they splinted it, now it is in a cast.  My "pad" of my thumb has been numb ever since.  The orthopedic doctor thinks it must have been rubbing on the splint (it has/was not) and the orthopedic doctor seems to be ignoring my complaint of the numbness.  How concerned should I be about the numbness?  Also, my arm continues to swell daily.  If I do not keep my fingers pointed to the sky and elbow down, all day, everyday, my arm swells and fills the cast and becomes painful.  When can I hope the swelling and/or pain will subside?

Answer
O,
I am assuming you had a Colle's wrist fracture (fx) this is the most common...It still is a pretty fresh injury (14 days). It is hard to give too specific opinion w/o knowing if fx was displaced or nondisplaced and by how much, closed or open reduction, your age etc..
The swelling may be putting pressure on a branch of the median or radial nerves that pass through your wrist area which may be giving you numbness of your thumb pad. This should get better as the swelling goes down. They may want to check to make sure that the cast is not on too tight. You may want to see if some type of sling will help so that you are not hanging it down all the time? Are you taking NSAIDS medications? this can help with the pain and swelling.
I would keep a close watch on it in the next 2 wks as you should notice some improvement, if not then you need to try and get a better explanation from your ortho