Road to Recovery Part 2
Healing Process Week 3-6
Two weeks after the fracture, I returned to the hospital for another x-ray. It was useful to to see what was going on under plaster and get a picture of the wires in my wrist. Wires....they looked more like nails! Despite this they were doing a great job holding everything in place whilst the bones healed.
Piet making the most of his time off!
It is amazing how quickly your body adapts to cope, making new neurological pathways. My left arm is already feeling stronger and more competent whilst my usually more dominant right arm is feeling rather useless, even my writing is improving!
Stretching
A couple of times during the third week I woke in the morning with a yawn and a stretch only to realise that my right wrist was getting involved in the stretch too. This is quite alarming because half of you wants to keep the wrist as still as possible the other half is wanting to stretch.
Apparently this is called pandiculation and is an Involuntary stretch of the soft tissue. This stretching functions as a way to reverse the muscular atonia during REM sleep, apparently a way to restore homeostatic functions. Trusting my body and allowing the stretch to happen felt like a relief, all helping the process of mending and realigning the wrist.
Yoga
I regularly practice Hatha Flow Yoga, which keeps my joints supple and helps with core strength and balance. I adapted a program that I could do which meant doing a lot of the exercises on my elbows rather than my hands or ‘three legged’! It helped to stretch parts of my body that had been holding due to pain. I felt so much more energised after a yoga workout.
Dealing with the pain
I was given a packet of painkillers by the hospital, but I rarely take pain killers of any kind, Just a couple of evenings I took a painkiller to allow me to have a good nights sleep.
I like to listen to my body to allow me to stay within the boundaries of my limits, if I mask the pain I risk over doing it and injuring myself further. I understand also that painkillers can slow the healing process of fractures.
Most of the time I would focus on my breathing to help with any pain. Breathing deeply, I would imagine that I could breath out through the pain in the wrist, as if I could blow away the pain and let go of any muscle tightness. Keeping busy and focusing on other things helped too.
My fingers felt very stiff and tight, there was a lot of swelling but I had been told by the hospital to move my fingers as much as I felt comfortable. I moved them as much as I could but it still felt pretty minimal! Trying to put a head collar on a horse was next to impossible, I was very grateful to Chloe for looking after the horses so well for me during this time.
Stability and Balance
I still made good use of my stability ball at the kitchen table. Here are a couple of exercises I used.
1. Just a simple exercise of sitting on the ball and lifting one foot 3-4cm off the ground for a 5-10 seconds and keeping over the centre of the ball. I found it easier lifting my left foot but the right side improved with more perseverance.
2. This exercise involved lifting both feet off the ground and seeing how long I could balance before having to put a foot down or tiring. It is amazing how tiring this exercise is, just 1-2 minutes is a great workout.
By the end of week 4 the wrist felt much more stable I was looking forward to having the wires taken out, as the ends of the wires kept catching in the dressing under the plaster and pulling on the skin causing me more pain than the fracture. I felt that I was over halfway to healing now and all the time getting closer to jumping on a horse again!
Week 5
After the wires were removed, I felt a greater degree of comfort, with no wires continuously tearing the skin and a lighter cast.
When my brother said he was doing the local 5km Park Run, I just had to join him!
Having not done this before, I rarely run and obviously not exercised like this in the last 5 weeks, I’m not sure my body knew what was happening however I did come home in under 30 minutes, second fastest lady in my age group!
The next milestone was getting back on a horse and before the end of week 5 I jumped on Charlie, my old faithful and enjoyed a hack in the autumn sunshine. Bliss!
Over the next week it was lovely to feel the progress, every day there was a little more strength in the fingers, hand and arm. I was so excited to have the cast removed!
Two weeks after the fracture, I returned to the hospital for another x-ray. It was useful to to see what was going on under plaster and get a picture of the wires in my wrist. Wires....they looked more like nails! Despite this they were doing a great job holding everything in place whilst the bones healed.
Piet making the most of his time off!
It is amazing how quickly your body adapts to cope, making new neurological pathways. My left arm is already feeling stronger and more competent whilst my usually more dominant right arm is feeling rather useless, even my writing is improving!
Stretching
A couple of times during the third week I woke in the morning with a yawn and a stretch only to realise that my right wrist was getting involved in the stretch too. This is quite alarming because half of you wants to keep the wrist as still as possible the other half is wanting to stretch.
Apparently this is called pandiculation and is an Involuntary stretch of the soft tissue. This stretching functions as a way to reverse the muscular atonia during REM sleep, apparently a way to restore homeostatic functions. Trusting my body and allowing the stretch to happen felt like a relief, all helping the process of mending and realigning the wrist.
Yoga
I regularly practice Hatha Flow Yoga, which keeps my joints supple and helps with core strength and balance. I adapted a program that I could do which meant doing a lot of the exercises on my elbows rather than my hands or ‘three legged’! It helped to stretch parts of my body that had been holding due to pain. I felt so much more energised after a yoga workout.
Dealing with the pain
I was given a packet of painkillers by the hospital, but I rarely take pain killers of any kind, Just a couple of evenings I took a painkiller to allow me to have a good nights sleep.
I like to listen to my body to allow me to stay within the boundaries of my limits, if I mask the pain I risk over doing it and injuring myself further. I understand also that painkillers can slow the healing process of fractures.
Most of the time I would focus on my breathing to help with any pain. Breathing deeply, I would imagine that I could breath out through the pain in the wrist, as if I could blow away the pain and let go of any muscle tightness. Keeping busy and focusing on other things helped too.
My fingers felt very stiff and tight, there was a lot of swelling but I had been told by the hospital to move my fingers as much as I felt comfortable. I moved them as much as I could but it still felt pretty minimal! Trying to put a head collar on a horse was next to impossible, I was very grateful to Chloe for looking after the horses so well for me during this time.
Stability and Balance
I still made good use of my stability ball at the kitchen table. Here are a couple of exercises I used.
1. Just a simple exercise of sitting on the ball and lifting one foot 3-4cm off the ground for a 5-10 seconds and keeping over the centre of the ball. I found it easier lifting my left foot but the right side improved with more perseverance.
2. This exercise involved lifting both feet off the ground and seeing how long I could balance before having to put a foot down or tiring. It is amazing how tiring this exercise is, just 1-2 minutes is a great workout.
By the end of week 4 the wrist felt much more stable I was looking forward to having the wires taken out, as the ends of the wires kept catching in the dressing under the plaster and pulling on the skin causing me more pain than the fracture. I felt that I was over halfway to healing now and all the time getting closer to jumping on a horse again!
Week 5
After the wires were removed, I felt a greater degree of comfort, with no wires continuously tearing the skin and a lighter cast.
When my brother said he was doing the local 5km Park Run, I just had to join him!
Having not done this before, I rarely run and obviously not exercised like this in the last 5 weeks, I’m not sure my body knew what was happening however I did come home in under 30 minutes, second fastest lady in my age group!
The next milestone was getting back on a horse and before the end of week 5 I jumped on Charlie, my old faithful and enjoyed a hack in the autumn sunshine. Bliss!
Over the next week it was lovely to feel the progress, every day there was a little more strength in the fingers, hand and arm. I was so excited to have the cast removed!