Yep, that scaphoid bone can be a real pain! A family member of mine who is a physician told me once that if a scaphoid fracture is not treated properly right from the time of the injury it is likely to give you many problems for years after. For example, the bone can die because the blood supply is cut off as a result of the break. So do get it checked out if you have a bad fall on your wrist!

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August 22, back on the ice!

Many years ago, when I was about 16 years old, I fell on an icey ski slope and banged my wrist really hard. It hurt , but it wasn't excrutiating. I just let it "heal". I thought it was a sprain.

Off and on over the years the wrist would occasionally bother me.

When I got to about 40 years old the wrist had less movement and would ache from activity, sometimes quite badly. At thar point I went to a specialist who determined that I had fractured the navicular bone in my wrist and it also HAD NEVER HEALED. Two bones for the price of one.

This caused a wierd geometry inside the wrist and caused uneven wear....yup, arthritis. If I try to catch myself with that hand while falling, the wrist aches for days.

Now, I was told that If I had done something about it sooner, this could have been avoided. I was also told that a dis-union of a wrist bone is not uncommon.

First, I should have had it looked at by a docter. That was my biggest mistake. There is a low blood supply to the bones of the wrist, so they don't heal as well as other places. Imobilizing the wrist right away would have given it a better chance. If that didn't work, the next step would have been to pin the bone back together.

By the time I reached 40, the uneven wear was to such an extent that not much could be done. I'm 50 now and I really regret my neglect. I've got a lot of life left and a bum wrist to go with it.

If your wrist (or any other part of your body) is giving you pain, go to a doctor. Get a referral to a specialist if you need to. You may spend what seems like a great deal of money, but with my hindsight I'm telling you that its cheap for what you may loose over the remaining years of you life.

There, that's my sage, aging-athelete opinion.

Jon

Hi Emma,

Would you mind telling me a bit more about the Navicular? My wrist injury which hurt me for several months seems fully healed at this point, however my left thumb started hurting at the base joint a couple months ago, and it hasn't eased up at all. It doesn't usually bother me too much, but it's a constant annoyance, so I try to avoid using it. Sometimes it's releiving to press the bottom portion of the thumb inward towards the palm. Does this sound like what you're talking about?

It's been a couple months, and no way can I afford an X-ray or health insurance...I'm really hoping this is something that can heal up on it's own. Funny thing is, that unlike the wrist injury, I have no idea how it happened. I just woke up one day and it hurt.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Hi Casey, ,The navicular bone is i believe also called the scaphoid bone and is easily broken by a hard a direct hit to your wrist in a palm down position. I hit mine falling at full speed doing power crossovers. In hind sight i should have had an xray and actually will do that next week. My husband told me lack of blood supply and repeated falls onto the wrist can lead to lots of problems including surgery on the wrist for bone grafts etc. Sounds as if a cast is much less of a deal and lots less expensive than surgery. I will let you know the out come. i dont think an xray and cast is that expensive but i do have health insurance so most will be taken care of.

THe scaphoid bode is at the base of the thumb. If you press where there is a little dent and it hurts you probably have broken the scaphoid. That is the bode that most often dies from damage to its blood supply in wrist injury.

that little dent is known as the anatomical snuff box. When your scaphoid or navicular bone is fractured it should hurt when pressed on but it doesnt always, as in my case the pain is not in the anatomical snuff box but on the palm side at the base of my thumb. Fractures are funny things they dont always follow the rules.

Yep, when the doctor pressed on that point when I broke mine I nearly hit the ceiling! Honestly it was very tender and it made me shoot up out the chair!

Nicki