It has been over 2 weeks since I have gotten a boxers fracture, or to be more specific, a complete fracture of the 4th metacarpal bone in my right hand.
I have continued to wear my home-made brace and the splint supplied by the Orthopedist. I’m really happy to report that I believe the bones are beginning to fuse back together! I can no longer move the area around with my other hand and I feel a wide lump forming where the break occurred. The size of the lump varies, sometimes it’s really prominent and noticeable and others you can barely tell it’s there.
I am slightly worried about the lump but the surgeon had mentioned in passing that I would probably get one during my initial consultation and I still have full range of motion in my hand so I didn’t let myself get too bothered about it. As long as it works! I imagine that the lump and wideness of the point of injury is the bone starting to form around the injury as the surgeon had explained to me on the followup visit.
4th metacarpal fracture - week 2
I take my home-made brace and splint off once in a while to flex my hand and get some blood flowing since the area gets stiff from being in the same position for hours at a time. It usually only takes a few minutes of slowly opening and closing my fingers for the stiffness to go away.
I also can’t help pushing down on the lump on my hand! Right now it makes a little clicking sound, whatever that means…
I’m really happy with the healing progress on the hand and hope it’s only a week or so away till I can restart weight training and grappling.
I have another appointment with the Orthopedist in a week and a half to get another set of x-rays to make sure the bone is healing correctly, in the meantime I think I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and maybe begin some light therapy like squeezing a small squishy ball if I feel like the hand is stronger.
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Hi there. I was looking for info on Costochondral separation, my latest injury, and I stumbled upon the photos of your hand. It looks exactly like mine from a highschool soccer injury. I punched a guy. Unsportsmanlike I know, but he kicked me in the crotch a few times. I broke the exact same bone and on the same hand. this was ten years ago and my hand remains deformed. The bump on the top of my hand still has not gone away. I could take some pictures if you’d like for a kind of “this is what could happen.”
That would be great!
A picture and short description of how it feels now (ie: does it bother you still after working out maybe?, Any problems with it and arthritis?) was exactly what I was looking for!
I’m almost at 2 months now with the hand injury and although I am back to lifting somewhat normally, I still have trouble with pulling motions and cannot handle large free weights yet. Pushing motions seem to be ok, like the bench press.
Because the hand still seems to be healing I still sometimes wear my splint that the doctor gave me at night. The hand is a little stiff when I take it off in the morning but I take that as a good sign that the bones are fusing together better. I don’t know if it’s true or not but it makes me feel better.
Oh and if your Costochondral Separation was anything like mine driving will be difficult and it will probably take around 6 weeks to heal! I went to the gym still and did some mild stretching to keep the area limber.
Good luck and hope to hear back from you with the pictures and updates!
hey i recently just was in a fight and noticed that my right hand pinky area was swollen so i went to get x rays and i have a boxers fracture my 2 knuckles look exactly like yours do in the picture im wondering what it will look like years from now and will it ever look the same again? any thoughts?
Sean,
I can’t tell you what it will look like years from now as it has been less than a year since my 4th metacarpal fracture. I can tell you that I still have no knuckle protruding when I close my fist! There is no pain and the bump at the point of fracture is barely noticeable now.
When I went to have it looked at and consult to see if surgery was required said that this bump at the fracture point would eventually (speaking in terms of years) straighten itself out and be fine. That’s after he originally recommended surgery. You have to make your own decisions but my decision not to do surgery was made mostly because there was little pain when I was moving my hand and fingers when I injured it on top of the fact that I was apprehensive about the cost and rehabilitation time.
I can’t say I didn’t question my decision during the weeks of injury but I can say now that I am healed that I’m glad I made the decision. Like I said though please consult with your surgeon before making any decisions.
Thanks for posting and I hope your road to recovery is quick!
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