Thinking of taking a lengthy break (wrist injury)

So I've had a wrist injury for ~12 months now and had a 10 week course at the physio which involved strengthening my wrists. Not only is my wrist still not better, but as a stubborn athlete I always push too hard and not let it recover. Even my other wrist is starting to become painful and I may have naturally weaker joints.

As a result I'm thinking of taking 2+ months out to try and let them recover slowly and properly. I've rested 6 weeks before and my wrist did not heal, so it may need 3 or 4 months to see if that is any better.

My question to you is

1) How will I know when its best to return to light workouts? Should I specify a time, or should I wait till I'm pain free + ~4 weeks and do light stretches/exercises to see if I'm pain free (at the risk of bringing out previous pains as recovery time isnt long enough?) 

2) What strength gains will I lose out on if I take a lengthy break? If I end up taking 3 or 4 months out of upper body training will it significantly reduce strength gains?

have you ever got your forearms massaged?

Hmms said:

have you ever got your forearms massaged?

I haven't had my forearms massaged, but the physio treatment involves accupuncture, deep heat and several stretches to do inbetween each session; using light weights to do wrist curls, reverse curls etc. Finger tip pushups/planks and going through ranges of motion such as grabbing and twisting a towel

then i would personally make seeing a massage therapist a definite priority.   did he ever say what your injury was?

rice bucket exercises may be helpful if you're dealing with a tendonitis.  gentle enough not to aggravate, but help strengthen and get rid of the inflammation.  Alternate ice and heat, always end with heat.  stop all aggravating exercises until you don't notice the injury any more.  Hope it gets better soon for you.  Always a frustration dealing with these things.

I can't speak directly as to the wrist injury, but I can say you shouldn't lose too much strength.

You might lose efficiency in the movement patterns and some endurance, but maximum strength is a hard thing to lose, and while it might go down a bit, you wont lose it completely.

So you have been training through pain for 12 months??

I will say this, back in 2012 I pushed through pain in my wrist for 2 weeks (could still hit myself for that) and it took me 6 months (!) to recover! Yes, believe me I know this sucks but you have to stop training on your hands until the pain is gone. Especially if your other hand is starting to bother you too.

What seemed to help me was fish oil, after I started to take it the pain subsided around 80% in two weeks, but that may also have been because the break was finally long enough, I don't know.

After the pain is gone I would recommend that you get H1 and do the wrist prep there. I did not have any problems since I started doing that. But that won't help you right now, now you've got to rest!

3-4 months is a drop in the tub. You can take them (or however much time you need) now, or risk longer time off as well as permanent injury later. Your strength will be almost meaningless if have a chronic injury as your limiting factor.

Find another physio or even better probably a sports medicine doc that's familiar with athletes. Others have suggested if you have a local college nearby to poke around there.

As for what to work on/when to do more: Coach and many others have said if it hurts, stop. Period. If that means all upper body work, so be it. When you are pain free sans workout for a few weeks, start trying VERY EASY versions of exercises you were doing before. If you don't feel pain/discomfort, stay there for a week or 2 before trying another infinitesimal jump up. For example, if HS pushups were the progression you were on, you might need to scale all the way back to pushups against the wall.

Do as much rehab as you can that is comfortable. Rice bucket (read through all 3 pages), wrist stretches from Coach and Kit Laughlin(youtube), Novel Movements for Wrist(youtube). You should be able to find all that with a quick google search. ANY pain/discomfort and back off, and STAY OFF until there is none.

As an aside I have a nagging issue with my left wrist from too much time at the computer. This factored with the chill of being right near the front door makes for a bad combo in winter (Yes, yes I'm an idiot, but enough about me). Putting a rubber band at the computer to do wrist extensor work helped a lot. Also make sure you have the mouse and keyboard pads that lift up your palms.

That turned out to be a mess of verbosity. Others will hopefully speak to this better. Here's more links where Coach and Slizzardman speak to injurys and prehab. Also talking about heat/ice. Lots more words there, but at least they're better than mine .

TANSTAAFL said:

3-4 months is a drop in the tub. You can take them (or however much time you need) now, or risk longer time off as well as permanent injury later. Your strength will be almost meaningless if have a chronic injury as your limiting factor.

 

Find another physio or even better probably a sports medicine doc that's familiar with athletes. Others have suggested if you have a local college nearby to poke around there.

 

As for what to work on/when to do more: Coach and many others have said if it hurts, stop. Period. If that means all upper body work, so be it. When you are pain free sans workout for a few weeks, start trying VERY EASY versions of exercises you were doing before. If you don't feel pain/discomfort, stay there for a week or 2 before trying another infinitesimal jump up. For example, if HS pushups were the progression you were on, you might need to scale all the way back to pushups against the wall.

 

Do as much rehab as you can that is comfortable. Rice bucket (read through all 3 pages), wrist stretches from Coach and Kit Laughlin(youtube), Novel Movements for Wrist(youtube). You should be able to find all that with a quick google search. ANY pain/discomfort and back off, and STAY OFF until there is none.

 

As an aside I have a nagging issue with my left wrist from too much time at the computer. This factored with the chill of being right near the front door makes for a bad combo in winter (Yes, yes I'm an idiot, but enough about me). Putting a rubber band at the computer to do wrist extensor work helped a lot. Also make sure you have the mouse and keyboard pads that lift up your palms.

 

That turned out to be a mess of verbosity. Others will hopefully speak to this better. Here's more links where Coach and Slizzardman speak to injurys and prehab. Also talking about heat/ice. Lots more words there, but at least they're better than mine .

thanks for the informative reply. I read through a lot of the topics you linked me to and read up some more. I have been thinking about taking a break for a while but the pain was never too much for my stubbornness to overcome. I have a half marathon in 10 weeks so I think I will take that time off to see how I feel with no upper body exercise (and hopefully be able to cut down on my bodyfat whilst focusing on running). After that I may take another few weeks off, before slowly return to slight exercise. 

I already have a rice bucket so I'll use that and icing everyday to aid recovery. I guess it's really up to me to know when to return to exercising and make sure to have a good rehab routine. I'll come back then and research rehab routines on this site when I feel ready for it.