Broken wrist a week before H.S. tryouts!

[burpee]

Poor DD broke her wrist on her glove hand late last week in a snowboarding accident. She has been working with a hitting coach all winter. She has been attending preseason camp and working out with her travel team twice per week since January. My heart is breaking for her. It is a distal radius fracture. It was badly misaligned, but the doctors called it a clean break and reduced/reset it fairly easily. She still needs to see the surgeon for her followup to make sure all is well, but her pain is low and at this point (5 days since the break) everything seems well.

6-8 weeks recovery puts her into mid April early May, halfway into high school season. Maybe she can keep the book and get into a few JV games later in the season. 14 - 16 weeks until her first tournament with her travel team. Hoping for a full recovery by then.

Any parent or players been through this who can give me an idea what she can expect? I am looking into supportive wrist braces for rehab when she is recovering. I came across the Shock Doctor wrist brace in my search.

https://www.shockdoctor.com/products/performance-sports-therapy/all?cat=118

Any good? Will this fit over her glove? Any recommendations from parents or players who have been through this?

 

[SBFAMILY]

I had a player-pitcher that did break her hand sliding into a base. We still were able to have her hit on a limited basis, by using a PVC bat and hit tennis balls. Check with your Dr first. Limited impact is the key.

 

[burpee]

Great idea! I have a hit stick and golfball sized wiffleballs.

 

[softballmom77]

My DD is 14 and just got her cast off a month ago. She plays for the Middle school and is in 8th grade.
She knew last season that the pitcher was moving up and she wanted to earn that spot..She has dedicated the last year to being the best pitcher she could be. She just knew she would get that spot because she looked so dang good...Well a month before tryouts she started complaining that her wrist was hurting. We thought it was just a tender muscle or maybe something small that ice and tylenol could fix. She attended a college exposure camp and when she was warming up for her turn to pitch I could see it all over her face that she was really hurting. Needless to say, she made it thru her innings and that Monday we were sitting at the Ortho waiting our turn. She did an x-ray and nothing was broke (duh?!?) then he put her in a soft cast and had her schedule and MRI a week later. She had torn her cartilage and would be our for 6 weeks with a hard cast!!!! She was heart broken and so was I to be honest. She called her coaches (MS & TB) and told them the news. She still made the MS team even though she couldnt tryout. She shagged balls and focused on cheering her team in practice--she has a great relationship with the underclass man thanks to the injury. So here we are and the cast came off--she was fully released!

Her first game was two days after she got the cast off..she played outfield and was 9th on the lineup! My baby girl made several awesome plays out there and has been hitting line drives with no problem. They are slow to work her back into pitching...her PC said not to worry she would be back to 100% by April. We played in a tourny this weekend and in the championship game the pitcher was struggling and by the end of the 2nd inning they pulled her and put my DD in. She finished out the rest of the game with all strike outs. She was DETERMINED!

We as a family made the best of her down time--she went to the college games, high school games and read some books on the mental part of the game. Injuries happen that's part of it, it's using that time to work on other things--she can run, do sit-ups, homework! It's your job as a parent to keep her from having a pity party! I know it sucks...she needs to be mentally ready for TB this Summer! Don't rush the recovery,process, it takes time. Tell her to listen to her body!

In my opinion--college coaches arn't recruiting girls at HS games, they are watching them at tourny's. They don't just show up at the HS...their kinda busy. And if your DD didn't email them her schudule and invite them to come to her HS games, then chances are they wern't there for her to begin with. (You probably know that)

And for the HS tryout she can ask for a delayed tryout--if she's good then the coach probably already knows about her and will not make her tryout. She needs to go to all the practices and games and stay in the mix!

Trust me I'm sure this was her year to show the world how hard she worked and I know your pocket book took a lick! She will be fine and tell her to be determined and work her way back on the radar!

That's all I got! Hope something in my spill helps her out......

 

[Greenmonsters]

Great idea! I have a hit stick and golfball sized wiffleballs.

Check with the ortho and therapist so that she doesn't rush things and jeopardize both the remaining HS and full TB seasons, but.....I don't see any reason why she can't run, throw, and do 1-handed bat work (and maybe even bunt).

Good luck!

 

[chinamigarden]

Great idea! I have a hit stick and golfball sized wiffleballs.

Imagine the force applied to the wrist area when the bat is swinging. Not impact force but centrifugal which might pull at the break. I wouldn't do a thing without the doc saying it was ok.

 

[nanotech14]

burped, sorry to hear that about your dd, I hope she has a quick recovery. I would have her keep score like you said, she can learn a lot about the game. She can watch the pitchers and learn about their tendencies. Good luck

 

[SoftSocDad]

Imagine the force applied to the wrist area when the bat is swinging. Not impact force but centrifugal which might pull at the break. I wouldn't do a thing without the doc saying it was ok.

I don't know how bad the break was, but I do know it's just not worth the risk to rush the process. You're talking about wrist/hand injury, her most important limbs for whatever she might do for the rest of her life. Her ortho should suggest she get through the 6-8 weeks without ANY impact on that side just to be on the safe side.

I'm not attempting to prescribe any treatment. I am only suggesting that you err on the side of caution here because of the location of the injury and the potential for long-term complications. I can't name a single person who has liked having hand surgery before they turned 40.

 

[Jr10234]

Young bones heal quickly, don't be surprised if she's cleared to play in 3 weeks. 6-8 weeks as they told me, was worst case scenario. Keeping fingers crossed she's back quickly.

 

[newsoftballdad]

My dd had a collision with another outfielder going for a ball last weekend in a scrimmage. DD's hand was outstreched when they collided. Primary Doc thinks a possible scaphoid bode injury in hand/wrist. Waiting a week and then taking her to an orthopedic. Any one have experience with that injury?