Tom Willemann Health Tips

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Don’t Strike Out When You Break Your Wrist

Working as physical therapists, we see a significant increase in injuries due to people not paying attention to what they are doing. We are more distracted than ever, tethered to our iPhones and computers, busy with our careers and our families.

You might be walking out to your car, talking on your phone to a friend and not paying attention to what you were doing. You trip over a hot wheels car in the driveway and slip, losing your balance.  Instinctively, you use your arm to break your fall and almost immediately, you experience pain and discomfort in your wrist. There’s a good chance that you sustained a broken wrist, also known as a Colles’ fracture.

Breaking your wrist involves breaking the larger of the two bones that are in your forearm, Close proximity to where your wrist connects. These injuries are very common for people who are athletes who play sports. They are also prevalent in people with osteoporosis which is known as a condition where your bones begin to thin as you age.

If you are not regularly exercising or taking vitamins and supplements, you are at a greater risk of having a broken wrist or at least a minor fracture. Regular exercise helps to develop muscle strength and taking supplements like calcium or vitamin D are definitely worth taking to help increase bone density and strength.

There are four different types of wrist fractures to be aware of:

1)  an open fracture that actually breaks through the surface of your skin

2) a comminuted fracture  which is where your bone likely splinters into multiple pieces

3) an intra-articular fracture  where are the actual break reaches your wrist joint

4) an extra-articular fracture where the break it doesn’t quite reach your wrist joint

The type of fracture that your wrist experiences will determine the type of medical treatment you receive. If your break in your wrist is more complicated in nature, it might require some form of surgery. Where as a simple break could be treated with ice, a splint,  anti-inflammatories and a significant amount of rest.

Once the injury has been stabilized and you are cleared to start your rehabilitation, you will want to work with a local Wyckoff physical therapy clinic that can create and implement a rehabilitation program that will help to strengthen your wrist and surrounding muscles.

If you have questions about the kinds of physical therapy sessions you will need, please reach out to us today and schedule your free evaluation.

Tom Willemann

Tom Willemann

Tom Willemann is a premier physical therapist based out of Bergen County, New Jersey. He holds an MS in physical therapy from the University of Miami, is credentialed in the world-renowned McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT), and holds an OCS (Orthopedic Clinical Specialist) certification. As of 2018, there are approximately 14,000 ABPTS certified specialists in the nation and less than 400 of them are located in the state of New Jersey. Tom is the owner and director of Apex Orthopedic Rehabilitation in Paramus. He opened the clinic, which specializes in spine and sports injury prevention, in 2004 after many years of experience in the field. Tom’s caring interest in others and his strong belief in continuity of care, combined with his clinic’s ability to find solutions for the most difficult orthopedic problems, have earned Apex Orthopedic Rehabilitation its excellent reputation with patients and medical professionals in northeastern New Jersey and beyond. A true “family man,” Tom takes pride in his clinic’s warm and welcoming environment.
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