Sprain, strain or break - difference in treatment?

[Lemmonie]

So i have hurt my wrist it's probably a sprain but pain is getting worse not better although i have full movement i can put any weight on it or take any.

Hypothetically if it was a small fracture would they do anything other than strap it up which i have been doing anyway?

[davepoth]

Does rather depend on the fracture. There's a possibility it needs pinning or fixing to stop it from healing oddly (it's unlikely though) but I'd go in for peace of mind.

[mph1977]

a sprain is a ligament injury

a strain is a muscular injury

a fracture is a bony injury

determining which is which is hard without a face-to face ,'hands on' assessment/ examination and possibly an X-ray ...

therefore the only clinically sound advice that can be given is to go to a Walk-in Centre which has X-ray, a Minor Injuries Vnit or the minor injuries stream of the Emergency Department, if you are in pain consider pain killers , ice and/or a sling as first aid treatment ...

Edited by mph1977 on Friday 14th January 13:28

[LMC]

If it's painful to press where the thumb meets the wrist then you definitely need it looked at. The scaphoid bone is in there, and in a % of people it gets its blood supply from the distal end upwards. If it is fractured the upper (proximal) end will be lacking in blood supply, which isn't good.

Sorry if this sounds scary, but get it looked at as mentioned above.

[Lemmonie]

Actually it was exactly where the thumb meets the wrist but it appears to be much better now so assuming i didnt do anything serious