If, after removing the cast, your hand swells and hurts greatly, this is not a reason to sound the alarm. Why? Applying a cast prevents normal blood flow to the injured limb. After its elimination, blood flow is gradually restored. This is painful in itself. But the unpleasant sensations are enhanced by the fact that the limb was damaged and the consequences of this are still felt.
While the blood supply is limited, the nerve endings send pain signals to the brain less actively. Over time, the pain and swelling go away. But there are situations in which their appearance is an alarming symptom.
What happens to the blood vessels after the plaster is removed?
The vessels begin to quickly fill with blood. During the time that the hand was in a horizontal position and was slightly pressed, they “were unaccustomed” to performing their direct function.
In the first hours or even days of restoration of a normal state (vertical, without constriction), the vessels learn to cope with a large blood flow. Because they have done this successfully their entire previous life, adaptation occurs quickly.
Recommendations
To prevent your arm from hurting and swelling after removing the cast, you need to increase the load gradually. You should not immediately take up your usual activities, especially those requiring heavy lifting. You can do some light exercises. Push-ups and pull-ups are strictly contraindicated. If the pain becomes too severe, you can take painkillers or apply topical remedies.
Also, to help the limb adapt, you need to lift it up and hold it vertically. Attention! This cannot be done for a long time, since normal blood flow is necessary for rapid tissue repair.
You can also secure your arm horizontally with a bandage or just lie down. If significant swelling and pain persist for more than a week, you should consult a doctor.
Possible complications
Limitation of limb mobility;
- Muscle wasting, in which muscle tissue weakens and thins. This leads to constant fatigue of the hand, as well as weakening of the limb, making it impossible to hold even light objects;
- Necrosis of bone tissue. This happens due to lack of nutrition. The pathology is accompanied by constant pain in the limb and limitation of movements. As the process continues, the damaged bone is completely destroyed and begins to rot. This process can lead to gangrene and amputation of the arm or parts of it.
- If the swelling and pain in a broken arm is ignored for a long time, it becomes much more difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to return the limb to full movement.
If the swelling is very severe
If the swelling is very strong even after several hours after removing the splint, you need to consult a specialist. The cause of this condition is usually constriction of blood vessels (neuro-dystrophic syndrome). Unfortunately, this symptom develops while the plaster is still in place, and this indicates that it was not applied correctly. But under the bandage it is difficult to understand what is happening to the hand.
If the doctor applied the bandage incorrectly, most likely he will not be able to determine the presence of problems. If, after removing the plaster and the swelling persists for a long time, he denies the problem, it is better to look for another doctor. VAT often occurs with displaced fractures.
A rarer case is the formation of blood clots inside the vessels. The cause of the problem is the patient's inactivity during treatment. This almost never happens if the patient is walking, and occasionally occurs with multiple fractures that are bedridden.
Signs? Blue discoloration of the limb. If it starts to turn blue, there is no need to wait until it goes away on its own. The result of a long wait is even death. The doctor should immediately perform surgery to remove the blood clots.
How to relieve swelling?
If the swelling and pain after removing the cast are not pathological, physical education, physiotherapy, and drug therapy will help against them. As already mentioned, serious load is contraindicated, but any patient can perform flexion and extension of the arm. Since this improves blood flow, pain may also increase due to a better supply of nerve endings. This is fine.
- Physiotherapy. It is important to complete the prescribed number of procedures. For example, for mangitotherapy there are 10 of them;
- Magnetic therapy significantly reduces swelling;
- Electrophoresis. Used in combination with medications. They quickly penetrate the blood vessels and blood; pain decreases in a short time;
- Massage. Only special therapeutic massage performed by trained specialists is suitable. Professionals in the field of relaxation massage can only do harm. You can also do simple massage movements yourself. They must be shown by a doctor. Number of sessions - 10-15. If the procedure is performed at home, you need to do it every day, this will shorten the recovery period.
Medications
If your arm hurts and swells after the cast is removed, your doctor will usually prescribe an ointment. Tablets - only for severe pain symptoms. The ointment is applied to the hand 2-3 times a day. In order not to encounter an allergy, any product for external use is first tried on a small (healthy) area of skin, and then applied to the affected area (but not on an open wound, unless the instructions indicate otherwise).
Giving injections is a painful way to relieve pain and swelling from the arm. In most cases, injections can be successfully replaced with ointments or physical therapy with medications. As a last resort, take pills.
What to pay attention to
It is after injuries that swelling of the arm occurs at the fracture site, as soft tissues respond to damage. Normal blood flow, especially at the site of injury, is disrupted; tendons, ligaments, and muscles are often damaged by bone fragments. Often swelling of the arm appears precisely when a cast has already been applied to the arm; this condition cannot be relieved immediately.
Swelling does not cause pain; its presence causes a feeling of fatigue and muscle stiffness. In order to restore the functionality of the hand, especially after surgery, such a condition must be dealt with, and this must be done as quickly as possible. In general, early restoration of hand function is an excellent prevention.
Sometimes the cause can be displacement of fragments when one of them blocks the blood flow through the vessels. The result of this is stagnation of blood and lymph, so that such a condition does not cause necrosis, the swelling must be removed as quickly as possible.
Often the condition returns to normal only after surgery. If it is not done in time, a pinched vessel can cause necrosis and subsequent amputation of the limb.
It is difficult to deal with swelling when the arm is in a cast after a fracture. After all, in order for the swelling to be removed, active movements will be required, but while the bone is broken, nothing can be done. All that remains is to try to normalize the blood flow by moving your fingers or using another part of the body that is not covered with plaster.
After a radius fracture
If the cast is removed after a fracture of the radius, it is permissible to apply a sterile bandage. The bandage is either simply wrapped (not too tightly), or ointment is placed under it, and then covered with a bandage. This will prevent excessive blood flow into the damaged organ, which means that the hand will gradually adapt to normal blood supply. As a massage after such a fracture, you can simply stroke your arm. This will also relieve pain.
As a result of a fracture of the radius, not only the bone itself suffers, but also the muscles, ligaments, and blood vessels. Special techniques are used to restore them.
Essential oils that relieve pain and accelerate healing can only be used on the recommendation of a doctor in the proportion specified by him, since some of them can cause tissue burns, excessive stimulation of blood circulation, and thereby worsen the situation.
Pain after a displaced radius fracture
Displaced fractures tend to have more pain and swelling than non-displaced fractures. This is due to significant deformation of tissues (both hard and soft). The healing process is longer, but the same rules apply to it as for a non-displaced fracture: rest, light massage, use of bandages with medications, physical therapy, and seeing a doctor if symptoms are severe for more than a week.
Anatomy of the forearm.
The forearm consists of two bones - the ulna and the radius.
If you stretch your arms forward with your palms up, the ulna will be on the little finger side, and the radius will be on the thumb side. The ulna widens at the elbow, and the radius widens towards the wrist. The main movement performed by the forearm is rotation. In this case, the ulna is rigidly fixed in a block with the humerus, and the radius rotates around it. This movement occurs, for example, when screwing in a light bulb or opening a door with a key.
In some cases, significant displacement of the fragments occurs, as a result of which they perforate the skin. This type of fracture is called open, and it requires immediate surgical intervention, as it is characterized by a high risk of infectious complications.
Treating arm pain and swelling at home after cast removal
Many people are interested in whether this problem can be dealt with at home. Yes, but the doctor can prescribe physical therapy and modern medications that are more effective than folk remedies. Massage and essential oils have already been mentioned.
Effective oils after a fracture:
- Fir;
- Cedar;
- Cypress;
- Ginger;
- Spruce;
- Mint.
Pine needle extract, which you can buy at a pharmacy or make yourself by boiling it in water for 0.5-1 hour, relieves swelling well. You can add a little sea salt or a weak iodine solution to the pine needle extract and hold your hand in this mixture for 15-20 minutes.
When using essential oils, it is important not to “burn” your hand. To avoid this, they are mixed with base oils - apricot, wheat germ, sesame.
It is strictly not recommended to use sunflower oil as a base, as it is poorly absorbed by the skin and clogs pores, interfering with its breathing.
Removing edema using traditional methods
If swelling persists on the wrists for a long time and does not subside, you can use traditional medicine. They are often no less effective than medications. Folk remedies for relieving swelling include:
- compresses,
- applications,
- rubbing with alcohol tinctures,
- baths.
To prepare the baths, essential oils of spruce, pine, cypress, cedar, as well as iodine or sea salt are used. For this purpose, you can use decoctions of calendula or chamomile. An application of blue clay can be done twice a day for half an hour. For compresses, decoctions of arnica, chamomile, St. John's wort, etc. are used.
Situations in which pain and swelling of the arm after removing the cast are alarming
If the doctor initially applied the plaster incorrectly, and the fracture was displaced, the bone remains fixed in the wrong position. In this case, pain and swelling remain for a longer time than in normal situations.
An x-ray will help you find out if this is your case. Also, a good doctor is able to determine by eye and touch that the bone has not healed properly. The more time has passed since the cast was removed, the more the fracture will be overgrown with bone tissue, and the more difficult it will be to correct later. Therefore, it is important to take an x-ray in a timely manner.
Infection, which can cause pus cavities to form in the bone, is also a problem. The bone tissue cannot fully recover, and a second fracture may even occur. The doctor should prescribe antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.
With prolonged hemarthrosis (when blood concentrates inside the joint), a person cannot fully bend and straighten the arm. To determine all these dangerous cases, you will need to consult a doctor, MRI, and x-rays. They are suspected when severe pain and swelling persist for 7-10 days after the cast is removed. For minor fractures this period is even shorter.
