Wrist and ankle are often the results of a harsh fall or some high-impact accident directed towards the injured area. While this injury takes a physical and mental toll on you, this sudden accident can also take a toll on your finances. In any case, you can recover the costs for your damages with an insurance claim if someone else caused your injury. If you or a loved one has fractured a limb from an accident, contact Mike Agruss Law for a free consultation so we can help you recover from this experience and get fairly compensated.
The wrist is a joint connecting your arm to your hand, so a fracture occurs when one of the ten bones in or around this joint cracks or breaks due to an impact. The symptoms that many people experience following this injury include pain gripping or squeezing things, bruising, visible deformity, swelling, redness, and tenderness in the area. After an accident where you believe you may have fractured your wrist, it is imperative that you seek treatment immediately in order to avoid any possible complications that could arise.
There are various types of wrist fractures that can result from an accident that affects different areas of the wrist joint. Each one has differing levels of pain, symptoms, and treatment options, recovery time. Of these types, the injury may be a stress fracture (small cracks in the bone), a spiral fracture (spiral-patterned break around the bone), a comminuted fracture (the bone breaks into three or more fragments), or more. A few of the more common and specific types include the following:
- Greenstick fracture – This occurs when one side of the bone is broken but the other side is simply bent. This type of fracture only occurs in children.
- Distal radius fracture – This occurs when the inner side of your forearm bone (radius) closest to your hand breaks.
- Barton’s fracture – This is a distal radius fracture that occurs when the radiocarpal joint is dislocated.
- Scaphoid fracture – The scaphoid is a bone situated on the inner side below your thumb.
- Chauffeur’s fracture – This affects the radial styloid bone when a strong impact fractures it in some way.
The ankle is also a joint with three main bones, the tibia, fibula, and talus. It connects the leg to the foot. These fractures come with symptoms such as swelling, tenderness, bruising, visible deformity, difficulty walking or bearing weight, and more.
Ankle fractures, on the other hand, also have various types that are specific to the location. They are often classified as either stable or unstable. A stable fracture is when the bones do not move from their original position and remain lined up, while an unstable fracture is when they are displaced from their original position. Of course, an unstable fracture is more difficult to treat. Some of the more specific types of ankle fractures include the following:
- Medial malleolus fracture – This affects the bone at the end of the tibia and is focused on the inner side of the ankle.
- Lateral malleolus fracture – This fracture is the most common type and is much easier to treat when it is a stable fracture. It occurs when the fibula, the bone at the back of your lower leg, is fractured.
- Bimalleolar ankle fracture – This occurs when both the tibia and the fibula are fractured and are almost always unstable fractures. Surgery is common to allow the ankle joint to fully function again.
- Posterior malleolus fracture – This is a fracture that is rarely found in isolation and often shows an irregular break pattern. The posterior malleolus is the lower backside of the tibia.
- Trimalleolar fracture – This fracture is when both the tibia and the fibula break, similar to the bimalleolar injury, except here, the back of the tibia is also fractured.
Doctors will likely diagnose wrist and ankle injuries by conducting a physical examination to test the area’s range of motion and your pain, then they may order an X-ray, CT scan, or MRI scan to get an image of the bones and surrounding tissue and organs.
Once they have diagnosed you, there are many routes of treatment which depend on the injury’s severity, type, and location of the fracture. Generally, patients are told to keep weight off of the ankle or avoid gripping or using the wrist in a similar way, ice the area, and rest. Painkillers and physical therapy exercises may also be suggested. Some injuries may need a cast or splint to keep the bones stabilized. A minor fracture can heal on its own within about a month, however, more severe fractures can result in surgery to reassemble the bones or repair the surrounding area. Generally, the average broken wrist or ankle can heal in one to two months.
If another person caused your injuries, you can file a claim against them for monetary damages. Medical care for a bone fracture is not cheap, and it certainly is not cheap when it involves surgery or potential complications that you may have had to deal with. With our help, we can help you recover the costs of your medical bills, lost wages, and other damages that resulted from another person’s actions.
Helping our clients is about counseling, advocating, and ultimately solving problems. With years of experience successfully representing the people, not the powerful, we will take care of the insurance adjusters, your medical bills, your property damage, and your lost wages, and monitor your treatment so you can focus on healing and getting your life back to normal. Our unique formula has earned us over 1,000 outstanding client reviews on our website, an A+ BBB rating, and over 135 five-star reviews on Google. Call 888-572-0176, e-mail us at [email protected], or schedule a meeting with us here. We’re here 24/7.
