The wrist is a complex joint vulnerable to injury. A common misconception is that if you can move a joint after an injury, it cannot be broken. However, the ability to move your wrist does not guarantee the absence of a fracture, and any significant injury warrants professional medical evaluation.
Can a Broken Wrist Still Move?
Yes, a wrist bone can be fractured even if you retain some ability to move the joint. This often occurs with less severe breaks, such as hairline or non-displaced fractures, where the fragments remain closely aligned.
The surrounding soft tissues, including ligaments and tendons, can act as a natural splint. These structures hold the broken bone fragments in place enough to allow for limited, though usually painful, movement. Attempting movement often increases pain and risks causing further damage.
If the bone is completely broken into multiple pieces or severely displaced, movement is typically impossible due to instability and intense pain. However, a stable fracture, which does not disrupt the bone’s alignment, can easily be mistaken for a minor sprain because of the preserved mobility. The distal radius, the most commonly fractured bone, often permits some motion even when broken.
Key Indicators of a Wrist Fracture
When a wrist fracture occurs, several distinct signs strongly suggest a break. One indicator is localized, sharp pain that intensifies when pressure is applied directly over the site of the break. This pain is distinct from the more diffuse, achy pain associated with soft tissue injuries.
Significant and rapid swelling that develops immediately after the trauma is another common sign of a bone injury. In a severe fracture, a visible deformity, such as a noticeable bend or crooked appearance, indicates that the bone fragments have shifted out of alignment. An audible snapping, cracking, or grinding sound (crepitus) at the moment of injury is a strong indicator of bone-on-bone contact and a likely fracture.
Certain fractures may not present with dramatic initial symptoms. A fracture of the scaphoid bone, near the base of the thumb, often causes persistent pain in the anatomical snuffbox. This type of fracture can have minimal initial swelling, which sometimes leads people to delay seeking care. Delaying care is dangerous due to the scaphoid bone’s limited blood supply and risk of poor healing.
If It’s Not a Break, What Else Could It Be?
If an injury lacks the severe, sharp pain, gross deformity, or instability typical of a fracture, it is likely a form of soft tissue damage. The most common alternative diagnoses are a sprain, a strain, or a simple contusion.
A sprain is an injury to the ligaments, the tough fibrous bands that connect bone to bone and stabilize the joint. A strain, by contrast, involves damage to the muscle or tendon, which connects muscle to bone. These injuries cause pain and swelling, but they typically allow for a greater range of motion compared to a fracture, even if that motion is painful.
The pain from a sprain or strain is often described as duller or more generalized across the joint, rather than the intense, focused pain of a break. Simple bruising, or a contusion, results from blunt force trauma that damages small blood vessels and typically involves localized tenderness and discoloration without affecting the stability of the joint.
Immediate Steps and When to See a Doctor
Following any significant wrist injury, immediate steps should focus on minimizing swelling and protecting the area until a definitive diagnosis can be made. The R.I.C.E. protocol—Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation—is the standard for initial injury care.
- Resting the wrist means stopping all activity and avoiding movement for the first 24 to 48 hours.
- Applying an ice pack wrapped in a cloth for 15 to 20 minutes every few hours helps to reduce pain and inflammation.
- Compression with an elastic bandage provides support and helps control swelling.
- Elevation above the level of the heart encourages fluid to drain away from the injured area.
These measures are temporary and not a substitute for medical assessment.
Immediate emergency attention is necessary if you experience “red flag” symptoms, which indicate a severe injury or potential threat to circulation and nerve function. These include visible bone piercing the skin, severe deformity, or any numbness, tingling, or paleness in the fingers. A healthcare provider will perform a physical examination and typically order X-rays to confirm or rule out a fracture. Timely diagnosis is important because a delayed or incorrect diagnosis can lead to complications such as poor bone healing, chronic pain, and long-term loss of function.