You lost your balance and started to fall. Then you raised your arms in front of you to brace for impact. That action may have helped protect your body, but now your wrist hurts badly—something is very wrong. It’s possible you just fractured your distal radius, often referred to as a wrist fracture.
What is a Distal Radius?
There are two bones in the forearm, the radius and the ulna. Both bones begin at the elbow and end at the wrist. The ends of the ulna and radius near the wrist bones are the “distal” parts. “Distal” means away from the center of the body. The ulna is the bone on the little finger side forearm and the radius is the bone on the thumb side of the forearm.
Types of Distal Radius Fractures
Two common types of distal radius fractures are Colles fractures and Smith fractures. The type of fracture is identified by the angle of the break.
Colles fractures tend to be caused by direct forces to the palm, such as when you extend your hands in front to you to break a fall, and your palms absorb most of the force. A Colles fracture causes the broken end of the distal radius to push upward toward the back of the hand. This type of fracture looks like a “bump” in the wrist.
A Smith fracture is less common and is caused by an impact to the back of the wrist. A Smith fracture could occur if your wrist is bent before you fall. The appearance of the wrist area after a Smith fracture looks “dropped.” It doesn’t have a bump like a Colles fracture does.
Treatment for Distal Radius Fractures
The treatment for a distal radius fracture depends on several factors, including whether the fracture:
- Caused the bones to shift away from their natural position (a “displaced” fracture)
- Resulted in the bone being broken into several pieces (a “comminuted” fracture)
- Involved other bones in the wrist joint
- Damaged any nerves
The first responses to distal radius fractures are splinting and pain control and, if a fracture is displaced, putting the displaced bones back into proper alignment. A cast might then be used for about six weeks.
Surgery could be required for more complex fractures. During surgery, screws or plates might be implanted to hold the bone pieces in place while they heal. If the fracture is comminuted, then external fixation hardware might be used to secure the bone pieces.
Accurate diagnosis of distal radius fractures is critical in order to receive the most appropriate treatment. It is strongly recommended that a physician specializing in wrist fractures be consulted before a wrist fracture is treated.