How soon to ski after thumb surgery?

[Ron]

so I tore my thumb ligament off, Stener's Lesion (skiers thumb) a few weeks back and I will be having surgery shortly. Anyone have first-hand (pun totally intended) experience on how soon I can ski? Hand Pt person said wait 2 weeks ski without a pole and don't fall on it. Dr is new to town so he Won't discuss skiing .... he'll learn. Any tips or things to consider? I have been told after 4 weeks I can go back to poles.

 

[Philpug]

The jaring from a bad pole plant could cause a setback. Goode carbon poles are some of the most complaint out there, they reduce shock coming into the hand, might be a short term fix.

 

[Ron]

Can't use Poles for first few weeks. Won't be able to hold them. Love my bamboo grassticks

 

[crgildart]

I know a thumb surgeon that's my lifelong ski buddy from high school. I posted this thread on my facebook wall to see if he'll respond. That said, my thumbs are a little sore from skiing yesterday.. mostly from slamming them down landing little airs in the park... only little jumps there yesterday with hardly any snow to work with. I miss the Alsop Shocks! Bring them back!

 

[Philpug]

Can't use Poles for first few weeks. Won't be able to hold them. Love my bamboo grassticks

I know, thats why I said "short term fix". The will put less stress ofn the thumb once you are allowed to use poles again.

 

[Ron]

Gotcha'. I was chatting with Andrew fro grassticks I'm headed over to his shop shortly to modify a grip to hold it easier. With the brace/cast, there's limited space between the forefinger and thumb. We're gonna try to make a thinner grip. Could be a whole new product line.

 

[kimmyt]

@Ron, have you talked to your doctor about bracing it while skiing? I have injured my thumb a few times (no surgery, but as a massage therapist had to get it back up to speed quickly) and found that protectively bracing it during skiing helped reduce painful movement during activity and generally bracing helped it recover quicker. I wore my brace for several weeks when I gave myself minor skiers thumb when I was working at Copper and still break it out occasionally when I overuse it with work.

 

[scott43]

My son just pinched his thumb in daycare today. Poor little guy. Took him to the urgent care clinic, x-rayed the little bugger's thumb and no broken bones!! He'll be skating on Sunday. AND..we only had to wait an hour! Stellar.. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

 

[Ron]

@Ron, have you talked to your doctor about bracing it while skiing? I have injured my thumb a few times (no surgery, but as a massage therapist had to get it back up to speed quickly) and found that protectively bracing it during skiing helped reduce painful movement during activity and generally bracing helped it recover quicker. I wore my brace for several weeks when I gave myself minor skiers thumb when I was working at Copper and still break it out occasionally when I overuse it with work.

Hey @kimmyt yeah, I skied in a semi rigid plastic brace 2seqsons back when I partially tore it but this time it's fully gone and it's sitting at the second joint of my thumb. I will be in this rigid cast for 4 weeks. Unfortunately the OS won't discuss skiing with me until after the pin is removed at about 4 weeks. There's just no way I'm waiting 4 weeks. I can just ski without poles but the hand therapists warned me that I can fall on it as I could risk detaching the ligament again until it's healed. .

 

[François Pugh]

Never had thumb surgery, but two weeks and don't fall on it sounds like good advise. Mind you, I managed to separate my shoulder by "not falling" on my wrist that was freshly out of a cast two weeks after a break...(long story). Two weeks and don't fall would be even better advise, but it's damn hard not to do things that risk a fall once you're on the hill and flying down and things seem to be going according to plan (i.e. scraping your boot toes on the cordoury).

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Absolutely no skiing until the pin removal, Ron. You could really mess up that hand. A friend whose broken thumb required a cast skied all season with one pole, used primarily for navigating on the flats. No pole planting.

 

[Ron]

@Kneale Brownson thanks man, it's not advice I want to hear though. It's the same advice I keep getting from those who are giving the wise advice (That's a properly function thumbs up of course). It's really frustrating. I feel really stupid and shouldn't have gone skiing to begin with but it is what it is now.

 

[cantunamunch]

I know a thumb surgeon that's my lifelong ski buddy from high school. I posted this thread on my facebook wall to see if he'll respond. That said, my thumbs are a little sore from skiing yesterday.. mostly from slamming them down landing little airs in the park... only little jumps there yesterday with hardly any snow to work with. I miss the Alsop Shocks! Bring them back!

I'm telling ya, the old Marker Twincam asymmetrical grips did the same thing as the Alsop, it was like having little nylon leaf springs under the palm and they also put the thumb in a protected position and also gave you a gate bash guard. Best grass skiing pole evah.

 

[Living Proof]

Ron,
I remember when we first met in Jackson Hole, and, you introduced me to Gary. He had a detached ligament in his elbow, skied in a sling. He was ripping groomers, so, that is a model you can follow, although I know how much your psyche struggles with the word "groomer".

Seriously, you gotta slow down, the technology to make you the new 6 Million Dollar man is not quite in existence Must be very difficult to watch the new snow at the Boat..

 

[Ron]

thanks mike! I love rippin' groomers! cant wait to get on my 77's, Garys surgery is a different kettle of fish and my big issue is the hip which got me to this point (limited external rotation). Not very confident it its functionality right now so to be honest, I wouldn't be skiing today even with our 10". the issue with a thumb is you can't fall on it. gary was in a hard cast and its much more stable. I will see how it goes and then assess in a couple of weeks.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

so I tore my thumb ligament off, Stener's Lesion (skiers thumb) a few weeks back and I will be having surgery shortly. Anyone have first-hand (pun totally intended) experience on how soon I can ski? Hand Pt person said wait 2 weeks ski without a pole and don't fall on it. Dr is new to town so he Won't discuss skiing .... he'll learn. Any tips or things to consider? I have been told after 4 weeks I can go back to poles.

I've done this a few times myself and I usually am back to skiing the next day. I just made a giant mitten and skied without poles until it felt OK after a few months. It's been a while now, don't know what happened to the mitten, so that's a good thing.

 

[Ron]

I've done this a few times myself and I usually am back to skiing the next day. I just made a giant mitten and skied without poles until it felt OK after a few months. It's been a while now, don't know what happened to the mitten, so that's a good thing.

Google Steners lesion. this wont heal on its own. If you fully tear it and the ligament slips down like in a stener's the ligament wont knit itself , you can't do it more than once If you dont fix this, long-term it can lead to weak thumb/hand, limited mobility and arthritis. two friends who never got theirs repaired and are older, told me flat-out to get it repaired as they now have a lot of issues with biking and skiing. I did the other thumb many years ago and its good as new after it was fixed.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Is this different from the evulsion fracture that often happens there? That's what I had. It was casted, but not pinned.

 

[Ron]

it gets pinned to re-attach the ligament. Many times you can have a partial or even full tear but the ligaments (there's more than just the UCL) may simply remain in place and can regrow themselves. 2 years back I partially tore it and skied as you described but was able to hold pole while in semi-rigid cast. it was a little painful but it healed up reasonably well.

 

[Josh Matta]

any time I injure an arm/shoulder/hand I usually just ski with out poles.....

Poles are not needed to ski anything.