Breaking your wrist playing tennis might happen when breaking a fall or possibly through repetitive stress on the wrist when hitting the ball incorrectly. Your tennis game will have to wait until the bone is healed. It takes approximately six weeks for a broken wrist to heal.
Causes
Two possible causes of a broken wrist while playing tennis include trauma or an overuse injury. When playing, you might stumble and fall, stretching your arm out in front of you to break the fall. The force of the fall might cause a break in the distal radius fracture. This is a traumatic break. It is also possible that hitting a tennis forehand with your wrist arched back instead of level with the ball can lead to repetitive stress. A stress fracture could result if the poor form is not corrected.
Diagnosis
If you have had a fall or are experiencing an increase in prolonged pain in your wrist, see a doctor. You may have swelling and persisting pain in the wrist that isn't relieved by ice, ibuprofen or rest. An X-ray, MRI or CT scan will confirm whether you have a fractured wrist or some other injury such as a sprain.
Treatment
The bone must be set by your doctor before it will be splinted or put in a cast. Setting the bone means aligning the bone so it heals in proper alignment. Depending on the amount of swelling present, a splint might be used first to immobilize the wrist but allow for swelling. After a few days or a week, a cast will be placed on to fully immobilize the joint. Most casts are removed at three weeks when even more swelling is gone, creating space around the joint. A new cast is put until around week six. Severe fractures require surgical alignment, perhaps placing a pin in the wrist for permanent stability.
Getting Back to Tennis
Talk to your doctor about returning to tennis. If your broken wrist is on your non-dominant hand, you may be able to return to tennis before the cast is off. Just remember, you can't afford another fall. If your dominant hand is broken, you might need to work back into tennis slowly when the cast comes off. Physical therapy might be prescribed to rebuild forearm and hand muscles that have atrophied over the healing period.
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