This website was created with the purpose of sharing information about my experience with a serious hand injury.
My name is Paul and I have been doing CrossFit and Olympic lifting since 2007. When I dislocated the lunate bone in my hand I was looking for information on the Internet related to the injury and had a hard time getting the details I needed. I wanted to know, "is this a common injury? Have other athletes recovered from this? How long did it take? Will I be able to drive?". I hope by sharing the information I have found and progress on my recovery will help others.
So what is a "perilunate"?
It is a type of dislocation - "The bone is called the lunate. The injury is called a perilunate dislocation because the lunate stays in place, while all the carpal bones (bones of the wrist) around it dislocate dorsally. So the lunate stays where it is supposed to be, while everything else goes backward!" - Explanation given by Dr. Rebecca Yu (Hand and Upper Extremity Surgeon, see her website for more information).
For more details about this injury here is the best detailed explanation on the web that I have found: MedScape Perilunate Fracture Disclocations
For a more a technical over view, see this article: Perilunate Dislocations and Fracture Dislocations
My name is Paul and I have been doing CrossFit and Olympic lifting since 2007. When I dislocated the lunate bone in my hand I was looking for information on the Internet related to the injury and had a hard time getting the details I needed. I wanted to know, "is this a common injury? Have other athletes recovered from this? How long did it take? Will I be able to drive?". I hope by sharing the information I have found and progress on my recovery will help others.
So what is a "perilunate"?
It is a type of dislocation - "The bone is called the lunate. The injury is called a perilunate dislocation because the lunate stays in place, while all the carpal bones (bones of the wrist) around it dislocate dorsally. So the lunate stays where it is supposed to be, while everything else goes backward!" - Explanation given by Dr. Rebecca Yu (Hand and Upper Extremity Surgeon, see her website for more information).
For more details about this injury here is the best detailed explanation on the web that I have found: MedScape Perilunate Fracture Disclocations
For a more a technical over view, see this article: Perilunate Dislocations and Fracture Dislocations
f you want to hear about a few other people's personal accounts, I have highlighted them below. Their names are protected for privacy reasons, but I find talking to other people with a similar injury is more helpful than dozens of articles. I will try to add more of these stories as they come in and report on their progress.
Person #1 Olympic Lifter – Incredible Recovery
“It was only Feb 2008 when [Person #1] severely dislocated and fractured both his wrists in a training accident while cleaning with straps on. He toppled back and the lifting straps pinned his hands to the bar and the weight of bar bore down onto his wrists. After his surgery, his doctors told him it was unlikely that he’d ever lift over 100lbs overhead again. Fast forward to Dec 2010 at the American Open, and [Person #1] is winning the 85kg senior division and not only totaling more than all the lifters in his class but also the lifters in the class above him. The video above captures his long road to recovery and his relentless dedication to achieving his goals. As a coach and athlete, I appreciate the positive example he set in handling his injury adversity and his dedication to his training.
Person #2 Snowboarder – Positive Response to Physical Therapy
“When I dislocated mine, I tore six ligaments (impact from landing a jump wrong). The surgeon told me 50% was all the expected (mobility). I really tried to stay positive and worked on getting it moving through pt. I would say I recovered a full 95-100% but, it does click slightly and gets sore every now and then”.
Person #3 Hockey Player – Infection and Complications
“Wish I came across this earlier, I too suffered a Lunate dislocation on XXX 2015.
I actually ended up spending 6 days in hospital because of a bone infection and have been on antibiotics since Sept.. yes quite the ordeal.. the infection got in through the pins and I have a pretty gruesome picture if you're interested seeing.
I also had two failed attempts at "closed reduction" I believe it called witch resulted in two absolutely out-of-this-world (in a bad way) ketamine trips... complete madness!
I play alot of ice hockey in the winter so I've been training quite hard to hopefully return mid January (about six months after the injury). Just thought I'd send you a message keep up the hard work!”
Person #4 - Mountain Biker – ???
“I sustained my injury downhill mountain biking in Queenstown. I got a bit carried away and attempted to triple a set of double jumps but came up short. I fell with an outstretched hand going about 50km. I sustained a transcaphoid (broken scaphoid) - perilunate injury but a few of the key ligaments remained intact. The emergency doctors in New Zealand couldn't get the hand or bones back into alignment, so I had emergency surgery to pin the scaphoid and reattach the ligaments. I also broke my collar bone due to the impact that also required surgery once I returned to Australia.
I'm 7 weeks post surgery now and the surgeon is very happy with my healing. The scaphoid has united which I was told was only a 60% chance and the ligaments are healed to the point that I can stop wearing the splint and start rehab.
Thanks again for the blog. It's a big motivator for me as I start my rehab.”
Person #5 - 19-year old Bike Rider - Almost 100% mobility recovered
Read this paper if you are interested in this incredible recovery. I am not sure why this happened as his injury was pretty severe.
An unusual variant of perilunate fracture dislocations. Case Reports in Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery Volume 3, Issue 1, 2016
"Trans-scaphoid, trans-radial styloid, trans-triquetral perilunate fracture dislocations are rare. We describe a 19-year-old male who suffered this injury after crashing his bicycle. He underwent open reduction internal fixation and percutaneous pinning. Scaphoid union was achieved at 8 weeks. Near complete range of painless motion was achieved by 4 months."