Rehab - do these things actually work?

[Greetings]

I recently found out my wrist broke while landing a tap in August. Since it's too late for a cast these steps were recommended to aid healing:

- Laser therapy
- Magnet therapy (they place a ring around you which generates a pulsating magnetic field)
- Water massages

Anyone have experience with these methods? I've been to the physio today and got the impression that this is all a load of nonsense. According to many sources, magnet therapy is pseudoscience. The laser looked and felt like nothing was happening and only took about a minute or two. And the water massages seemed very delicate. Have any of you guys had first hand experience with these things? 

[TrialsIsHard]

I say no, no, no. 

Edited December 21, 2015 by TrialsIsHard

[ManxTrialSpaz]

 

1 hour ago, TrialsIsHard said:

I say no, no, no. 

*sigh

 

2 hours ago, Greetings said:

I recently found out my wrist broke while landing a tap in August. Since it's too late for a cast these steps were recommended to aid healing:

- Laser therapy
- Magnet therapy (they place a ring around you which generates a pulsating magnetic field)
- Water massages

Anyone have experience with these methods? I've been to the physio today and got the impression that this is all a load of nonsense. According to many sources, magnet therapy is pseudoscience. The laser looked and felt like nothing was happening and only took about a minute or two. And the water massages seemed very delicate. Have any of you guys had first hand experience with these things? 

 

I've not had experience with magnet therapy myself, nor laser therapy, but it sounds like a load of alternative medicine bullshit to me. Magnets have largely f**k all to do with your body, so let's leave that there.

 

And lasers aren't magic either. What's a laser supposed to be doing for you? The best I could imagine would be localised heating via lasers in the infrared spectrum, but they wouldn't really penetrate too well and the heat would quickly be dispersed into the rest of your body making them probably less useful than hot/cold therapy.

[ooo]

Yeah its bullshit, pro athletes don't use it, and if they do they just use it to explain their rapid recoveries, when its usually PED's like GH that they are on. Physio works well if you have discipline, good diet works and the ultrasound physio's use is legit too.  Other than that its pretty much hormones and drugs, because they work with the bodies natural healing processes.

Laser and light therapy does work for some applications, certain wavelengths energise metabolic reactions in cells, but it can't penetrate deep enough to heal anything other than skin generally.

Massages are just good for scar tissue, in muscle and connective tissue, but they are an accessory to the healing process like physiotherapy and are useless on their own.

I'm guessing you have already healed and now are just trying to make it stronger ?

[ogre]

steroids are what you need

[Greetings]

Noted. Thanks for the replies. Have no alternative to this currently so I'll stick with it for the time being. According to the physio, I should see results within 2 weeks so it's not like I'm going to waste the entire winter on pursuing voodoo medicine.

That said, I didn't want to pressure the physio too much but I asked a few questions about the therapy and the answers weren't convincing. That, or I look dumb and he deliberately didn't go into any detail. 

14 hours ago, ooo said:

I'm guessing you have already healed and now are just trying to make it stronger ?

Not really, I can barely backhop without feeling pain which is still a considerable improvement from what it was. The bone is healing but the doctor said I could have damaged the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex. This is what the therapy in question is meant to address, perhaps I should have been more clear about that in the first post. The doc also suggested an MRI if the wrist doesn't improve considerably within the next 2 months.

[ooo]

9 hours ago, Greetings said:

 

said I could have damaged the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex. This is what the therapy in question is meant to address, perhaps I should have been more clear about that in the first post. The doc also suggested an MRI if the wrist doesn't improve considerably within the next 2 months.

TFC injuries are pretty common in impact sports, just don't ride at all and stick to physio and good diet/ no alcohol, from what I have heard from others it will heal. Im sure if you look around on mtb forums you'll find people who have had this. Healing is down to genetics as well, some people have a gene that allows them to heal faster so the time is unpredictable. Hope you heal up mate, stay positive!