Wrist fractures · Tarzana · Los Angeles

Wrist Fracture Treatment in Los Angeles

Get Your Wrist Seen This Week

Our board-certified orthopedic surgeons treat wrist fractures at our Tarzana office for patients across Los Angeles, from the San Fernando Valley to West LA. Dr. Rob Viswanath and Dr. Ryan Tantone work exclusively on the hand and upper extremity, so your injury is treated by surgeons who see these fractures every week.

Call 818-578-3152 Request an appointment

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Two weeks

The window that decides the outcome

About six weeks

In a cast or splint

Same day

Home after most surgery

Don’t Let a Wrist Fracture Heal the Wrong Way

It usually starts with one bad second. A slip on wet pavement, a fall off a bike, a hand thrown out to catch yourself, and the wrist swells, throbs, and refuses to turn.

Suddenly the small things stop working. Opening a jar, gripping a steering wheel, typing at your desk, lifting your kid, all of it stalls behind a joint that hurts every time you ask it to move.

Waiting rarely helps a broken wrist. Bones that heal out of position can leave a visible bump, stiff rotation, weak grip, and pain that returns years later as arthritis in a joint that never quite lined up again.

A fracture that gets set properly in the first days usually heals into a wrist you stop thinking about. One that gets ignored can turn into a second surgery, a longer recovery, and a permanent limit on what your hand can do.

That first window matters, and it closes faster than most people expect.

Your care

What Our Wrist Fracture Treatment Involves

A wrist fracture is not one injury. A distal radius break in a runner who fell on ice needs a different plan than a scaphoid fracture in a teenager or a fragility fracture in a patient with thinning bone.

We start by understanding exactly which bones moved and how far. From there, treatment is tailored to your fracture pattern, age, bone quality, and the function you need your hand to perform.

Prompt evaluation

With imaging read by a hand and upper extremity specialist.

An honest answer

On whether your fracture needs surgery or heals well in a cast.

Modern plate and screw fixation

Only when absolutely necessary.

Here is what patients can expect from us:

Casting, splinting, and close follow-up

When the fracture is stable.

A conservative recovery timeline

So you know when driving, lifting, and sport come back.

Coordination with hand therapy

To rebuild motion and grip strength.

Our goal is not just a healed X-ray. It is a wrist that bends, rotates, and grips the way it did before you fell.

Candidacy

Who Should Be Evaluated for a Broken Wrist?

If you landed on an outstretched hand and the wrist still hurts a day later, it deserves a look. Sprains and fractures feel similar in the first hours, and plenty of fractures walk into our office wrapped in a drugstore brace. You should be seen quickly if any of the following apply:

Swelling, bruising, or an obvious change in the shape of your wrist
Pain when you rotate your forearm or press on the thumb side of the wrist
Numbness or tingling in the fingers after a fall
A wrist injury that was casted elsewhere and still feels wrong
Pain that has not improved after a week of rest and ice
A history of osteoporosis, since bone quality changes the treatment plan

Athletes, cyclists, older adults, and anyone whose work depends on grip strength benefit most from an early specialist opinion.

What to expect

Your Road Back to a Working Wrist

Step 01

Fast Track Assessment

We get you in quickly, examine your wrist, and check the nerve and blood flow to your hand. You leave that visit knowing what we suspect and what comes next.

Step 02

Imaging That Answers the Question

X-rays confirm the fracture pattern, and we order a CT scan when small bones, such as the scaphoid, are involved. Nothing is guessed at.

Step 03

A Plan Matched to Your Fracture

Some breaks heal beautifully in a cast. Others need alignment restored surgically, and we tell you plainly which category yours falls into and why.

Step 04

Precise Fracture Repair

When surgery is the right call, we restore the bone to its natural position and hold it with low-profile plates and screws designed for the wrist. Most patients go home the same day.

Step 05

Motion, Strength, Then Life

We guide you through healing checkpoints and coordinate hand therapy so stiffness never gets a foothold. Every visit measures real progress: rotation, grip, and daily function.

Your Questions Answered

FAQs About Wrist Fracture in LA

You often can't tell without imaging. Sprains and fractures both cause swelling, bruising, and pain with movement, and some scaphoid fractures barely hurt at first. If pain persists more than a day or two after a fall, get an X-ray rather than waiting it out at home.
No. Many fractures remain in good alignment and heal well in a cast, with regular imaging to confirm that nothing shifts. Surgery becomes the better option when bone fragments have moved, the joint surface is involved, or the fracture is unstable and likely to collapse during healing.
Most patients wear a cast or splint for about six weeks, then spend several weeks rebuilding motion and strength. Light daily activity often returns around two months, with full grip strength and sport closer to three or four months depending on the fracture and your therapy progress.
We hold appointment slots for acute injuries and see patients from the San Fernando Valley, West Valley, and West LA at our Tarzana office. Call us the same day you're injured when possible, since alignment decisions are far easier in the first week after a fracture.
Most patients do, especially when the fracture is properly aligned, and therapy starts on schedule. A small amount of stiffness in the first months is normal and improves with guided exercises. We track your rotation and grip at each visit so recovery gaps get addressed early.
Yes, and these fractures need particular care. Softer bone changes affect which fixation methods hold well and how quickly we allow weight through the wrist. We build a plan around bone quality and independence, since keeping the hand functional matters enormously for balance and daily living.

What Our Customers Say

Don't Let a Bad Fall Cost You Your Grip

The wrist you have in six months is decided in the next two weeks. Every day a displaced fracture sits unaddressed, the bone settles further into a position it may keep for life, and the fix gets harder for both of us.

Our schedule keeps room for acute injuries because broken wrists cannot wait for next month. Call 818-578-3152 or request an appointment online, and let two surgeons who treat nothing but hands and upper extremities take it from here.

Call 818-578-3152 Request an appointment

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