Broken Hand Recovery Without the Long Downtime | Dr. Jhade Woodall, Idaho Falls Hand Surgeon

Not every broken hand needs surgery — and not every hand surgery means months of downtime.

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In this video, Dr. Jhade Woodall, hand surgeon at Summit Orthopaedics in Idaho Falls, walks through how he decides between casting and surgery, what minimally invasive options exist for hand arthritis and nerve pain, and how a Skyline High School senior recovered from three metacarpal fractures in about a month.

Lindsey came in after a car wreck with three broken bones in her hand. She didn't want surgery. Dr. Woodall started her in a cast — and when the pain didn't let up, he performed an intramedullary metacarpal nail, a fast, stable fixation that keeps all hardware inside the hand so patients can start moving immediately. She was back to writing, working, and her senior-year activities with minimal missed time.

Dr. Woodall treats all conditions of the hand, wrist, and forearm — fractures, arthritis, joint pain, lumps and bumps, and nerve problems — for both kids and adults.

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If you have hand, wrist, or forearm pain, a physical exam is often all it takes to find the answer. You don't have to live with it.

Dr. Jhade Woodall, MD — Hand Surgeon, Summit Orthopaedics [0:00]
I'm Jhade Woodall. I'm a hand surgeon at Summit Orthopaedics. I chose to start my career in Idaho Falls because I had the opportunity to really specifically focus on hand surgery in this community. I've been here for four years, and I've been working at Summit for almost two. I pretty much manage everything of the hand, wrist, and forearm — kids, adults, complex cases, nerve. And I've really enjoyed living here. I love the winter, I love the summer, I love the people. I love getting to do hand surgery here.

Dr. Woodall [0:26]
Hand surgery is very interesting in that, for specific injuries and problems, there can be a variety of answers. Not every fracture needs surgery, for example. It really is about how badly it affects the patient, the age of the patient, their expectations for a quick recovery, their ability to tolerate the surgery — so many variables that it really becomes a very patient-specific sort of thing.

Dr. Woodall [0:49]
As we age, we tend to have a lot of issues that occur — soft tissue, ligaments, accumulation of injuries. Arthritis can get worse. I have minimally invasive approaches, conservative treatments such as steroids, and some denervation procedures that can be quite effective in some patients. Some alternative treatments — even radiation of the hand, while not surgical — can be very effective for diffuse arthritis pain. And honestly, there are a lot of good surgeries that can still be done. At least get a good diagnosis, which can sometimes be challenging, especially with multiple causes. But certainly there are a lot of great minimally invasive treatments or relatively straightforward surgical treatments. And just because you're older doesn't mean you're not a candidate for it.

Lynzie Dooley — Patient [1:33]
My name is Lindsey Dooley. I'm a senior at Skyline High School.

Dr. Woodall [1:36]
Lindsey was in a car wreck and suffered three metacarpal fractures of her hand.

Lindsey Dooley [1:41]
We had heard of Dr. Woodall through my mom's job and heard that he was really good. So we came and consulted with him, and he came up with a really good plan.

Dr. Woodall [1:50]
On X-ray, none of them looked terrible, and in general multiple metacarpal fractures is a pretty strong indication for surgery. She was very reticent to have surgery, which I think is understandable, and I discussed with her that I leaned toward surgery and recommended it. However, at that time she felt pretty strongly that she didn't want surgery. So we actually started with a cast. I saw her a week later, and she honestly was pretty miserable — she was in a lot of pain — and I think that had somewhat changed her mind about surgery.

Dr. Woodall [2:12]
So I performed a type of hand fracture fixation known as an intramedullary metacarpal nail. I find that these are very simple, fast, safe surgeries. It keeps all the hardware on the inside to minimize stiffness, and it's so stable that I basically close the patient and let them start moving their hand immediately. So when she wakes up, she starts moving the hand.

Lindsey Dooley [2:37]
The swelling was very minimal. After the first day, pain was very minimal. And I was able to get full motion back in my hand about a week later.

Dr. Woodall [2:47]
One of her big concerns was getting back to work, and she's a high school senior — she didn't want to miss all of her graduation activities. One of the things that really pushed her toward surgery was pain with writing. I saw her one more time at one month after surgery, and she basically was pain-free with healing fractures and had missed no more than maybe a couple weeks of her senior year. She had really good range of motion. This surgery is so good that I often recommend it for the earlier return of function. She basically recovered from three hand fractures in around a month, which is really quite good.

Lynzie Dooley [3:14]
It's been really nice to get back to being able to hang out with my friends and do all of the activities, and working.

Dr. Woodall [3:19]
That's why you get into surgery — to make things better. Here at Summit, we really like to get people back to doing what they love. I love being outside. I want to get my patients back outside.

Dr. Woodall [3:27]
So if you have hand, wrist, or forearm pain, I think the most important thing is a physical exam. You'd be surprised at how easy it can be to diagnose some lingering conditions, and you certainly don't have to live with these. I just like to make it clear that it can sometimes be very simple to help you with your hand pain and get you back to your activities.

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