Day 2 – 24 Hours Later: Assessing My Sprained Wrist and Leveling Up the Rehab Protocol

If you missed Part 1 (Day 1), click here.

Day 2 of a potential sprained wrist is critical for gathering information and assessing how severe the injury might be. Often, the night of and the following day reveal whether the injury is something treatable or something more serious.

I remember when I broke my knee—it wasn’t just the initial pain; it was the throbbing overnight and the inability to bear weight the next day that confirmed the severity.

My Sunday Notes

I jotted down some key observations on Sunday. Luckily, it wasn’t that severe:

“So, after almost 24 hours, pain still present, full extension and flexion and lateral flexion irritate it, grip strength is still weak - but when using pinky and ring finger. Thumb and point are almost 100% STRENGTH, no pain, index about 80% strength before pain. Ulnar deviation hurts, radial just a bit at end range, stiff overall, bit of a 'dead' feeling like a stinger.”

These notes helped me pinpoint a few important truths:

• No Jiu-Jitsu or Golf This Week:

  
  

  I wasn’t going back to jiu-jitsu, and swinging a golf club with both hands was off the table too.

  
  

• Injury Severity:

  
  

  It didn’t seem severe enough to warrant imaging—but it wasn’t something to ignore either.

  
  

• Recovery Timeline:

  
  

  With immediate recovery protocols, a sprain like this typically heals in 1–3 weeks, though ligament damage could stretch that to 4-6 weeks.

  
  

Think of this as the injury “talking” to you—its early signals help you decide whether to push forward with a rehab protocol or get additional care.

Day 2 Protocol: Following the METH Approach

On Day 2, my focus shifted to progressive rehab. I started integrating more movement-based drills, preparing the wrist for Day 3 when I’d introduce even more advanced protocols.

Movement Drills

I broke down my movement protocols into several exercises, always ensuring I worked within a pain-free range. Here’s what I did:

• Wrist Rotations:

  • Protocol: 3 sets of 20 rotations

  • Note: Go as far as possible without provoking pain.

    

    Wrist Rotation

• Wrist Flexion & Extension:

  • Protocol: 3 sets of 20 reps

  • Note: Move fully—only up to the point where you feel gentle discomfort.

    

    Wrist Flexion & Extension

• Ulnar & Radial Deviation:

  • Protocol: 3 sets of 20 reps

  • Note: As far as possible without pushing past a pain threshold.

Ulnar Deviation

Radial Deviation

• Grip Work:

  
  

  I began incorporating isometric grip work to help identify a tolerance level.

Isometrics let you build strength without excessive joint movement, which is crucial early on.

Isometric Grip Work

• Isometric Wrist Work:

  
  

  I experimented with isometric wrist flexion, extension, and deviation. I’ll dive deeper into this on Day 3.

  

  Isometric Flexion and Ulnar Deviation

  

  Isometric Extension and Radial Deviation

Massage and Related Techniques

Injury isn’t just about the joint—the muscles surrounding it react too. When a joint is injured, the muscles upstream and downstream tend to tighten up. For example, injured knees often lead to back pain because of compensatory weight shifts and quad / hip flexor tightness. With my wrist injury, I noticed similar patterns in the forearm and biceps.

Massage Technique

• Focus Area:

  
  

  I didn’t spend much time massaging the wrist itself (it doesn’t have much soft tissue), so I targeted the forearm (all sides) and biceps instead.

  
  

Remember, all the nerves passing through the wrist also travel down the arm. When your wrist is injured, tension builds along that entire path.

• How I Did It:

  
  

  I mainly used my left thumb to press deeply into my muscles. Specific tender spots included the underside of my forearm near the elbow and the middle/inner bicep area.

  • On each tender spot, I pushed as hard as I could tolerate, then slowly flexed, extended, and rotated my wrist and arm.

  • I repeated this traction-style massage 5–10 times, holding each for about 1 minute.

Self Wrist Massage

Other Modalities

• Elevation:

  
  

  Not applicable this time—I didn’t have any noticeable swelling.

  
  

• Traction:

  
  

  Beyond massage, I applied a C grip to my wrist to compress it while rotating, flexing, extending, and deviating.

  
  

This helped me determine which compressive strategies increased my range of motion (ROM). In my case, firm compression on the back of the wrist allowed for greater extension, followed by progressive flexion and deviation.

This is similar to joint distraction stretching for anyone that has explored that area.

Wrist Traction

• Heat:

  
  

  Not used on Day 2.

  
  

• BPC-157 Consideration:

  
  

  I did consider using BPC-157—a peptide known for its regenerative effects on tendons, ligaments, and soft tissue. Since the wrist tendons have limited blood supply, it might have sped up collagen production and recovery

  
  

Ultimately, I passed on it because, frankly, I was too cheap. A full dosage runs a few hundred dollars.

Day 3 is a Monday, so since I will be at my desk, I will have more time to play with therapeutic movements for recovery. We will start to do a deep dive into isometrics and their role in recovery