Five-Star Care for Broken Wrist After Snowboarding Accident

Erin Sanders loves to go snowboarding. The freedom and joy she feels going down a mountain is unmatched, which is why she tries to hit the slopes as often as she can. But on one particular visit, that love of her favorite sport was tested.

In March of 2023, while coming down the mountain at Winter Park, Sanders suddenly "caught a bad edge," meaning one of the edges of her snowboard got caught in the snow, causing her to lose her bearings and fall down. She fell on her right wrist, causing the bone to shatter. "My bone pretty much exploded is what my doctor told me," Sanders recalled.

The ski patrol brought her down the mountain to Denver Health Winter Park Medical Center, a unique medical clinic providing emergency, urgent care, sports medicine and primary care right at the base of the mountain. Doctors there tried to set her wrist two times, but the break was so severe that they just weren't able to. Turns out the bone was crooked and the fracture went into her joint. They referred her to see a hand specialist at the Denver Health Orthopedics Center of Excellence.

 

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Denver Health allows patients to schedule appointments directly with orthopedic providers, skipping the need for a referral from a primary care doctor. However, certain insurance plans might still require a referral including Medicare and Medicaid. This change simplifies access to orthopedic care, ensuring you can get the orthopedic help you need without unnecessary delays. 

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Wrist Fracture Surgery

Sanders was able to get right in to see Matt Folchert, MD, a hand and upper extremities surgeon at the Denver Health Orthopedic Center of Excellence located in Denver Health's Outpatient Medical Center in Denver, close to where she lives. "I recommended surgery just based on how bad her injury was," Dr. Folchert said. Wrist fractures are a common injury he treats multiple times a week, and he met with Sanders to talk about the injury and different treatment options. He explained that surgery would help her heal and get back to doing her normal activities and ensure full function of her wrist moving forward.

"I appreciated them getting me in as quickly as possible," Sanders said. "He told me what was going to happen and what to expect, and he was really nice and supportive and made me feel like it was going to be OK." Her surgery went as expected and all the different fragments of her wrist bone were able to be put back together perfectly. Sanders went home the same day. She had months of therapy and eventually regained all her motion and strength in her wrist. Everything healed as it should, according to Dr. Folchert.

Five-Star Care to Get Patients Back to Doing What They Love

Sanders owns a laser tattoo removal studio and her work requires her to use both of her hands. She points out that she wouldn't be able to continue her business if she hadn't gotten the use of her wrist back.

After getting back to her normal activities, Sanders reflected on the quality of care and support she received at the Denver Health Orthopedics Center of Excellence, including frequent follow-up from Dr. Folchert.

"They cared that I healed well and made an effort to show that." She was so satisfied with her care, that she decided to write a five-star review on Google. In her review, Sanders noted, "I wouldn't have been able to use my hand again without Dr. Folchert's expertise. They really cared about the outcome for my arm and supporting me through everything."

Sanders credits Denver Health and Dr. Folchert for getting her back to work at her tattoo removal business.

Dr. Folchert said that follow-up is of the utmost importance with his patients. "It's really fulfilling to see them go from one of the worst days of their lives and then progress to recovery. He notes that this doesn't just happen with routine hand injuries. "Denver Health is one of the few health care systems in the country that is able and willing to take care of the full spectrum of hand and upper extremity injuries, including severe, traumatic injuries."

Sanders said she would recommend Denver Health Orthopedics Center of Excellence without reservation. She's already back to snowboarding again (just with wrist guards now) and her only sign that she ever got injured is a scar on her wrist.

"I have full use of my hand again and most of the time, I forget it even happened."

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