DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My son is a skateboarder. I hate those things. As you might expect, he fell off it and broke his wrist. The doctor says he has to stay in a cast for three months and maybe longer. Why? Isn’t this excessive? I thought it took a broken bone about six weeks to heal. — N.R.

ANSWER: Your son must have broken the scaphoid bone. (It’s also called the navicular.) It’s one of the eight wrist bones, and the one that’s most prone to breaking. It accounts for two-thirds of all wrist fractures. The break happens when a person tries to cushion the fall by landing on outstretched arms with the hands bent back, a natural position to take when one is headed toward the ground.

The scaphoid is a small bone with a treacherous blood supply that’s often disrupted from a break. That leads to nonhealing and big trouble. Its poor blood supply is one reason that a scaphoid fracture is kept in a cast longer than most other bones are. It’s a bone that’s slow to heal.

I like skateboarding – watching, not doing. Your son’s story should inspire all skateboarders to be helmeted and padded.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Would you explain impingement syndrome. I have it in my shoulder. I’m a swimmer and would like to get back into the water. When do you think that will be possible? – L.M.

ANSWER: The shoulder area is a relatively small area crowded with many structures – tendons, ligaments, bones, muscles, cartilage, blood vessels and nerves. “Impinge” means “to encroach on.” That’s what happens when one of the many shoulder structures is inflamed and swollen. The inflamed structure impinges on its neighbors and causes pain. Quite often, it’s a swollen tendon that’s doing the impinging, and quite often, the tendon has become swollen from overuse.

Rest quiets inflammation. How long? That depends on the degree of inflammation. I would estimate four weeks.

An anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen or naproxen will relieve your pain and soothe the inflamed structure. Applying heat to the shoulder also gets rid of the inflammation faster.

If in three to four weeks you are no better, return to your doctor. A cortisone injection could hurry things along.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What are your thoughts on using ankle weights when walking? I walk three miles every day. I would like to get some extra oomph into my walking by using weights. – R.F.

ANSWER: Oomph is good, I guess, but I’m not a big fan of ankle weights. They can throw off your natural stride and put too much stress on your knee and hip joints. You can try them, and if you find they aren’t hurting your joints, then it’s safe to use them.

Or you could wear a weighted backpack. Start with a light weight, say 3 pounds. Each week, you can increase the amount of weight in the pack. A backpack can also throw your stride off. If it does, ditch the pack.

Have you ever considered doing weightlifting exercise apart from the time you’re walking? That’s a better way to add oomph to your physical fitness program.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I’m a daily jogger. My face is beet-red when I finish. I don’t feel bad when it happens. In fact, I wouldn’t know it happens if people didn’t remark about it to me. Is this a sign of trouble? – D.K.

ANSWER: Not that I know of. Blood flow increases to the skin surface to dissipate body heat, and the increased blood flow is turning your face red.

Why doesn’t everyone’s face turn as red as yours? The answer lies in the way your genes have built your blood vessels and your skin coloring.

So long as you feel fine, I cannot imagine that this is a sign of trouble.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My mom and I were wondering whether dry oatmeal on your regular cereal is as good for you as eating cooked oatmeal. Does it have any benefit, or are we wasting our time and money?

ANSWER: Our stomachs can digest grains, both cooked and uncooked. They’re equipped with stomach acid and with digestive enzymes.

Furthermore, the stomach grinds food just as a mill grinds grain.

As a kid, I had to eat hot cereal in the winter. I didn’t like it, and I haven’t been able to eat it since. Maybe I’ll adopt your uncooked-cereal method of getting more grain into my diet.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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