Scaphoid fracture in a patient after a fall

The patient was a 27-year-old man who was referred to a physical therapist because of persistent right wrist pain after a fall on an outstretched hand in a remote setting 3 months prior. Immediately after the injury, the patient was seen by a physician's assistant in a remote medical clinic, where right wrist radiographs were completed and interpreted as normal. Based on the history and physical exam, a potential scaphoid fracture was suspected. Therefore, the physical therapist ordered radiographs of the right wrist, which revealed a fracture through the waist of the right scaphoid with a band-like lucency.