A Pit in My Stomach

You are treating a patient status post Colles fx. And the patient presents with edema as indicated in this photo. What type of edema is this and how might you treat this edema?

This is pitting edema. It is soft and mobile as evidenced by the fingerprint impression seen in the center of the dorsal hand. This edema should be addressed with wrapping a glove or some sort of compression after MEM or retrograde massage is performed. It is critical to reduce this type of edema in the early stages before it progresses to brawny edema which is much harder to treat.

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