Recovering from a Broken Elbow

As some of you may know last week I broke both my wrists and right elbow.

I wondered if any other forumgoers had similar injuries, how long until they were back riding, I've been told I should be able to start riding again in 6weeks. My main concern is regaining full movement in my elbow and arm.

The wrist fractures are not of concern to me, as they appear to be relatively small and I have a good range of movement in both wrists already.

The fracture to the elbow is to the radial, it is not displaced and doesn't required surgery, I haven't been put in cast and only have splints for my wrists. I have a series of physio exercises to do to mobilise my elbow.
They are painful to do, but I'm prepared to work through the pain in order to recover.

I'm unable to straighten my arm fully, probably about 25degrees from locking it straight. After half an hour of exercises I can get it to about 10 degrees from being straight.

Will riding a road bike be possible if I can't lock out my arm or fully straighten it?

I know it's only been 9 days since I crashed, but I'm now starting to get down about how well I'll recover, any thoughts or advice is much appreciated

I can put you in touch with a friend of mine who broke her elbow mountain biking? PM me.

TL;DR it was a protracted process to get from 'utterly fucked' to 'very close to normal' - 'forgetting' that there was a problem and trying to use the arm as much as possible + physio seemed to be the key but it's better you get the skinny from her.

I broke my elbow two days after Christmas, Olecranon fracture, split it in two basically. I got surgery the next day, two pins and a tension band. Slightly different injury but happy to help with any questions I may be able to answer.

Thanks Howard that would be really helpful, i'll send you a PM

Thanks, how painful was the physio for you, it doesn't hurt apart from stretching out the stiffness, unless i forget my arm is broken and try and move it in a certain way, then my body likes to remind me with some sharp pain! Are you back to full health with your elbow yet?

Physio wasn't too painful but it got to a point where I was reaching a pain barrier and couldn't stretch it any further. I ended up taking some pain relief in order to stretch through that barrier. The physio is really important and don't be afraid to take pain meds if you are in pain, the pain could be hampering your recovery.

I've still got the metal work in my arm which is causing some problems but other than that I'm back to full health.

Did you have physio sessions with a physiotherapist or exercises to do by yourself?

Both. I saw the physiotherapist every couple of weeks and did exercises at home every day. First just using my own body weight then eventually using tension bands.

I fractured my radial 6 weeks ago off to the fracture clinic shortly for a final x-ray. Still can't lock my arm fully or fully pivot my wrist but it's getting there. Give it time to heal first then slowly start to stretch it out.

Hope the fracture clinic goes well, I'm at St Thomas's which seem good so far, have a follow up appointment tomorrow to check at CT scan.

I was told I wouldn't need physio appointments, but will ask for them, tomorrow

Is your prognosis to be able to fully stretch it out fully again?

I now start physio in a months time a week after I can take my wrist splints off, counting down the days and it's nearly three weeks until then!

I'm starting to go a bit mental, not being able to use both hands fully is really frustrating as an architect! I've joined a gym just so I can put in some miles on an exercise bike, I don't have the wrist strength or pain threshold to get on the turbo (which is probably a sign that I shouldn't!).

As my wrists are in splints I probably have more movement than with casts, and with the physio exercises I have been given for my elbow which exert a fair amount of pain on my wrists (not the elbow), I can't work out if this is doing me any harm. If I forget that my bones are fractured, and move my arm without realising this, my body definitely reminds me of this fact!

With the limited movement people have from casts and splints etc did they still experience pain in these fractures, and when does the pain stop?? How long into the healing process?

Have others had physio to do whilst their joints are broken? Did this hurt? I don't mind the pain as long as it isn't making things worse!

I have been told that I don't need my fractures x-raying again? Is this normal?

I've almost on two months now. My elbow is pretty sweet still a bit sore but nothing major and just doing exercises to get full mobility back. If my clavicle wasn't giving me grief still id be back on my bike.

Good news indeed, 3 weeks on, I'm much encouraged by the progress I have made, although one nights sleeping on a broken elbow seems to cause a few days set back! But even now I can almost fully stretch out my arm, and wrist movement is slowly coming back.

I'm amazed at how quickly the body sorts itself out.

Getting a good sleep is the hardest part!