fractured elbow, how soon to get moving, conflicting Internet advice..

Hi Patrick

I have fractured both elbows, one of which i did not have a sling or cast on, and one of which i had a cast for a week.

The one that had nothing has heeled totally fine and over ten years later no issues at all.

the other one where i had a cast on, five years later i have very limited movement in my arm, pain every day and have had several operations with no end in sight.

Just my opinion, but ditch the sling!

I had a compound fracture of my elbow and had surgery with hardware placement. They casted it overnight. the next day they made a half cast that I could take on and off.  I started moving it the second day with agressive physical therapy. (it was broken in 5 pieces). If you don't move an elbow it will lock up and you will lose range of motion. I had a lot of soft tissue damage as well. I got scar tissue very quickly and had to work throught it. I ended up with good range and the pain is gone finally. It doesn't sound like yours is as bad. I  would think you could move it multiple times a day and still use the sling for protection. I would see a doctor and start PT right away. 

Cool, thanks for replys goes with what makes sense to me. I'll go to app when they give it to me but in the meantime I'll keep it mobile but be protective of it. One off the things I was lookin at suggested using some pressure to straighten. Elbow but I'll probaly wait for advice b4 doin so...

thanks

p

I used a light arm weight that strapped around my wrist and I would let the weight pull my arm up and down while I watched tv at night. I found that the weight and holding it there until the muscles "gave way" increased my range of motion. I also used light weights. I would soak in the bath and have my husband push in both directions tearing at the scar tissue. My elbow was very stiff at almost a 45 degree angle. It was my right arm and I couldn't get a fork to my mouth or comb my hair. My point is moving is key to avoid scar tissue and that pushing early on is beneficial in the long run. Try to go to someone that specializes in elbows.

Hi Patrick,

I have bi-lateral non-displaced radius neck fractures that I sustained on March 28th 2015 through a biking accident.  It is now 8 months and I have almost no signs of healing observed by CT Scan a month ago in eather arm.  However, also refractured both radial necks in two sucessive falls, the last as recent as October 25th. 

I just wanted to share with you some of the bad mistakes I made that seriously impaired my healing.  Hind sight is better than foresight.  Maybe this will help you.

I had a removable back slab on one arm and a sling on the other.  The strains in my wrists and fingers were so severe the doctor prescribed two powerful anti-inflamitory medicines, one a rub paste and the other an orally taken pill.  It was a very bad mistake to take those anti-inflammitory drugs.  There are several critical stages that yoru body goes through to heal a fracture.  The first is the inflamitory stage.  As I discovered in my reading, one of the main contribuiing factors to early non-union of fractures is the inhibiting of inflamation by the use of ant-inflammitory drugs.  Google "Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Affect Bone Healing"  and you will find lots of literature on this.

That all said, at two months you should be past the inflamitory stage.  Hopefully you didn't do what I did.

The second thing I did wrong was not listen to the doctor on avoiding load  bearing of any kind.  The ortho-pedic surgeon told me not to lift anything heavier than a can of coke and to not push anything away.  In the second month I disregarded the doctors instructions and helps my band rebuild a stage.  Though I avoided the heaviest lifting I still did too much and lost several months of healing.

What the doctor told me after I wish that I knew from the beginning.  the first bridging of the fracture margin happens as many little calcium crystals try to bridge the gap.  Every time you do something that is too much load bearing those little crystal bridges all shatter and your body tries the same process all over again, it will keep on trying over and over until it gets the message, "you don't want to be healed" and then it gives up and forms and rubbery plug to bridge the gap.  This you definitely do not want to have happen.  So whatever you do, don't think you can start bearing any weight until you have a definite all clear from your doctor confirmed with a radiological scan, if at all possible.

I wish I had kept using the slings much longer.

The third mistake I made was starting physio to early without having a CT scan to make sure there was proper union occurring at the fracture margins.  One of my refracturings happened in the enitial examination at physio where the physio therapist extended my arm to full extention.  I went to physio because the doctor just assumed that by that time I should be at the stage of healing to handle physio.  I wasn't.

Good luck to you.  Maybe if you avoid some of my mistakes it will go much faster for you.