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Has anybody ever had a radial head fracture? Recovery time?

I had a mountain bike accident two Saturdays ago and fracturing both bones just underneath my left elbow as well as blowing out all of the cartilage in that joint and a severe sprain on my left wrist.:mad3: To make matters worse, I am left handed.

The ER that I went to splinted it over the weekend and I had screws installed as well as microfracture surgery for the missing cartilage two weeks ago today. They put my arm in a splint for a week and removed it at my one week follow-up appointment. No splint, cast, brace, or anything. I am supposed to get to moving it as much as I can gain range of motion on my own with no PT.

My question is, if you have had this happen, how long did it take to gain your range of motion back?? I know I am only two weeks post op and one week out of the splint, but I am not a very patient person.

I can tell a big difference in movement in just a week, but still frustrated that I still can't do a lot of things yet, like feed myself with that hand or touch the top of my head.....

Let me know your story!

EBE
 
I had a mountain bike accident two Saturdays ago and fracturing both bones just underneath my left elbow as well as blowing out all of the cartilage in that joint and a severe sprain on my left wrist.:mad3: To make matters worse, I am left handed.

The ER that I went to splinted it over the weekend and I had screws installed as well as microfracture surgery for the missing cartilage two weeks ago today. They put my arm in a splint for a week and removed it at my one week follow-up appointment. No splint, cast, brace, or anything. I am supposed to get to moving it as much as I can gain range of motion on my own with no PT.

My question is, if you have had this happen, how long did it take to gain your range of motion back?? I know I am only two weeks post op and one week out of the splint, but I am not a very patient person.

I can tell a big difference in movement in just a week, but still frustrated that I still can't do a lot of things yet, like feed myself with that hand or touch the top of my head.....

Let me know your story!

EBE
Well, just as in shaving your mileage may vary, we all recover differently too. I recovered from major ankle reconstruction in 3 months instead of 9 months, but we all are different.....did u ask a doctor?
 
I had a radial neck fracture in February, and that was a hassle, but nothing like what you're describing, I'm sure. I fell on ice and sort of landed in the Heisman Trophy pose. I also had a bad sprain/strain in my wrist. I wore a sling for a while, and a neoprene brace thing that covered my wrist for a time. Took about two months before things were pretty well back to normal. Hope you enjoy a speedy recovery with no problems.
 
I had bilateral radial head fractures following a spill over the handlebars. Yes, both arms at once, and it's pretty common. My injury was the two fractures (non-displaced), and soft tissue damage, nothing to the cartilage, and I didn't require the surgery you had. I was just in slings for 10 weeks. The soft tissue injury was far worse than the fractures, and my arms healed at different rates. I'd say that I had my range of motion fully back after 4-5 weeks.
 
Firstly I hope you heal up quickly, I know that impatient feeling of wanting to get back on the bike, I've had a few spills over the years due to bmx and mtbing.
I've only fractured my wrists and from what I remember they only took a few weeks to heel but when I rolled my ankle and damaged ligaments it took forever to heal. After 6 months I went back for physio. It took just over a year and a half to heal but thats only because every time I tweaked it, it restarted again.
 
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