OT Elbow Injury

Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my elbow locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and
tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had similar
injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
winter. Well, in 3 months I am expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot
camp. I am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do 12 pull ups now (with
the extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to training. Anyone have any
guesses as to how much I'll lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any advice
welcomed, right now I'm high on codeine and mom's darvacets.

 

"Lightweight" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
> too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my elbow locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and
> tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had
similar
> injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
> anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
> winter. Well, in 3 months I
am
> expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot camp.
I
> am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do 12 pull ups now (with the
> extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to training. Anyone have any
> guesses as to how much I'll lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any advice
> welcomed, right now I'm high on codeine and mom's darvacets.
>
>

You may have to postpone your trip to Uncle Sams Summer Camp. I crushed my elbow by landing on it
after boofing a jump. That wing is going to take 6-8weeks to heal the bones, I don't know about the
ligaments. After being immobilized for that long you will barely be able to move the joint and will
require some PT to get it working again. For me this consisted of holding a dumbbell with my arm
outstretched on a table for hours. I also used one of those strapon wrist weights while walking
around during the day at work. The muscles will atrophy in the cast and it'll look like a picked
clean chicken wing after the cast comes off. You can keep your conditioning by spinning on a
stationary bike if you feel like sweating into your cast. I didn't. It was a complete do over for
me. Of course I was 20 years older than you at the time. ;^) So maybe your youth will give you an
advantage over my experience. The most important thing to do right now is rest and give your body
time to heal. It amazed me at how tired I was at first from just healing the joint.

Best luck. Mike

 

"Lightweight" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
> too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my elbow locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and
> tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had
similar
> injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
> anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
> winter. Well, in 3 months I
am
> expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot camp.
I
> am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do 12 pull ups now (with the
> extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to training. Anyone have any
> guesses as to how much I'll lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any advice
> welcomed, right now I'm high on codeine and mom's darvacets.
>

Depending on the severity of the fracture, safe estimates of healing takes 3-6mths or more.
But after a 1-3 months or so, the fractured area can be lightly exerted. This improves the
bone's regrowth.

bloocow - based on other people's experience.

 

"Michael Dart" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Lightweight" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
> > too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my
elbow
> > locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone
> > in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had
> similar
> > injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
> > anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
> > winter. Well, in 3 months
I
> am
> > expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot camp.
> I
> > am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do
12
> > pull ups now (with the extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to
> > training. Anyone have any guesses as to how much
I'll
> > lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any advice welcomed, right now I'm high
> > on codeine and mom's darvacets.
> >
> >
>
> You may have to postpone your trip to Uncle Sams Summer Camp. I crushed
my
> elbow by landing on it after boofing a jump. That wing is going to take 6-8weeks to heal the
> bones, I don't know about the ligaments. After being immobilized for that long you will barely be
> able to move the joint and
will
> require some PT to get it working again. For me this consisted of holding
a
> dumbbell with my arm outstretched on a table for hours. I also used one
of
> those strapon wrist weights while walking around during the day at work. The muscles will atrophy
> in the cast and it'll look like a picked clean chicken wing after the cast comes off. You can keep
> your conditioning by spinning on a stationary bike if you feel like sweating into your cast. I
> didn't. It was a complete do over for me. Of course I was 20 years older than you at the time. ;^)
> So maybe your youth will give you an advantage over my experience. The most important thing to do
> right now is rest and give your body time to heal. It amazed me at how tired I was at first
from
> just healing the joint.
>
> Best luck. Mike
>
>
Basic Training/Boot Camp will aggravate an injury that you haven't felt in years. Stress fractures
are very common in the time attending boot. You will find yourself in uncommon positions like
low-crawling while holding a weapon and keeping the weapon off the ground while using said elbow.
Those pull-ups won't help either.

Resting your injury is the best thing in my opinion. You can put off your entry date if needed.
When you go through MEPPS they will give you another physical and ask you questions regarding
past injuries.

Lastly, if you have a cast or surgery on your injury, then you should go through physical therapy if
your insurance covers it, and not just what *you* think is best. That's why they (doctors) are paid
the big bucks.

Good luck.

Lance

 

Lightweight wrote:
> Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
> too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my elbow locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and
> tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had similar
> injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
> anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
> winter. Well, in 3 months I am expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot
> camp. I am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do 12 pull ups now
> (with the extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to training. Anyone
> have any guesses as to how much I'll lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any
> advice welcomed, right now I'm high on codeine and mom's darvacets.
>
>
I second everything that Michael Dart has already said. I gave myself a type II Montegia fracture
last year (fracture to the radial head, along with dislocation of the radius and fracture of the
ulna right bellow the ball of the joint)

ER Xrays: http://home.attbi.com/~jasonbb/Images/ERElbow1.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~jasonbb/Images/ERElbow2.jpg

the dislocation did some severe damage to the surrounding ligaments as well as the radial nerve. to
fix it up, a six inch long plate was put in the ulna and 2 pins where put in the radius.

Post-OP Fluoroscope: http://home.attbi.com/~jasonbb/Images/POElbow1.jpg

cast for 8 weeks, splint for an additional 4 wks. 8 weeks of PT. and It still hurts to some degree
to hold myself up on a road bike, MtB still hurts when going over bumps. lost about 4* of mobility,
and Its taken this long to be able to get back to doing 10 pushups. listen to Physical terrorist,
the hardest part is getting rotation back, I found that holding a jar of peanut butter outstretched
while watching TV or curls with a theraband helped a lot.

If you can, hold off on Boot Camp. you'll just push the arm further than it will be able to go and
probably make it worse.

Jason

 

"Lightweight" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
> too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my elbow locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and
> tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had
similar
> injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
> anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
> winter. Well, in 3 months I
am
> expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot camp.
I
> am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do 12 pull ups now (with the
> extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to training. Anyone have any
> guesses as to how much I'll lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any advice
> welcomed, right now I'm high on codeine and mom's darvacets.
>
>

I wouldn't worry about the break too much, it's the ligament stuff that's going to take the time. I
did my AC shoulder joint just before Xmas and that's entirely ligament damage. It's still not right.
Ligaments and tissue damage takes much longer than the 6-8 weeks that bone takes to heal... I've
seen that time and time again with myself and friends injuries.

Westie

 

> Basic Training/Boot Camp will aggravate an injury that you haven't felt in years. Stress fractures
> are very common in the time attending boot. You will find yourself in uncommon positions like
> low-crawling while holding a weapon and keeping the weapon off the ground while using said elbow.
Those
> pull-ups won't help either.
>
> Resting your injury is the best thing in my opinion. You can put off your entry date if needed.
> When you go through MEPPS they will give you
another
> physical and ask you questions regarding past injuries.
>
> Lastly, if you have a cast or surgery on your injury, then you should go through physical therapy
> if your insurance covers it, and not just what *you* think is best. That's why they (doctors) are
> paid the big bucks.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Lance
>
>

Must not be a sever fracture as I'm not in a cast. That or they're doing things different these
days. He gave me a splint to wear for 1 - 2 days. Then he wants me to begin moving the elbow slowly.
This is 32 hours post accident and the swelling has gone down but is still there. The pain is
virtually non-existent unless I try to bend it outside the 30 degree or so window of comfort I have.
That, or rotate my hand. My Recruiter told me to take it easy and I would be out to MEPPS a second
time to have another physical in about 2 months. My doc told me the bone should heal relatively
quickly, say 3-4 weeks, but the ligaments could take 2 months or longer. Right now, I cannot keep my
hand from falling to my head with my elbow pointing upward. I'm hoping it is only stretched
ligaments rather than broken as the elbow area was filled with blood and fluids which really left
the doctors up in question over my X-Rays. I have Medicaid through my mother until I turn 18, so I
will be sucking up all the therapy they can throw my way. I hope to work my arms by starting to curl
5 pound dumbbells (maybe in 3-4 weeks) and build back up to 50s or 45s in several months assuming
there is no extreme ligament damage. Thanks for all the support and feedback! Codeine starting to
kick in, good night.

 

Lightweight wrote:
> Well, I fractured my elbow in Track Practice... yeah track. Hopping a fence, I tripped over some
> too-talled bastard's leg and landed w/ my elbow locked. Doc says I fractured it at the joint and
> tore some ligaments as well as twisted a bone in my forearm. I was wondering if anyone had similar
> injuries before and what they did for it as well as how long it took to heal. I am in great
> anaerobic condition now, I joined track as a way to rebuild my aerobic abilities after a dormant
> winter. Well, in 3 months I am expected to be in top shape for shipment to Parris Island for boot
> camp. I am expecting some muscle loss, depends on how long I am down. I can do 12 pull ups now
> (with the extra coat of winter fat) and have to be able to complete 3 prior to training. Anyone
> have any guesses as to how much I'll lose? I'm currently 5'8" 155 pounds, medium-large build. Any
> advice welcomed, right now I'm high on codeine and mom's darvacets.
>

Sorry to hear about your injury. But shouldn't you be saying you're OUT on codeine and mom's
darvacets? When I take them I feel anything but high!

Greg

--
"Destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late, the battles we fought were long and hard,
just not to be consumed by rock n' roll..." - The Mekons

 

"Slartibartfast" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Lightweight wrote: the dislocation did some severe damage to the surrounding ligaments as well as
> the radial nerve. to fix it up, a six inch long plate was put in the ulna and 2 pins where put in
> the radius.
>
> Post-OP Fluoroscope: http://home.attbi.com/~jasonbb/Images/POElbow1.jpg
>
> cast for 8 weeks, splint for an additional 4 wks. 8 weeks of PT. and It still hurts to some degree
> to hold myself up on a road bike, MtB still hurts when going over bumps. lost about 4* of
> mobility, and Its taken this long to be able to get back to doing 10 pushups. listen to Physical
> terrorist, the hardest part is getting rotation back, I found that holding a jar of peanut butter
> outstretched while watching TV or curls with a theraband helped a lot.
>

Ow, damn! I didn't have enough left of the end of the ulna for them to put a plate like that on. The
surgeon ran two pins (picture 14ga spoke cut in two) down the length with the ends bent over the end
of the bone, and wrapped the rest of the pieces with 'bailing' wire held in place with a screw.
After a year and a half I felt that the ends of the pins were hitting on my upper arm bone
preventing full extension of the joint and had them removed. The bailing wire was causing some
irritation to the joint giving me some pain after riding. I now have 100% movement and no pain at
all. Can't even tell it happened 'cept for the scar.

Mike

 

"Michael Dart" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Slartibartfast" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > Lightweight wrote: the dislocation did some severe damage to the surrounding ligaments as well
> > as the radial nerve. to fix it up, a six inch long plate was put in the ulna and 2 pins where
> > put in the radius.
> >
> > Post-OP Fluoroscope: http://home.attbi.com/~jasonbb/Images/POElbow1.jpg
> >
> > cast for 8 weeks, splint for an additional 4 wks. 8 weeks of PT. and It still hurts to some
> > degree to hold myself up on a road bike, MtB still hurts when going over bumps. lost about 4* of
> > mobility, and Its taken this long to be able to get back to doing 10 pushups. listen to Physical
> > terrorist, the hardest part is getting rotation back, I found that holding a jar of peanut
> > butter outstretched while watching TV or curls with a theraband helped a lot.
> >
>
> Ow, damn! I didn't have enough left of the end of the ulna for them to
put
> a plate like that on. The surgeon ran two pins (picture 14ga spoke cut in two) down the length
> with the ends bent over the end of the bone, and wrapped the rest of the pieces with 'bailing'
> wire held in place with a screw. After a year and a half I felt that the ends of the pins were
> hitting on my upper arm bone preventing full extension of the joint and
had
> them removed. The bailing wire was causing some irritation to the joint giving me some pain after
> riding. I now have 100% movement and no pain
at
> all. Can't even tell it happened 'cept for the scar.
>
> Mike
>
Yeah, it does fell that the plate is getting in the way of full extension. I'll be going in for
surgery to have it removed in a couple of months, hoping it will go back to normal and some of the
pain will go away. I've hit the tip of it where it bends a couple of times too and man thats
excruciating. glad to hear yours came out well in the end that, gives me some hope.

Jason

 

Lightweight wrote:
>> Basic Training/Boot Camp will aggravate an injury that you haven't felt in years. Stress
>> fractures are very common in the time attending boot. You will find yourself in uncommon
>> positions like low-crawling while holding a weapon and keeping the weapon off the ground while
>> using said elbow.
> Those
>> pull-ups won't help either.
>>
>> Resting your injury is the best thing in my opinion. You can put off your entry date if needed.
>> When you go through MEPPS they will give you another physical and ask you questions regarding
>> past injuries.
>>
>> Lastly, if you have a cast or surgery on your injury, then you should go through physical therapy
>> if your insurance covers it, and not just what *you* think is best. That's why they (doctors) are
>> paid the big bucks.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>> Lance
>>
>>
>
> Must not be a sever fracture as I'm not in a cast. That or they're doing things different these
> days. He gave me a splint to wear for 1
> - 2 days. Then he wants me to begin moving the elbow slowly. This is 32 hours post accident and
> the swelling has gone down but is still there. The pain is virtually non-existent unless I try
> to bend it outside the 30 degree or so window of comfort I have. That, or rotate my hand. My
> Recruiter told me to take it easy and I would be out to MEPPS a second time to have another
> physical in about 2 months. My doc told me the bone should heal relatively quickly, say 3-4
> weeks, but the ligaments could take 2 months or longer. Right now, I cannot keep my hand from
> falling to my head with my elbow pointing upward. I'm hoping it is only stretched ligaments
> rather than broken as the elbow area was filled with blood and fluids which really left the
> doctors up in question over my X-Rays. I have Medicaid through my mother until I turn 18, so I
> will be sucking up all the therapy they can throw my way. I hope to work my arms by starting to
> curl 5 pound dumbbells (maybe in 3-4 weeks) and build back up to 50s or 45s in several months
> assuming there is no extreme ligament damage. Thanks for all the support and feedback! Codeine
> starting to kick in, good night.

this sounds more like my elbow fracture: I cracked the head of the radius, no real break. I was
fplinted for two weeks, and then started PT right away. The worst part was the jarring of everyday
movement like walking for a while.

penny s

 

> Sorry to hear about your injury. But shouldn't you be saying you're OUT
on
> codeine and mom's darvacets? When I take them I feel anything but high!
>
> Greg
>
> --
> "Destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late, the battles we fought were long and
> hard, just not to be consumed by rock n' roll..." - The Mekons
>

Heavy pain meds rarely make me drowsy... Even when gulping down the codeine cold medicine, my
sleeping habbits are very unlikely to be affected. The high is only temporary, if I begin a pain med
I will be in the clouds the first day or two, but it does not continue throughout the week. Maybe my
body developed a tolerance very quickly???