elbow injury after car accident

[baz]

hi

today i have just had a cast removed that went from my wrist to my shoulder,well just below.

my arm was broken just below my elbow and the actual joint was damaged, i was thinking that after the cast was off i wolud be able to move my arm but i cant fully straighten it and i cant turn my hand around so my palms are to the ceiling, infact it wont go past the position the arm was in when it was in the cast!

i,m really worried will i ever get full use and moblility in this arm ever again or has the arm set in this position for ever?

any help at all greatly appreciated!

thanks

[Heidi]

Hi Baz

After any fracture and period of immobilisation the joint will be stiff and not have a full range of motion. This is completely normal. There is a joint between your radius and ulna (two forearm bones) near the elbow which allows you to turn your hand over as you describe. So again it is no surprise that you cannot move this properly.

I hope that you have been given some exercises by a physio at the hospital (if not the health service should be embarrased!) These should involve gentle stretching and range of motion exercises to get it moving again. Then you need to strengthen it. It will be (and needs to be) a slow process to ensure you don't push it too hard to fast.

I hope this helps

Heidi

[baz]

hi heidi

thank you for the reply,, i have had no physio as yet but i'm booked in for monday so i'm looking forward to it!!

i'm trying to improvise until then with stretches and so on but do you ever get full 100 per cent use of the joint even if the socket in the elbow was damaged too? i'm a gym enthuiast and its killing me not been able to train i'm on tins of beans to supply some weight o lift to get it oing is this wise?

thanks for helping!!!

[Heidi]

Yeah using small weights like that is fine, as long as your comfortable and not suffering any sharp pains whilst exercising. Aching and tiredness is fine!

If the fracture was very close to the joint you may be slightly limited but you should get the vast majority of your movement (and strangth) back in the end.

Good Luck!

Heidi