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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 8/29/2007 5:55:13 PM   
gabe

 

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hi, nick thanks for sharing your progress. i broke my arm about a week before you and judging by the pics, my fracture is more serious than yours in that it's at the bottom of the humerus and there'a a separate bone fragment in between. maybe that's why i'm in a heavy plaster cast. i went back to see the doc 3 days ago and alignment looks straight but the gaps look wider than yours. the plan is to keep me in the cast for another 3 weeks then go back again. hopefully it'll heal by then. i still cant lie down completely in bed without pain at the fracture site so i dont sleep very well. my shoulder is becoming stiff and i can already see my arm shrinking in size. ok keep us posted and good luck.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 9/14/2007 7:44:29 AM   
Nick UK

 

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Hey people thought I would post a week 4 & 5 update.  I’ve been doing pretty well the past week/10 days.  I managed to hold my arm in a sling position under its own strength without the sling.  The bone just suddenly felt a lot more stable once past the 3 week mark (maybe its started to fuse).  Since then I have been able to lie down completely flat in bed and can also lie on the injured side if im careful. 
 
I can also now do sit-ups again which is nice because although losing weight I think I may have gained some fat due to my inactivity.  I am still at the gym once a week doing legs exercises and light work with my good arm/shoulder.
 
Now over a week on from being able to support the arm for very short periods of time I can now do without the sling most of the time.  I can wash my hands almost as normal and almost put my hand in my pockets.  To be fair it rests on my lap most of the time or on a pillow, stops me hunching over a keyboard with my sling on.  I also tried lifting some light weights to just see what I could lift and managed to pump 1.25kg weights but my range of movement was only about 20 degrees either side of a right angle position. 
 
If I don’t wear the sling for a while my arm does hurt a bit at the fracture site and also when I wake up after lying flat so I hope im not doing it any damage.  As for other movements I can move my arm behind my back on its own and just about touch my opposite shoulder blade but it feels very stressed/twisted on my arm and I don’t like to do it.  However doing arm movements while supporting it feels okay to a point. 
 
I can lift my arm up with my other arm above my head whilst still bent, a hand on head kind of movement.  Holding it up there for more than 30 secs makes it sore but its useful for washing under my arms in the shower.  I thought I could no way get it up there without support but recently using a should press action I can do (leading fist first). 
When I do I seem to get a burning sensation under my armpit/shoulder muscle because there not used to being stretched like that, maybe its the skin stretching.  I have also regained some light flexing action back in my bicep which is good because it seemed unresponsive until now.

In a sling position on its own strength I can raise it to about 45 degrees out in front of me and hold it for a few seconds at best, too sore otherwise. 

My wrist is all operating as usual and if I let my arm drop the ligaments will support it because they are tight. I can straighten my arm to about 135 degrees max then its sore at the bottom of my bicep but im sure this just needs time to straighten out. 

It’s nice to be feeling a bit more normal. I will post back after weeks 6 & 7 are done which is when I should have more pics and the all clear from the doc and then start physio.  A few days ago I regained two handed typing which is great. (I have to rest my wrist near the keyboard though).  Feeling stronger everyday.



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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/7/2007 11:22:33 AM   
Nick UK

 

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This is a week 6, 7 and 8 update.  Only got a chance to post this now because I have gone back to work and have less free time. 

My healing has been going well and every week I get closer to normality.  I now have 95+% range of movement and am running at about 30% strength in most areas.  I can put my arm behind my back reasonably easily and reach as far up my shoulder blade as I could before the break which is quite far as I can make my fingers touch when bending the other hand behind my head.

I can bicep curl about 4-5kg now and my arm has naturally straightened out without me really encouraging it. It’s about 170+ degrees straight so not far to go.  As for lifting weights above my head I can do that pretty easily and do 5kg dumbbell.  The physio said I could start swimming again which I tried.  I found breast stroke to be pretty normal, a little sore but nothing major, obviously had a slightly bent arm while doing it.  I could not do the freestyle/crawl yet, can’t quite maintain pulling my arm over my head and round for very long (3 reps and not good form either).  But for 8 weeks from the break it not bad.  Over the past 3 weeks I’ve gone from starting to gently jog while resting the arm to doing sprints without too much trouble.  Typing and writing whilst being on the phone now is no trouble and I can fill up a kettle without it hurting.  I can also put on a jacket or rucksack normally as before although this can be sore.  

Most of these movements have only really come back to me in the past week, including driving a car.  I can’t quite do the gearbox as normal but with a slight reposition of the arm before each gear change it’s not a problem.  I can change gear in under a second so I deem it safe for other road users. Don’t want to put anyone at risk!  Steering is all fine.

I have also got back into proper arm exercises with lower weights than usual.  I can now bench press 15Kg maybe 20+Kg if I push it but I'm not going to yet.  I saw the physio for the first time last week.  He asked me why I was their which I thought was obvious but he seemed to think I was pretty much back to normal and set me some exercises and said come back in 3 weeks.  I think that will be my last visit because I think I am recovering well enough on my own.  The exercises he set seemed a bit below my level.  I am supposed to used one of those rubber ribbon strips and stand on one end with my foot and do bicep curls whilst holding it with the other end.  Although different colours depict their resistant level the things he was getting me to do were ridiculously easy considering I had been messing around with free weights (dumbbells) from week 4/5.  The resistant in the band was about 0.5kg and just felt like a waste of time.  However for other people recovering not at my level and just coming out of a caste or whatever it may help.  I cannot do much twisting with free-weight but driving the car should safely increase its strength.  I can also do some light rowing too.

Had my x-ray check again in week 7 and everything looked the same as it did 4 weeks ago.  The bone was still not what I would call joined but you can see new bone forming.  I took some more photos so you can see for yourself.  The most recent is from a reverse position showing the back of my arm and I think it makes the gap look bigger than before because of this.  I will put the pictures in chronological order so you can see what’s going on.  The doc was happy and said come back again in 4 weeks.

This is an X-ray taken on the night of the break.



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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/7/2007 11:49:03 AM   
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This is 5 days from break.


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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/7/2007 8:27:54 PM   
gabe

 

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it's been 2 weeks since i had my cast removed. the doc gave me a sling to wear but i ditched it because i felt well enough to just let it hang. my arm is feeling stronger everyday. i still can't straighten my arm, which is my biggest concern. it's only about 150 degree straight. i also can't bring it as close to my body as i can my normal arm. any weight bearing still causes pain so i'm not trying to lift any weights. but i'm back to the gym 4 times a week riding the bike and working out lower body and my left arm. I'll go back to see the doc in another 2 weeks and he'll clear me for physio.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/8/2007 1:02:12 PM   
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Look back to page 1 for the 3 week from break xrays.  This is the 7 week from break one.  Sorry again on the poor quality, i didnt want to mess around with a proper camera because mine tends to blur a few before its good.



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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/18/2007 4:19:49 PM   
gabe

 

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Hi, Nick. Can you straighten your arm completely now? Is it shorter than the other arm?

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/27/2007 6:03:38 AM   
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Hi Gabe, It is difficult to measure the difference in length if any. It’s hard to say if it’s shorter or even longer than before.  If you measure under the arm to the elbow with a ruler they come up the same but muscle differences between the arms can get in the way.  I guess the best way to measure them is to stand in front of a mirror and put your arms by your sides with your forearms bent upwards and see if the end of your elbows are level.  But for me they look very similar, it’s not noticeable.

Surprisingly my arm has straightened almost completely on its own naturally without me having to do exercises to straighten it.  I didn’t even notice it had straighten it just happened.  It’s probably a couple of degrees out but it is still early days.  If you stand up against a wall with one arm and have your palm against the wall and force your arm straight by pushing your hip against the back of your elbow to make the front of your elbow touch the wall.  This is the kind of thing I used help straighten it and also to compare one arm to another.  Just see how far the inside of your elbow is from touching the wall compared to the other arm. Hope this helps.

I can lift 10kg dumbbells now if I strain a bit but am training with 8.5kg so strength is coming back.  I also tried swimming but could only do breast stroke initially.  Bringing the arm over and around to do freestyle/crawl was too painful but after 3 weeks I can do it.  Just takes time.  I also managed to work my bench press up to 40kg but still think my stronger arm is doing most of the work.  The main issue I have at the moment is not the straightness or the length; it is that rotationally the arm isn't quite right.  When you hold your arms out straight in front of you, palms facing upwards the inside of the elbow joint looks normal and level-ish.  This is true on my good arm but on the bad arm it's about 10 degrees or more out, rotating outwards.  Which is not a problem in itself because to others it looks normal and I have full movement but I am finding that when doing exercises like bench pressing my good arm will bend normally in a straight movement but my bad arm keeps wanting to bring the elbow down towards my feet/into my ribs instead of bringing the elbow behind body as normal.  A bit like if it was going to drive forwards it wants to push up towards my head a bit instead of using 100% power to drive off my chest and away from the body.  This is difficult to describe... it might be nothing and its still recovering but I’m just worried that it will kill my power and encourage bad techniques and bad development/excess stress on the elbow joint because its not bending normally.

Anyway will keep an eye on it, should have another x-ray next week or the week after.  Will post again then.  Think physio is ready to discharge me after 2 sessions, good news I suppose.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 10/28/2007 8:35:36 PM   
gabe

 

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Hi, Nick. Thanks for the reply.
When I wrote my last post, I still couldn't straighten my arm. Now my forearm is only a few degrees out from being on the straight line with my upper arm. After comparing with my good arm, I find I will need to hyperextend my elbow a little to make the forearm and the upper arm on a straight line. I'm doing preacher curl to fix that. My doctor still wasn't ok with me starting to lift weight again so I'm only doing 2.5kg bicep curl. I do heaps of swimming. I can do freestyle without any problems, it's breaststroke that hurts my arm a little.
About the length, my doctor said it'll be shorter because the lower part of the bone ended up at the higher position than before the break. it also applies to your pic as well. but i think he failed to see there's space beteen broken bones, and I think that kinda cancels out the lower bone displacement. Anyway, in my case, I didn't notice any length difference either. I'm worried about that because I have short arms(I'm only 1.7m tall) so I don't want it to be any shorter hehe.
My next appointment will be on the 3rd Dec. Hopefully by then the X-Ray will show a total bone reunion.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 11/5/2007 12:53:18 PM   
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Wow!  I never expected to find a forum specifically discussing spiral fractured humerous injuries!  I was just looking for estimations of healing time for FULL bone density recovery.(though if anyone has any input on that, please do tell)

I broke my humerous in February this year doing squats.  I was on my last warmup set (315lbs) and was doing a quick 3, after which I was going to put on the catch supports <sigh> and start my work sets.  I went down for my first rep, and had something twinge in my core.  I went forward into the cage, but unfortunately, my left side hit first, popped it out of my left hand, but not my right.  My right arm twisted backwards with the full weight in it, and I ended up with a spiral fracture in two places, the lowest of which was about 2 inches up from the elbow.  Basically, I had the bottom piece connected to the elbow, the much larger top piece connected to the shoulder, and a triangular middle piece in between the breaks that was about 1/4" at the inside of the arm, and 2.5" at the outside.

Fast forward a bit, and I got my cast off in May, after which I was in "Sugar tongs" and tensors until mid-July.  I've been slowly bringing everything back, and recently, I started the slow trek back to heavy deadlifting, though back squats are out until I get my shoulder back under control, as I have a hell of a time reaching back into that position, still.  It's gradually getting better, though.  My deadlift is back to 295 for an easy 3, but I'm not going crazy on it, until I'm sure I'm not going to reinjure the soft tissue.  My arm is also not quite straight, but it straightens far enough that I can lock my elbow as I start to rebuild my bench.

My problem now is getting all my tendons to restretch as far as they did before the accident.  Any tips?  Also, if anyone has info on how long before bone is likely to be back to 100%, I would appreciate it.  I'm 26, so I figure I'm still young enough that it should be healed, if not now, than damn soon.

Good luck to all with your healing!  May you make swift recoveries!

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 11/6/2007 3:10:54 PM   
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I read everyones experiences and thought I would add my own.  I'm a 6'0 190lb white male.  On 11/20/06 I suffered a distal fracture of my right humerous arm-wrestling.  At the time my bench max was around 275-300lbs.  The reason the fracture occured was simple.  I let my shoulder get inside my hand and snap!  There was drinking involved.  I went to the ER on friday night and they told me I needed to see an Orthopedist and they didn't have any and that I would have to wait until monday... looking back I should have went to a sports injury clinic that night... but didn't and waited til monday.  The pain wasn't that bad unless I moved. 

I did some research over the weekend and had a long talk with the doc on Monday.  There were basically 3 options:  1) plate and screws 2)rod 3)no surgery and wear a brace and let it heal naturally.  I went with the plate and screws, and here is why.

The rod was ruled out due to the location of the fracture.  If you cast/sling it will not heal perfectly straight.  They accept that as okay because of the fact that your shoulder rotates and even if your humerus isn't straight your shoulder will compensate.  The problem with a cast/sling is that it leaves your shoulder and elbow fix for a long period of time and there is a chance of losing your ROM longterm, even with PT.  Also, it is difficult to heal sometimes because when you move your arm tends to move too and slows the healing process and it PAINFUL.  They plate allows you to have full ROM in as little as 5 weeks, which I had.  It keeps your elbow and shoulder from "locking up."  They down side to the plate is a scar.  So I chose the plate.

What I haven't heard anyone mention is radial nerve palsy or "wrist drop." The nerve that controls your forarm is wrapped around you humerus.  25% of patients that break their humerus armwrestling experience this.  I did also.  This was by far the scariest part of the accident.  That is not knowing if you are going to be able to use your hand ever again.  At 6 months it started to come back. In between 6-8 months I was regaining strenght and now... 11 months later it is 100%.  I researched the palsy and found that 100% of the patients with nerve palsy from armwrestling made full recoveries yet I was still scared.  Imagine losing the function of your dominant hand.  You feel helpless.

It is now 11 months from the accident.  My bench is around 185-200lbs.  This will increase as i feel perfectly fine, but I am still working on the strength I lost from not using my arm for such a long period of time.

Closing comments.  You will get better.  Don't freak out.  Even if you have nerve palsy.  You just have to wait it out, which is hard for athletes to do.  I recommend getting a plate so you can start moving your arm as soon as possible (even though I couldn't move my hand from the palsy).  HANG IN THERE.  And don't arm wrestle!

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 12/1/2007 4:59:05 AM   
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Week 14 update.  Strengths coming back to normal now.  The doctor discharged me after 3 months and so did the physio.  I can bench 55kg no problems but I don’t want to push things too hard yet because the physio said I shouldn’t really do weights until 6 months has passed.  It feels pretty normal though so I have upped my dumbbells to 14kg which is close to what I had before the break (15kg) which is good.  It would seem that those fears of me not being able to bench properly or having an incorrectly arm action was all down to weakness in the arm and not any permanent problem because now I’m stronger the arm behaves normally in a nice clean action.  It just takes time to recover I suppose. 

I think movement is at almost if not 100% and strength is about >80%.  The biggest thing I noticed recently is at about the 3 month mark the swell of bone/cartilage which I can feel under the skin around me tricep area disappeared.  It was never visible but if you run your hand down the outside of the arm there was a dip and lump and I just thought that would be permanent although the docs said it might go down a bit.. and now it has.  It feels much more normal now, still a small bump but it feels a bit like that in the good arm so nothing major.  The only thing that might cause a slight twinge in the arm at the moment is very fast moments/jerks like air boxing for example but give it a couple of months and I’m sure it’ll be fine.  I have the latest and last x-ray pics which are unfortunately quite blurred.  Notice there is still a gap between the bones.  For some reason the x-ray guy covered the details of my own x-ray with his hand :s.

It seems that letting the arm heal naturally worked out well for me.  Good luck to everyone else recovering.  

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 12/1/2007 5:02:06 AM   
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Again 13 weeks from break. You may need to save the picture and then view it.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 12/2/2007 3:47:32 PM   
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it's been a few days shy of 4 months since the date of the injury. i'm discharged from out-patient clinic today. arm function is at almost 100% and strength is at about 80%. the guy saying that the arm will never be perfectly straight if you opt not to do the surgery is right. since my break is at the distal part of humerus, my forearm is now angulated inward about 5 degrees(varus deformity) and it's permanent. at the time of injury, i wasn't really given the options and the doc decided not to operate for me. I did some research online later and found out that my conditions certainly didn't warrant a surgery. so at least medically speaking, the doc made the right decision.  all in all i guess i can't really complain. 5 degrees of varus is not bad at all. 16 degrees is quoted as acceptable in the studies i found online. the arm feels a little different but it's not necessarily a bad thing. and surgery has its cons also.

the doc is ok with me starting to work out again, which i had been doing that for the last 6 weeks or so. i can do all the exercises i did before the injury without any problems although i can still feel a bit pain when the weight gets heavy. my bench and power clean are at 40kg. bicep curl is at 10kg. these all will improve in time. I'm back on track. to all of you having the same injury, good luck recovering! and don't arm wrestle again. i think people who arm wrestle need to be made more aware of the high risk of breaking your humerus.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 12/14/2007 5:30:46 PM   
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I broke my left humerus 5 1/2 weeks ago (I'm left handed). I broke it right at the top of the arm where the joint is and had quite a few breaks in the bone. I've had quite a few broken bones in the past but this one has turned out to be the worst - despite my expectations. I'm a 37 year old male, 6'1", 156 lbs and was very fit as I was a competitive endurance athlete. I broke it in a dirtbike accident (among other injuries at the time) and spent 4 days in the hospital trauma centre. Doctors decided not to do surgery but to check on it regularly to make sure it was healing well. If it wasn't then they would do surgery. It turns out they won't have to do surgery - thank goodness.

I spent the first week and a half in a sling and then no sling from there on out. (Doctors didn't tell me to sleep sitting up although I've since read that it is often recommended as gravity helps keep the arm in a bit of traction.) When I used the sling I had to take my arm out of the sling several times a day and do ROM (range of motion) exercises. My elbow swelled up and my whole arm and part of my chest was bruised. I developed carpal tunnel symptoms in my wrist and an infection in my elbow due to all the swelling. My elbow, forearm and wrist often hurt more than my break. As many people do, I thought the Dr. may have missed an elbow injury. This was not the case. I had to take antibiotics for the infection and it took about 3 1/2 weeks for infection to go away.

When I left the hospital they put me on Tylenol 3 with codeine and that's what I've been using since then. The pain is worse than the 3 broken ankles and other injuries I've had in the past. The doctors say it's because it's a high impact injury. I celebrate when I'm able to sleep for more than 2-2 1/2 hrs at a time. Two T3's are not usually enough to kill the pain and I often have to use an ice pack (gel) on my arm to numb the pain which allows me to fall asleep. Because of the injury I can only sleep in one position and this makes it harder to stay asleep. My whole body gets sore and I usually wake up in 2 to 3 hours, at which time I get another ice pack and try to go back to sleep. In the day time the pain is chronic and makes it hard for me to concentrate if I'm not on pain killers. I use an ice pack to reduce the swelling and manage the pain. Those gel packs are way better than ice! At this point I use 1-5 T3's a day and try to tough it out without the medication.

For the first 5 weeks after the injury my ROM and strength was so limited that I feared that I had nerve damage or something and that my arm would never recover. Then very quickly my strength and ROM started to improve. When I say quickly I just mean that it was almost overnight where I was able move my arm a bit. At this point, when standing I can only lift my arm forward 2' from straight at my side and about 1 1/2' out to the side. If I'm laying on my side I cannot lift my elbow away from my rib cage. I'm always lifting my broken arm with my other arm. I do daily ROM and strength exercises and have started to be more positive about this injury now that I see improvements. Be patient with this injury. The pain with this injury is usually quite high for 1-2 months and it takes quite a while to rehab it. I've found that using a broom stick handle has really been helpful in doing rehab exercises. Be creative with it and find different ways to use the stick to increase your ROM and strength. Good luck with your rehabilitation and stay positive.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 12/23/2007 1:52:41 AM   
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7 week update (1 1/2 weeks since last post)
I can notice the muscles building up in my shoulder and my ROM is improving a bit everyday. I stopped using Tylenol 3's with codeine about a week ago because they didn't seem to be working anymore and I'm a bit worried about the possibility of becoming addicted to them (nasty things often happen to people who take prescription meds for an injury that remains painful for a prolonged period). In addition T3's contain caffeine which can make it hard to sleep.

My biggest problem now is that I have INSOMNIA. I am only able to sleep about 1 1/2 - 4 hours each night. This has been going on for about a week and it's making me kinda crazy. I've never had insomnia before. My arm still aches and I'm able to 'suck it up' without meds during most of the day but the aching pain interferes with my ability to fall asleep. I use ibuprofin or extra strength tylenols but they don't seems to help much. I try not to use pain killers because they aren't very good for your body. That being said, people that use pain medication in the period right after injuries apparently heal faster and have fewer complications than those who don't use pain medications. I'm obviously past that early stage.

I need pain killers after I do my physiotherapy routine (about 35-40 minutes of continuous ROM and strength exercises), and I've found that doing physio every second day helps me more than doing it everyday. It makes sense from what we've learned from bodybuilding. There's also the exercise one gets from just going through the daily routine which is a workout in itself to some extent. Hopefully it won't be long before I'm able to sleep again- I sure don't want to use sleeping pills from all the stuff I've read about them.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 1/20/2008 12:15:34 AM   
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11 week update
Pain is low enough now for me to go through the day and sleep without any painkillers. I still have chronic pain but it's not usually enough to keep me from sleeping. I'm struggling with increasing my range of motion (ROM) and have to start going to physiotherapy every week. When I get to the edge of my ROM I experience acute pain. My upper arm only goes up about 50 degrees from horizontal when I lift it in front of me with assistance from my other arm. When I lift it out to my side I can't get it above horizontal. I can't hold it horizontally and need to lift it into that position with a pole. I'm concerned that I'll never have 100% full ROM but the doctor seems confident. I didn't tell the doctor how much it hurts when I do physio but I don't think it'll make much difference. I hope I don't have any complicating problems with my shoulder. I was lifting 2lb weights for the last 2 weeks but the doctor said I shouldn't do ANY weights until I get 100% range of motion. Even typing on this computer hurts. Oh well, I'm lucky things weren't worse. Having the injury at the top of my humerus must be causing more problems than breaking it somewhere in the middle.

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RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 1/31/2008 8:23:05 PM   
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Well, my saga has been going on for 6 months now.  Broke my humerus, midshaft after a fall at a work function in SF in late June. Pretty bad break as you can see from the picture. 

Went 3 months treating conservatively, but it didn't heal.  Decided on the surgery and had it October 5.  Bone is pretty healed, but still not filled in at the 3 month mark, but am hoping for it to be completed in February.

I was doing pretty good on lifting before the accident, 185 bench, trainer 3 days a week.  Just started going back this week.  How did you all ease back into chest exercises?  I'm still a little shy about using that arm or strainig it.  And I'm not supposed to lift anything over ten pounds yet.





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(in reply to dirtrider)
Email Author Private Message Add Member To Cotnact List Block Member Post #: 38
RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 3/7/2008 10:59:33 AM   
vinci1238

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 3/6/2008
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quote:

7 weeks in the hope that the bone would form a union naturally


broke arm 2/14/08 like yours...clean break, spiral fracture [and everyone else here/same reason]. 7 weeks heal is good.  I just switched to a Sarmiento brace today...no open surgery..scared, will i ever get my old arm back ever?? :(
--------------------
~Week 14 week update.  Decided to just add to my entry. Saw xrays today Could still see fracture. NickUK looks like he had more bone on a lateral pic, but doc said it was good. There's a slight gap as in NickUK's pick, but this just means it'll take longer to fill in the spongy bone in the center. Started PT early this month and have gotten most ROM back. Still need help hyperextending arm, supinating (palms up) the forearm, and getting the frozen shoulder to unfreeze in the farthest Ranges of motion. I'm still trying to get back my life in the gist of things and after seeing some horrible videos on utube, I even wrote a contact email to PAC (proarmwrestling conference) to put some warnings on their espn shows bc they glorify such a dangerous sport that people definitely dont know any better.

< Message edited by vinci1238 -- 5/23/2008 7:21:22 PM >

(in reply to bergkamp10)
Email Author Private Message Add Member To Cotnact List Block Member Post #: 39
RE: Humerus fracture recovery - 4/10/2008 10:41:46 PM   
tprice1980

 

Posts: 1
Joined: 4/10/2008
Status: offline
Need a little help!  Here is my story late last June I was playing on my softball team and i was throwing a ball from the outfield to the catcher for a play at the plate before you know it I looked at my arm and it looked like it was dangling there with no life.  I had spiral fractured my humurus in my right arm. The doctor had to do surgery where he inserted 2 plates and six screws on top of it I had radial and axillery nerve damage to my arm hand and wrist. 

I had to wear this crazy contraption on my hand so my fingers could go up and down freely it was like a rubberband mechanism with rods and bands.  It looked like a freddy kruegger hand, crazy stuff.  Anyway at the time of the break I was in tip top shape and stronger then ever.  My doctor couldnt explain why it happened he said it was a freak accident.  Two months prior to the incident me and a friend were wrestling around and he put me in an armbar and pulled up to far my elbow hurt for a month but I worked the pain away at the gym.  I think he hairline fractured my arm but the doc said it cant be.

My nerves took forever to come back to the point where I had to see a nerve specialist he told me that it probably happened because my muscles and tendons were tight. My arm, wrist and hand literally did not have function till February this year eight months after surgery.  My hand is still a little tingley and my arm is sometimes sore when i wake up in the morning.  I also have a little pain by my elbow as well.

Anyway I am back at the gym trying to get back to being in the best physical shape I can be.  The summertime is coming and the ladies do not want and out of shape tub a lard.  It is real tough from benching 265 to now literally 65 pounds.  I used to curl 45's now its 15's.  I do not really care about my strength that much at this point I am trying to get lean and cut but I still want to be strong at the same time.

What exercises can I do to strengthen my right arm in the quickest time possible without hurting myself?



(in reply to gabe)
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