I did mine in November- 8 weeks sounds about right. Mine was non dis-placed. They did not do anything for it.
Hurt like fuck for a long time- (I am guessing that you know that). So much attatches right there.
My doc told me to move it as much as I can as soon as I can- I have full extension. Did not even go to physical therapy.
I could ride soon after but it hurt a lot and I could not really put weight on that side. Shifting and braking hurt quite a bit. I rode my tt bike a bunch. I could ride that realatively pain free- I did all my shifting with the other hand for both levers.
It was about 4 weeks before I felt like I was not in danger riding my road bike.
If you like to run and can avoid falling- that may be a better activity.
By now I can do tons of push-up again. Pull-ups too. even reverse grip. Reverse grip was too painful at 8 weeks.

hurt like fuck sounds about right, thanks for the feedback. ill though it out over the next couple of weeks.. even got the tacx out of the attic today, will try to do some pedaling sitting upright to not completely lose my leg muscle.

I could not weight it or really push with it for some time. It had this "don't move me" lockdown on it. Rotating the forearm was quite painful as well. Your bodies way of saying "I am broken!"

My experience with a fractured elbow/radial head caused by a bike crash was this: Ortho said no cast or immobilization was necessary, and you can begin to exercise again as you can tolerate the pain. Was running and riding the trainer 6 days after the crash, and was riding outside on a TT-specific bike 1 week after that. Note that I could not have ridden a road bike at that time, as the pain was too much to support my upper body with an extended arm. Note further that my wife had strong (and correct) objections to riding outside so soon--so did the ortho, when he found out about it after the fact. Began swimming and doing some push-ups and pull-ups 3 weeks after the crash. Full recovery took six weeks or so, and I have not had any long term issues. But it sounds like my fracture was not nearly as severe as yours. Good luck.

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Scrubbie

Ditto here. Stopped going to the doctor after I realized he was going to charge me to do nothing. No cast, no surgery, no PT no nothing. I have *almost* full range of motion but it is only noticeable when I do that one yoga pose where you lay on your arms. I can't do that. I started riding the trainer 2 weeks later, road bike 4. In hindsight i think i started riding outside too early, should of given it at least another week or two.

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Ride Scoozy Electric Bicycles
http://www.RideScoozy.com

First off, I'd be quite thankful that the degree of injury is such that surgery seems to be not required and that unlike some, you'll not have the have the radial head replaced with a prosthetic one. There can be significant issues down the line when that occurs.

So, I'd suggest that you don't put yourself in a position that, if you had to break a fall with this arm either cycling or running, that you could change this minor problem into a major one. As they say, let pain be your guide understanding that as a triathlete you may have a higher pain tolerance than some. If you are patient now, your potential for a good recovery and long term success are good.

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John H. Post, III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Charlottesville, VA

Not a radial head. But I sustained an olecranon fracture 12 weeks ago.

I'm back on the bike now - I've been blogging about the injury in the hopes it would help someone else, with regard to physio and the exercises, and most importantly the issues I encountered at http://www.titaniumgeek.com

I'd be very interested to know if anyone has any advice for actually building up my balance and confidence on the bike again. I've still very powerful legs on the trainer, but not feeling very stable outside over about 35km/hr

thanks

James

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TitaniumGeek - James Gill
[image]https://i2.wp.com/titaniumgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Screen-Shot-2017-09-28-at-16.51.00.jpg?w=991&ssl=1[/image]

I fractured my radial head at the start of 2014, was a good 8 week recovery and hurt like hell, didn't sleep for about 3 days. As for movement, I was very worried about getting it back but it eventually came good. The hard part is trying to force some movement using your good arm to twist the broken one to get the rotation back, it hurts like hell but that's what the physio wanted me to do. Took me a while before i could get the palm of hand facing up, but it's all fine now, elbow feels weaker than my non broken one but it gives me no trouble.

I had a radial head fracture last summer. I started swimming (one arm) about 5 weeks after, running 6 weeks after. Wore a sling for about 4 weeks. I was back on the bike about 7 weeks after. No displacement so only treatment was time.

I broke both right and left. It was a couple of weeks before I was back to light activities, and about 6 before I was back to full training. I did the home exercises as much as possible, that seemed to help. Along with lots of ibuprofen and ice. Good luck.

I had a nondisplaced radial head fracture after supermaning off my bike. It was in October, so I flipped my stem up to raise the bars and rode 1 handed on the trainer for a couple of months. This was a couple of years ago now, so I can't quite remember how long it was until I felt like I could ride outside, seems like it was about 3 months before I got back on the commuter. Took a lot longer before swimming was pain free. I still feel like a have a few degrees less extension of that elbow, but it has not seemed to affect anything. IE swimming, golf, throwing all feel perfectly normal. As to follow up doctor visits: the first xray may not show the full extent of the fracture. As the fracture heals bone is resorbed and the fracture line becomes more apparent. So what could initially look like a nonoperative fracture may turn into an operative fracture. And you don't want to have to have a radial head replacement, it is not an awesome surgery. So don't skip the follow up. Good luck!