I tried to do a one handed handstand with my Mtn. Bike this past Friday. Yes it was an epic fail. I have a non displaced fracture of the radial head. So I’m lucky, it could be lots worse - bones heal. For you who have done the same how long did it take to recover , do you have full range of motion ? What forms of rehab did you use ? Any advice about this type of injury would be useful. Thanks and be careful. P.S. Orthopedist said to go easy and let some healing take place for 2 weeks and will re-xray to see where were at. Then we start rehab if all is well. Also trying not to drive the family too crazy !!
My daughter had a similar injury. It happened in mid-June. She was a swimmer at the time. She was back in the pool, at least doing kick sets, within 3-4 weeks and swimming full time by mid August.
She was actually cleared to get back in the pool before she was cleared to ride her bike to practice. Her doc was concerned about her falling off her bike and re injuring it but he was very keen on her using her arm as soon as she could.
Do the rehab (can’t remember the specifics but most of it was just basic movement). From what we learned during the process, one of biggest threats of an elbow break is permanent loss of range of motion.
Takes 6 weeks to heal. If it like mine, it will hurt like f**k for most of those 6 weeks.
I had to stop riding for most of that time. It was just too painful to ride. Probably could have ridden on the trainer
but even putting weight on the arm hurt.
It was like my body put a full lockdown on the use of that joint.
Hope you like to run- that is what I did for those 6 weeks.
Formal rehab was not necessary for me. Range of motion and strength came back quickly.
My experience with this condition was that only a relatively short recovery time is required.
Specifically, one week of no activity (doctor’s orders, spouse enforced), and then the only limiter (per the doctor) was how much pain I was willing to tolerate. I don’t recall the pain being much of a factor after the mandatory down time, except for this: (1) riding in the aero bars on the trainer or outside was mildly uncomfortable for a few weeks; and (2) when riding outside, bumps in the road were quite painful for several months, regardless of hand position (i.e., on the aero bars, drops or bullhorns). No rehab was prescribed and there were no range of motion issues. I was swimming after a week as well.
Note: I had two separate fractures, one in the right and one in the left elbow, from separate bike crashes. I believe both fractures were relatively mild–hopefully yours is, too.
Good luck to you, and heal quick.
I think a lot of this depends on your age and the nature/severity of the injury. I was 42 when I had a displaced fracture that required surgery to repair. That was very painful with a slow process, though I did intensive physical therapy starting 3 days post-op.
Strength is probably 90% in that arm now, 3+ yrs post injury. I don’t have the same range of motion I had before, but it is within what would otherwise be normal for people who aren’t blessed with wacko swimmer joint flexibility (i.e., my elbow used to hyper-extend by probably 7-10 degrees, and now I can just get to zero on good days). In terms of rehab, I couldn’t run, bike or swim for probably 6-8 weeks. Post that time, it was to pain tolerance, but swimming and esp cycling with hands on hoods or drops remains potentially painful, even now, if I go over about an hour or two. As for running, even the normal ‘bounce’ of running was initially painful; now that is very much improved, but my elbow gets very stiff on runs over about 50-70 min just based on carrying it bent as normal at the elbow. After I go surfing or padding, it’s ice and 800mg of Advil … not willing to give up doing what I love, but am resigned to eventual arthritis in the joint and I can just about guarantee when it is going to rain now 
My advice, though obvious, is avoid surgery if you can (it’s a long, painful recovery), and do your P-T religiously. Since injury, I have gone back to PT periodically and it really helps, esp massage/rolling/self-ART to break up scar tissue.
Good luck!
Thanks everyone, yes hurts like f**k. I just turned 58 so healing might take a little longer. I just range of motion back so I can swim again. I have a pretty decent pain tolerance so I think I can deal with rehab ok. Just need some patience , not something I’m noted for. Hopefully I can keep the good attitude and not drive my wife and kids nuts. But hey we triathletes aren’t the most patient anyway.
The injury will keep you honest because it will hurt too much when you do things that you
shouldn’t be doing.
Thanks Bootsie , hope your right as I’m particularly stubborn. Just ask my wife , who’s just as stubborn - good combo huh !
Your type of elbow fracture has the best outcome. Immobilization is usually not necessary. 2 weeks to start rehab sounds about right when you can work on range of motion of forearm.
I tried to do a one handed handstand with my Mtn. Bike this past Friday. Yes it was an epic fail. I have a non displaced fracture of the radial head. So I’m lucky, it could be lots worse - bones heal. For you who have done the same how long did it take to recover , do you have full range of motion ? What forms of rehab did you use ? Any advice about this type of injury would be useful. Thanks and be careful. P.S. Orthopedist said to go easy and let some healing take place for 2 weeks and will re-xray to see where were at. Then we start rehab if all is well. Also trying not to drive the family too crazy !!
Like TallTim, I also had a displaced radial head fracture that required surgery. Cast was off in four weeks and I started physio right away; lots of painful massage helped, but stretching was the key. I worked for at least 6 months, every day, stretching and extending the elbow before range of motion was acceptable. The good news is that after a year, I had 100% range of motion back and was back on my mtb. The bad news is that four years later (and I assume forever) there are certain actions/motions that are quite painful. Any type of bicep curl or chin up with supination hurts (easy fix to do hammer curls), and when I keep the elbow bent sharply to hang on to my kids’ feet during shoulder rides it gets really stiff and hurts like heck to extend (easy fix is to mtfu). Go to physio, be patient, listen to the pain, and you’ll heal up fine.
This past winter I broke the radial head off at the wrist and was put into an above the elbow cast to immobilize my arm from twisting. Everything healed fine; I was in a cast for 6 weeks (actually had 5 casts thanks to my wife who’s in the loop) and eventually cut it off myself 2 weeks early. The night I broke my arm I used amazon to order my own supply of 3M goretex waterproof cast padding. What a life saver! I was able to swim/bike(trainer)/run/ shower with no special considerations because the cast padding fully dries within an hour and eliminates concerns for tissue maceration and infections. Good stuff. Good luck with recovery!
I had this injury just over two years ago - involved me on my bicycle (going quite slowly on cobblestone) and an oblivious pedestrian steeping right out in front of me. My fracture was type 2 (if I remember correctly), so my arm was immobilized for three weeks. Once the cast came off, I was greeted by a very atrophied forearm. But despite the level of atrophy, I was glad that my doctor told me to keep moving the shoulder, otherwise I would have had problems there as well. PT was quite painful for the first two weeks, but the improvements were noticeable. I was surprised that gaining full range of motion in my wrist (which was not broken, just partially immobilized) was almost as painful as my elbow. One week after the cast was off, I started running again. I could have started earlier, but thought it better to take it easy. About 3-4 months later, I could do most activities without a problem. A year later, I was pretty much back to normal - perhaps still not quite as strong as before, but I had full range of motion back. As one poster already mentioned, there are still one or two movements, where I still notice that something isn’t exactly right, but nothing debilitating. Final remark, besides the degree of the fracture, it probably makes a difference if you break your dominant arm or not. If you break your dominant arm, while more frustrating, I feel that you are more likely to get back to normal because you are constantly trying to “push” the full ability of the joint and muscles.
Ciao
Not humorous?
Well, it was neither my humerus that I broke, and I certainly did not find breaking my arm because someone wasn’t paying attention humorous
Ciao
.
Yours was a distal radial (not radial head) fracture. There are a few types that involve the wrist joint. As you said, casting above the elbow prevents your forearm bones from rotating. Likely, the cast also prevented your hand from turning. Sounds like you did your own serial casting. Why? I imagine you did it to get progressively more movement at the elbow and wrist for sport, and it could be you ended up with a cast bracelet. OK, some of my patients have done exactly that, so probably why I am suspicious. I hope you were warned that distal radial fractures almost always involve some articular cartilage damage (that can only be visualized on MRI) even if the fracture itself is not intra-articular. Weight bearing on the wrist joint before full regeneration of the articular cartilage increases the risk of early wrist osteoarthritis. Just saying…
This past winter I broke the radial head off at the wrist and was put into an above the elbow cast to immobilize my arm from twisting. Everything healed fine; I was in a cast for 6 weeks (actually had 5 casts thanks to my wife who’s in the loop) and eventually cut it off myself 2 weeks early. The night I broke my arm I used amazon to order my own supply of 3M goretex waterproof cast padding. What a life saver! I was able to swim/bike(trainer)/run/ shower with no special considerations because the cast padding fully dries within an hour and eliminates concerns for tissue maceration and infections. Good stuff. Good luck with recovery!
2005 I had both fractured going over my bike thanks to a car and hand standing hard onto the pavment. I did Hawaii ironman 21 days later with pain and hockey tape to limit range of motion. Not ideal.
I did alot of strength training and sculling in the water leading up for about a week after the swelling went down. I couldn’t bend my elbows more then 10 degrees before kona the day after though they felt almost 100% better.
Take your time getting back you can still run and I suggest don’t swim till you can bend your elbow well or else you may develop a bad habit of staying straight armed well swimming.
.
Thanks very much, doing the Kona tomorrow. Not. That’s a phenomenal recovery , you must be one tough guy. I figure I’ve got the off season for strengthening and rehab. So other than a severe deficit of endorphins I’m doing ok, walking a hour or more a day.
I did the same thing once - swelled up instantly but was 90% right within 5 weeks, just a bit hard to straighten completely. then slowly got back the full range
rule of thumb for fractures is 6 weeks healing
there are different kinds of radial head fractures - a crack on the top of the joint (what I had) , or a split down the side, or a spiral around the neck etc. and they grade it in three categories.
complications are if you , break the radius right through (yours is nondisplaced so no worries there) , tear ligament holding it against your ulna, or if you damage nerve (numbness and tingling).
a physio can give you get rid of the swelling to help bloodflow, maybe put a compression bandage on it to keep it warm get the swelling out fast, and remind you to take it easy, stretches and manual therapy keep the joints loose if you need to get into swimming quickly etc.
it might also good to sleep with your arm on a extra pillow to keep from rolling onto it
soaking it in ice water during the first 48 hours keeps inflammation to a minimum and they say that it might make it less painful and get the healing phase started earlier
pain killers like tylenol might slow healing, and its usually good to know when you might be hurting it
some studies recommend eating more calcium , others don’t, some recommend vitamin D, and some sport medical centers have bone growth stimulators to heal fractures faster. There are some good studies that say they work but its not always clear if someone got pad to make them
at the end (after a month or two) if it stays hard to turn your wrist out or straighten your elbow as far as the other side, then just see a physio who should be able to sort it out in a couple of visits
Thanks I’ve been taking Calicum and vitamin C and eating yogurt. As well as ice cream . I hope in a couple of weeks the x-ray will show healing and I can begin some rehab. I just need to remain patient - not my best trait. Thanks for the suggestions.
I broken my radial head on May 5th, 2013 during a woman’s tackle football game. A woman clipped my shoulder running after our quarterback, which knocked me off balance causing me to land on my right arm while it was outstretched behind me. OMG the pain was so intense that I puked! lol I just got in the house from shoveling snow on the driveway. I could only shovel half of the driveway due to the pain, which is the reason why I am surfing the net to figure out how long it takes for this type of break to fully heal. I did 3 months of physio and strengthening. I still do not have full strength and my grip strength is still only about half(I think)! I still have troubles opening jars and lids that are super tight! Sometimes when I turn my arm a certain way I get this feeling that my arm bone is catching on something. Its the weirdest feeling and I get a sick feeling in my stomach. I have full ROM, but if I hold out both arms with palms up… the one that was broken looks warped lol I try to do the physio exercises at least 3x’s a week and I don’t see much of a improvement other than it works better than when I first broke it. Other people that I have spoken to that have had the same type of break say… Their arm has never been the same!! I hope your arm is healed!!