UKC

Hi all,

On thursday I was forced to brake very suddenly on a main road as a car drove straight in front of me. I was catapulted over the handlebars and landed on my left arm.

The bike is fine.

My left arm is fine.

My right arm, however, is very odd indeed. X ray produced little sign of damage but I cannot lift hand to neck or head, and can barely lift a mug of tea. Had it immobilised over the entire weekend as well. Why is the arm so unresponsive?

Anybody had similar injuries? Cheers

In reply to Hans: I had a right radial head fracture after flipping over like you did back in June. It took 3 weeks to be useable enough for me to feel normal, and its only now really that Id say its completely back to normal (I.e. I can do chin ups, one arm pressups etc again)
Its just needs rest and a light sling for a week or two. Dont rush it, it does take time. 3 months perhaps back to full strength? Avoid taking analgesics if you can as it will only mask any pain and mean itll take longer to heal

In reply to owena: thanks for the info. The hospital took the sling off me saying that any damage was muscular really. It hurts and aches loads at the moment and I'm hoping that come Monday next week, it will feel more normal.

It feels like it's on the verge of pins and needles all the time so I guess there's been significant tissue damage.

In reply to Hans: yeah you will have torn some muscles which do take a surprising amount of time to heal. Even when the muscle soreness wears off you will still have a weak sensation when you try and load it in a certain way. That also eases off. Its one of the better ways to break your arm really considering.

In reply to owena: Well, it's a few days since the sling was taken off. I've been involving the arm into basic, everyday activities, and thought I'd keep posting my progress until it makes a decent recovery. Partly because someone else may have a problem and be curious as to times of healing etc, and partly so that I can gain as much insight into the physiology of this as possible.

So in summary:

I can type with my right hand, raise my hand to around two or three inches from my mouth (cannot yet feed myself with it), can raise a pot of tea to below shoulder height. Cannot lift a full carton of milk. Certainly cannot climb... every thursday, apart from tomorrow, I'll post.

It feels incredibly slow, sluggish, weak, and at night sometimes a bit painful. Taking advice from owena, I have stopped taking painkillers and other medicine.

cheers, I'm interested as to when I'll post that I've been climbing again!!

In reply to Hans:
Considered going to a physio to potentially achieve a faster recovery?

In reply to Hans:
I'll second the physio suggestion - they're good for offering practical recovery steps

heres what the physio will probably recommend - i did this which might have helped a bit

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files%5C101109radialhead.pdf

I couldnt bring anything to my mouth for about 10 days with that hand i.e. toothbrush, and I found that drying my head / neck with a towel was really hard. Dont push it just do what your body will let you. Being patient is very frustrating.

In reply to owena:

"Avoid taking analgesics if you can as it will only mask any pain and mean itll take longer to heal"

This is total nonsense!!!!

In reply to TomBaker: I have decided against physio for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I have experienced muscular damage before and find that just everyday normal functioning, whilst a pain in the arse, is sufficient for a full recovery despite a marginally slower pace.

Secondly, it costs unless I join a long waiting list full of people who are actually in need of urgent attention.

I prefer to note what happens so others can perhaps be helped or made to feel less nervous/irritated about the entire thing if they also have a similar accidents. There's an awful lot of cyclists on here.

Thanks for the concern and interest!

In reply to owena: God yes, I dare not shave, I'd probably have several gashes on my face after! Simple tasks have become a f**king nightmare lol. And my main job is belaying hahaha!

Cheers

In reply to dj_brigham05:

Agreed. Total claptrap. Certainly in the first couple of weeks when the pain is likely to be worst I would say take pain killers. Ibuprofen would be the best for muscular injuries (you probably knew that anyways).
Be careful however not to do too much with that arm if you were told to rest it. Taking pain killer may mask the pain of doing too much and lengthen the recovery time. If you are sensible though taking pain killers is a good idea

In reply to dj_brigham05: scientifically it may make no sense, but then again I ain't in a position to judge.

However, i'm glad that my arm screams in pain if I roll on it in the night for example. Painkillers masking such pain might actually make an injury worse.

But please, if you have any beneficial knowledge put it down on the table...

Cheers

In reply to climber david: For everyone's info, I was told by the first doctor to keep it still for 10 days. The second one was incredulous and claimed I should move it as much as possible.

Being an impatient, impulsive, massively stubborn bastard, I immediately started moving it. Progress is happening in leaps and bounds. ROM greatly improved. Speed appallingly slow, and ability to lift/lower shockingly reduced.

Cheers

In reply to Hans:

No convincing body of evidence to suggest that NSAID (ibuprofen, diclofenac etc) use is detrimental to muscle or bone healing. Same goes for paracetamol and codeine/opiate based painkillers.

As already said rehab is the ultimate goal and I wouldn't worry too much about masking of pain. If you are comfortable then this will allow you to mobilise you elbow more which will ultimately improve healing time.

Have you tried ice?

From NHS website

http://www.nhsinform.co.uk/msk/treatment/painkillers

Take them regularly, not just when you are sore, for the next three to four days only

Anyway, whatever you think, be there evidence or not (but remember 'evidence' changes all the time with new research etc)
To me it makes sense not to mask the pain as it is not natural and you should listen to what your body is telling you.

In reply to Hans:

I fractured my left radial head coming off my bike. Only, this showed up as a thin crack on the X-ray. The difficult with movement is probably down to swelling - how is it now?

I took ibuprofen during the worst of the pain - about a week. Wore a sling whilst out and about until about the 4th week. Did some light swimming after 4 weeks which seemed to help (a lot). The doctor advised that I try to move it as much as possible without causing excessive pain - at first I could not fully flex my arm. I was using my muscles to flex part of the way and then passively flexing using my other arm until reaching what seemed like enough pain. After about 6 weeks I could almost touch my shoulder. After 8 weeks I was down at the bouldering wall using my arm tentatively. I recovered about 95% of my range of motion - still can't quite grasp hold of my humeral head on the same side like I can with my right arm. All injuries are different of course, yours may be more or less severe than mine - hope it goes well.

In reply to Jimbo C: Hi Jimbo C,

Swelling has basically gone now, thankfully. I haven't been taking Diclofenac or painkillers for about five days and, apart from some agonising moments, it has been mostly pain free.

The doctor confiscated my sling but that made me think that I didn't need it so I've been nervously taking great care when out and about to make sure I don't knock it or something. It turns an average shopping trip into a carefully calculated kinetic adventure lol. Man that sounds and reads really badly but I'm not editing this sh*t.

Swimming at 4 weeks sounds great but not sure if I'd be up to that. A really hot bath has been doing wonders, loosening up the muscles and diminishing the pain. There'sjust not that much strength left in it, although it does increase on a daily basis.

I can almost raise a cup of tea to my mouth, really struggled with eating last night, and shaving this morning may just be possible. I tried to lift a rucksack of basic climbing gear last night and got to within an ace of getting it off the floor but nevermind. That's for next week!!

Had a very interesting conversation with the witness to the accident this morning and he said that he saw me do a complete sumersault and the bike crashed on top of my arm which is what I suspected. I do not remember it at all...crazy.