Radial head fracture?
General Topic
Anyone ever break their radius bone? Curious on recovery. I had a far fall off a roof and got a radial head fracture. Luckily something worse didn’t happen considering. Hoping recovery is fairly quick. This is my drawing arm.
Ouch. Hope you heal fast!! Was that work related?
Wow, you must have hit hard !
I would think it would mend pretty fast, especially for a young guy like you. Much faster recovery, than a shoulder surgery, I'm guessing. That's assuming that you don't have any major ligament and/or tendon tears.
I fell off my roof and broke radial heads on the same fall. My breaks were more towards the edge of the head. My ortho doc did not put any casts or splints on. He said my breaks were stable and he wanted me to move the joints as much and as soon as I could to help regain full range of motion.
I think I started PT after 6 weeks and it took about another 6 weeks to gain most of my motion back. I bought one of those bow trainers with multiple weight bands to keep my muscles somewhat in shape. My bow arm is what held me up the longest. Any time I pushed on anything heavy (even heavy doors) it caused a lot of pain. I ended up with about 95% of my motion back and get a little pain with big weather changes.
I fell in October and hunted with a crossbow for the rest of the season. I believe I was back to shooting normal in the spring but I'd say you'll be close by the time this season rolls around.
My wife broke hers the day after thanks giving. Opted not to do surgery and started pt after 8 weeks. About 6 weeks of pt and was doing well. Good luck!
Here in MA I believe once you use the crossbow your stuck for life even if your fine later for a compound.
^...Spike....is that for real? That seems messed up if it's true.
Ermine, I am an ER doc. That will heal fine and shouldn’t cause any long term problems. Usually treated with a sling and exercises to get you back to full extension of your arm. Your Ortho doc will give you some exercises and you should be able to shoot pretty soon. Definitely by fall you should be set. Hope that helps.
Damn
How far did you fall and do you land on it?
Is there periostitis distally Steve or is that normal for human critters?
The typical radial head fracture is a transverse and doesn't affect the joint. Those are managed in a sling and people get back to normal quickly. This is an intra-articular fracture. Till that fracture heals in 6 weeks, every time you draw a bow or lift anything, you're putting pressure on the end of the bone and pushing the fracture fragment off in a sheering motion. This type of fracture is treated with non-weight bearing and especially no shooting for 6 weeks. You should be doing range of motion exercises starting day 15. I've sent your xray to two different orthopedists now and they've both said the same thing, although they work together - still...
You're risking arthritis and daily pain if you don't treat it right and there's a good chance you'll end up with arthritis in it anyways.
I fell about 20 feet. Landed kind of on my right side. Hit my heel hip and landed on palm. Got an x ray of arm and heel last week. Had it in splint
Just went to orthopedic dr today. He said what Steve and Ike said. Just keep in a sling for a few weeks. Try to stretch it out so the elbow doesn’t loose too much range of motion. Go back in a few weeks to check healing.
So sounds like pretty good considering what could have happened. I won’t lift anything or shoot bow until I know it’s healed and then hopefully ease into things.
IdyllwildArcher gave correct advice. one of the main problems with this fracture is loss of motion even in a nondisplaced fracture which is why motion is started early. It is important not to stress the fracture when working on motion so as not to displace the fracture. I would not allow pulling a bow for at least 6 weeks
Glad your OK. You are very lucky that's all that happened.
Go buy a lottery ticket if Covid hasn't outlawed the sale of them yet.
Glad to hear you will be ok Justin, good luck on the rehab.
Glad to hear it wasn't more serious.
I did a very minor version of that years back jamming my arm trying brave myself and not flip off the back of a quad. Didn't realize until a few month later when I couldn't straighten my arm that I had a problem. Xray showed a small fracture.
Thanks. I’m glad it wasn’t worse. Could have been my leg or back or neck or something. Here is a different angle. The 1st pic makes it look like two cracks. But I think it’s just one crack.
Injury and divorce can change a mans life for sure!
Don't over do it and listen to not only your Dr. but also your body.
Keep the faith man,
Robb
I have had a lot of shoulder damage over the years. I had a total replacement last year. I fractured the radial head of my right shoulder in spring football workouts my first year in college. Wore a sling a few weeks and rehabbed myself. I was back to hitting with no restrictions in a little over 6 weeks. Do as doctor says and it will heal fine. Hell I was back to shooting 60#s after total shoulder replacement in 11 weeks. Shawn
Dang, Justin....glad it wasn't worse!
Hey Justin, I'm no doctor just happy it wasn't a worse outcome. Wish you the best of luck in recovery and on your hunts this fall. It almost isn't fair that you'll be healed up by then. The animals nearly, almost had a chance.
Hang in there and do what doctors tell you and you should be fine. I think a 20 foot fall would break every bone in my body. Your young and lucky. Get well soon.
Thanks guys. I’m hoping it heals quick.
Update:
Arm feels better. I’ve been using it for everyday things just not lifting anything with it. I went to the Doctor yesterday to have arm checked out. It’s been 3 weeks since It occurred. He x rayed it and the fracture looked relatively the same to me. Not a lot of change. That was kind of discouraging as I was thinking it would be healed up more than it was. But maybe I had false sense of reality..He said it takes awhile to heal. I was just thinking it would-be healed more than it was.
I signed up for physical therapy next week.
And I am supposed to go back to doctor in a month. He thought in a month that it would be healed up by then. So we will hope! Kind of worries me that there was not much healing of the fracture in 20 days but in another 30 days it will be all healed up?
Trust your Doctors Justin and just remember you have a lifetime of hunts ahead of you. If you have to miss one it will be worth it in the end. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of true experts that we have on this site for so many things. Whether it's orthopedics, eye issues, how to fix small engines or whatever.....someone on here has it nailed down. When the CF was still functioning whenever I had a question about anything I knew I could pose it there are someone that was expert in that field would give solid advice. I miss the CF...... :(
Dang Justin!
Just saw this one. Tough injury. Follow the Dr.'s advice and then stay on the PT and you will get back to normal quicker!
Good luck!
Well saw the Dr yesterday. Did an x ray. He said the fracture is healed up. I’m good to go. Other than I need to do pt and work on getting my arm strait as I can’t straiten it and can’t bend it closed. So got to work on that. But hopefully be back ready for the season
