Medical memento

If you read my previous post you already know I broke my elbow. To be more specific, I have a radial head fracture, which means that the elbow end of the radius is broken. During the few weeks I read many of the articles on the Internet and talked to doctor friends. I couldn’t work, so I had time. I am that kind of guy, who likes to know what is waiting on me or to hear the news even if they are bad. The radial head fracture treatment methods are still a debate in medic circles but this is not what I want to write about. The surgery is already done, so I can not do anything about that anymore.

However, there are two main things I can do something about and I consider the main influencer of the end-result: mindset and rehab. First of all it is important that I accept what happen and I think positive. My body has enough things to do to repair the elbow. That takes a lot of energy, so let’s not waste the energy on thinking negatively or being stressed.

The second thing is rehab. I do have pain. Rehab comes with a lot of pain. But I always say to myself, pain is better than not feeling anything. From other side, there is not such thing that enough rehab. I can always do more, even if it hurts more. But to most of the fractures rehab makes the difference between an acceptable recovery or a perfect recovery. At least this is what I believe in.

So while going trough the rehab weeks I thought I will make short posts about how my elbow is healing, maybe that will help or motivate somebody else. It’s challenging to keep on with the rehab, even if it hurts, and believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I hope these posts and seeing how it is getting better will motivate me to do more and to never give it up.

To have a bit of medical context, based on the CT scan done in the hospital, there was a 2.5 mm step on the articular surface of the radial head, it was clear that the doctors’ recommendation was surgery. During the surgery my radius head was fixed with 3 tiny screws, resulting in an almost 10 cm scar directly on the outer side of my elbow. In my case the broken piece was on the inner side of the radius, hence the long cut. After surgery I had a cast for one week, to protect the wound, however I could remove it for short periods of time and move my hand a bit. For 6 weeks I am not allowed to lift any weights with that arm. Nor push or pull anything heavy. The doc told me that I should lift maximum a small glass of water. Besides this restriction, I am free to move my arm, preferably as much as possible. No worries, the possibility is there, but comes with a high amount of pain. :) I am visiting a physiotherapist twice a week.

To understand how we measure the functions of the elbow, here are the movements where the elbow plays a critical role:

• Flexion – bending our arm to reach the shoulder

• Extension – straightening the arm

• Pronation – rotating the wrist palm down

• Supination – rotating the wrist palm up

The reference healthy values for these movements are as follows:

• Extension / Flexion –> 0 / 145 degrees

• Pronation / Supination –> 70 / 85 degrees (on my left hand I can rotate 90 / 90 degrees)

My goal first is to regain the full range of motion (ROM) of these movements. For reference I check many times my left hand as well, which was not injured. If that’s done I will work on strengthening the arm. During the first 3 weeks I moved my arm only until pain limit, while after the 3rd week I went a bit further and held my arm for some seconds in pain. I found many exercises on the Internet and my physiotherapist showed some further ones.

This is the current status, 24 days after surgery:

So the current status is

• Extension / Flexion –> 30 / 100 degrees

• Pronation / Supination –> 55 / 45 degrees

So I miss 30 degrees in extension, 45 degrees in flexion, at least 15 degrees pronation and 40 degrees supination. Furthermore moving between these positions is really painful, I usually need to help with my other hand or to move really slowly. Let’s see how it heals, I am doing currently the exercises 4-5 times a day for around 15-20 minutes each.

Exercise, exercise, exercise!

Disclaimer! I am not a doctor and I don’t have any medical degree or training. I am only a patient. The information on this site is what happened with me, it’s my opinion and is not intended as medical advice. NEVER disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on or accessed through this web site. I am not responsible nor liable for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis or any other information, services or products that you obtain through this web site.