UKH

So the cast came off today and I got to speak to a consultant at last, hurrah!

It sounds like as long as my elbow remains stable over the next few weeks I won't need  any more surgery, phew, so I can start to think about recovery. The consultant tells me I may well never regain full motion of the elbow joint (currently its very limited, perhaps unsurprisingly after being totally immobile for 2 weeks) and I was just wondering if any one had any experience of climbing with reduced elbow mobility or any tips on the timescales involved in building strength back?

I haven't seen a physio yet as I guess it's still to soon.

Hi ebdon, i had a fractured dislocation of my elbow about 20 years ago (motorcycle crash). it was a full dislocation with a fracture of the radial head which was screwed back on. After extensive physio i only regained a limited range of motion, can probably go to 30 degrees of a straight arm and cant rotate my wrist past about 45 degrees of fully open. 

Having said that, within a year, i was climbing just as hard as i was before (which isnt that hard). i've probably lost an inch or 2 or reach and cant do undercuts but it hasnt held me back noticeably. 

Physio is probably a lot better nowadays so i'm sure you'll be ok. 

Best of luck with your recovery!

Make sure any NHS physios, etc. know how important sport is to you and how much rehab you are prepared to put in.

They get used to treating people who are less invested than you (presumably) are which can lead them to dial back the advice so as not to scare you. Make it clear you want to push hard and ask "how much can I do?" and "how far can I go?" when they give you exercise recommendations.

Thanks, I'm not expecting much from the NHS physio (no criticism of them, it's not there job to get me back climbing!) I'm lucky I can probably afford to go private and know a good local physio who does lots of sports stuff so knows where I'm coming from. 

OP you mentioned 'lots of soft tissue damage' in your earlier post.

An MRI to determine the extent of that is the next step.  Without that it's impossible to talk timescales or recovery plans

When I did mine the NHS physio were very good (and again when I ruptured an Achilles) - the poster above who said set out your targets is bang on.

i had a fairly simple dislocation, no fracture, and was back climbing in 6-8 weeks, and thugby not long after that.

25 years ago i split my radial head, repaired with 2 screws to hold it together. There was no dislocation. i did the physio and had a full recovery of ROM. Good luck.

Hi Ebdon, I dislocated, broke and had a lot of soft tissue damage in mine. I had two years off climbing (probably not what you want to hear!). Lots of physio to try and straighten it. After a while they decided it was best to get back climbing as that would actually help.

My elbow has never gained full mobility again but it hasn’t really affected my climbing, definitely better now than I was. I can hang off it no problem (just at a slightly weird angle🤣).

Drop me a message if you have any questions.

Jack 

NHS physios can be very good and fully geared to people wanting to get full sport function back, not just the basics.

My own experience (shoulder injury) was very positive. Make sure the surgeon understands where you are coming from - they'll be making the the referral. Make sure you get seen early and follow ups are easy.

Thanks all for the advice, I guess one of my main problems at the moment is I still don't really understand what damage I've done. I was told very little at the the hospital I was first admitted to and operated on, apart from pretty doom and gloom stuff (i have a vivid post opp memory of the surgeon holding his arm at right angles and flopping is elbow around saying this is you. I was also operated on at the end of the shift on a Sunday by a non-specialist, and reading the discharge notes I get a sense of 'patch him up and let his local hospital sort it out' 

I'm not really sure my local hospital know either, and if they do they haven't really communicated to me. I get the impression at the moment it's all wait and see now the cast is off.

On the positive side my wife got in touch with her terrifying phiso yesterday (which I can't decide is an act of love or passively aggressively telling me how insufferable I am when I can't climb) who will see me next week and give me a list of the right things to ask the doctors.