Parents Recovery from elbow cast/surgery

[Dee243]

Those of you that have been there -what was the recovery like from an elbow area injury that resulted in 4-5 weeks of imobiliazation?

DD has surgery, and is recently out of her cast. She is making good strides lengenthening her arm to straight. Still a long way to go, but progesss for sure in less than a week.

On the bending the elbow though she maybe has 3* of motion off 90*

I know it takes time and that each kid is different but I was wondering what your experiences have been.

 

[LesleysMom]

I'm looking for similar info. My daughter has a left elbow dislocation with a very small partial epicondylar fracture, she did this just over 3 weeks ago. She did not need surgery and was in posterior mold for 3 weeks. The mold was removed Thursday and she started PT that day. She is stiff, but after only 2 days of PT she has only 10 degrees to go to be completely straight in extension, about 10 degrees for full flexion. Our PT was very happily surprised that she was able to get that close so soon. Our PT was recommended by our coach as he specializes in gymnastics injuries and knows exactly what rehab goals they need to get back to full strength.

What was your daughter's injury? Did she have surgery? Our peds ortho is a sports med doctor and believes in early rehab, but I know it depends on the injury.
We are doing PT 2 times per week and 6 different exercises at home 3 times per day. Our next appointment with ortho is in 3 weeks, and we are hoping she will be cleared for some training at that time, but we'll see. Our PT is communicating with our coach, so if she is able to start gently on any of her moves the coach can help her. She currently is going to practice and just conditioning. If anyone else reading this has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Just keep working on it . Every day....

 

[Dee243]

That’s awesome. We did have surgery so we have not been cleared for PT yet.....grrrrr.

She had surgery about 7.5 weeks ago and overall her arm was splinted or cast for a total of 5 weeks.

She is 3.5 weeks post cast removal and is very slow going on the range of motion. She has maybe 15-20* more to straighten and 20-30* more to bend.

We have just repeated extension and bending of the elbow 2-3 times a day and that’s the only exercise.

We have been doing swimming too -but she got an infection from her surgical site from sitches inside and that delayed our swimming start.

At best it will be a full 5 weeks after cast removal before she is clear for anything. But I’m guessing at that point she may be cleared for PT first. I guess it depends on the x-rays.

 

[Dee243]

Oh I didn’t answer - medial epicpndyle fracture and dislocation. The dicolation was set in the ER and the fracture required surgery. She has a 1.5” screw and washer holding her arm together through the growth plate and then another surgery to get it out will happen this summer.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Oh I didn’t answer - medial epicpndyle fracture and dislocation. The dicolation was set in the ER and the fracture required surgery. She has a 1.5” screw and washer holding her arm together through the growth plate and then another surgery to get it out will happen this summer.

Okay based on the info you shared , I would find a new PT person.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

She should be doing something at PT at this point....

 

[Dee243]

Well the surgeon hasn’t cleared her for PT.

I’ll lean in hard when I see him next time, but I don’t think I’ll sway him if he’s not already there. He’s pretty intractable.

He saw her 1 and 2 weeks after cast removal because of the infection and she had gained 10* in her range of motion each week and he said that was right where she needed to be.

He thinks she may not need PT and that seems to be his goal. I don’t know - but I’m probably not going to switch surgeons at this point though - particularly as she has part two to remove the screw coming up.

 

[Dee243]

I should add we saw three different surgeons and they all said (even the one that didn’t recommend surgery) that it would be about a month post-op before PT. All three specialize in pedi sports and gymnastics.

They wanted a month of compete arm rest following surgery.

I was hoping we would get cleared at 3 weeks for PT but it got moved to 5 because of her progress.

Fingers crossed at 5 she either gets cleared to resume bars and beam or start PT if she isn’t quite there.

All three said at least another month after that before a return to tumbling.

She’s going to have a lot of ground to make up when she gets back to it.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Well the surgeon hasn’t cleared her for PT.

I’ll lean in hard when I see him next time, but I don’t think I’ll sway him if he’s not already there. He’s pretty intractable.

He saw her 1 and 2 weeks after cast removal because of the infection and she had gained 10* in her range of motion each week and he said that was right where she needed to be.

He thinks she may not need PT and that seems to be his goal. I don’t know - but I’m probably not going to switch surgeons at this point though - particularly as she has part two to remove the screw coming up.

Got it. I have had a few kids over the year go through this. Typically getting the elbow all the way straight is the hard part. It is typical for them not to be able to touch their own shoulder because of swelling scar tissue etc... I am wondering why they aren't doing PT with heat and working the wrist and shoulder. That being said , get her wrist flexiom going asap, and make sure the shoulder is getting full range of motion daily. It is common for these two joints to stiffen when elbow surgery is performed. So to shorten the recovery and not go against the surgeons orders I recommend this. Hope that helps

 

[luvmygymmie]

I agree that she should have started PT already. My daughter had the same surgery due to a displaced medial epicondyle. She did not dislocate her elbow, or she did and it re-located on its own before reaching the hospital. My daughter had the surgery within days of her injury and her elbow was only in the soft cast for maybe a week or 2 after surgery. They wanted her elbow moving as soon as possible due to its tendency to lock up. When the soft cast came off she was placed in a brace that could be locked and unlocked to allow for movement exercises. My daughter had almost full extension immediately after the soft cast was removed and most of her PT was spent working on her flexion (closing her elbow). She started PT (twice a week) about 2 weeks after surgery. My daughter was cleared for full return at 3 months post surgery. Also, my daughter had her surgery 2 years ago and still has the screw in place. The original surgeon said it could be removed at 6 months but it wasn't necessary. Another surgeon said that it could stay in forever, unless it started to bother her. That surgeon said that surgeries to remove hardware are often more complicated than they should be. It really sounds like you may want to get a second opinion here. I should add that I did extensive research and everything that my daughter's surgeon recommended was in line with my review of the research.

 

[Dee243]

Thanks everyone.
She has full wrist and shoulder movement and is getting sports massages on everywhere but the elbow and swimming 1-2 times a week so I think we are good there.

We physically saw three pedi-ortho doctors and consulted online with 3 others sending her x-rays to England and Canada and they *all* said 2 surgerys. I assuming it is something with her age, size of the growth plate or something or the other on why that seems to be unanimous.

I’m not really comfortable switching doctors with what I *think* is 1.5 weeks left. If we aren’t released next Wed for PT I’ll have to consider a seventh opinion I guess.

The coaches seem happy enough with her progress and we aren’t getting pushed to be more aggressive.

 

[luvmygymmie]

It sounds like she is making good progress. I think that my daughter only has a screw (with no washer), so her hardware is less prominent, which may be why there is no rush to remove it. I should add that PT was really very light at the beginning-it was more to get a baseline of her strength and flexion/extension. It was really helpful later on because her PT had her re-creating some of the skills that she needs for gymnastics to assess her strength and pain level (e.g., hanging from bars, handstands, etc). She would then have her do skills in the gym and ask me to record her to see if she was compensating for lack of strength in other arm. Her PT was a former gymnast and works in sports medicine practice. I am sure it looked quite odd to the other PT patients when my daughter was walking around on her hands LOL

 

[Dee243]

Ha ha! I bet it did.

Our doc keeps saying she might not need PT - so he is coming at this from a totally different approach.

We have a PT appt schedule the week after just in case.

 

[Dee243]

Well we are 12 weeks out from the break and still not getting that arm straight.

She started PT 3x a week 2.5 weeks ago and it is better, she is at about 10* - 120* instead of -10* to 150*

It feels like it will never get better. The doc prescribed 6 weeks total of PT - so another 4 to go. Our massage therapist said she would probably need more than that.

I take pics week over week and the difference between last week and this week is almost imperceptible.

Ugh. Trying to keep perspective that she is otherwise happy and healthy but she’s been out sooo long.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

One of my gymnasts broke her elbow when she fell from bars in late September. She had a cast for several months, I don't even remember anymore how long. And she's still not allowed to put any weight on it. Her PT started in January. This is a loooong road. She's been at almost every practice since her injury. She's now training all the skills that don't require arm support on beam and floor, but it's a bit scary. But I trust that she can fall safely if she falls. She's now doing a lot of twisting on trampoline, front tucks and layouts up to vault mats, punch front layouts and twists on floor and laerials, back and front tucks on beam. And of course tons of leaps, jumps and turn on beam and floor. And she does her PT stuff every day at gym to make her arm stronger faster.

Good luck to you! Injuries like these are so disappointing in so many levels. But good thing is that at least they can always do something since they can use their legs.

 

[Dee243]

Oh - wow.

We haven’t missed any practices except between the break and the surgery and hard cast - a little over a week.

We have not been doing any big jumps on floor or beam. She does her turns on the low beam - but not the high beam.

I suggested she could do her punch front but she and her coach thought the way she braces when she falls on that is not good given her arm.

I feel like it will take another 1000 months to get those skills back.

 

[profmom]

I know it feels like forever when you're in it, but honestly from a parent who's been there, someday you'll look back and be amazed at how quickly she recovered and got her skills back. (Several years ago, my daughter broke her humerus just above the elbow and required pins; she was off all weight bearing for around three months.) It is far better to stay cautious and not risk reinjury. Just watching her teammates train is a form of training, especially if she works on visualizing the skills herself. Hang in there and encourage her to keep up with those exercises! My daughter did a lot of her PT exercises when she was at the gym and not able to do whatever her teammates were doing. Also, any time she spends working core and leg strength at practice will not be wasted, as she'll discover when she's cleared for a full return.

 

[Dee243]

Thanks! In my head I know next year this time we will be looking back on this and saying remember when.

But right now it looks like about 16 weeks off. Which is so much more than they estimated at the beginning.

And yes her abs and legs are getting quite the workout. She does conditioning and PT exercises at gym. She did a few handstands the other day - PT was not amused.

 

[Pea'sMom]

Pea is finally on the other end of this right now. She had 3 surgeries last year for OCD in her elbow and each surgery meant gaining range of motion back. As with you her first surgeon didn't clear her for PT, just working on range of motion. We switched surgeons and with her last surgery he had her in PT 3x's a week after the stitches healed. I think that made a big difference and her was very impressed at how quickly her range of motion came back this last time. She has been doing PT 3x's a week since December and they have slowly cleared her to do exercised and activities in gym as she has gained strength back. She just had another follow up today and he has cleared her for 6 more weeks of PT, starting to taper off after 3 more weeks. She has not been able to use her arm at all for over a year, but things are just starting to come back slowly. She kipped the other day for the first time in a year and is beyond thrilled! So slow and steady isn't so bad