Parents Recovery from elbow cast/surgery

[Dee243]

Oh my gosh. My brain would explode if it was a year of surgeries, PT and what not. I am not a patient soul.
I’m really good within expectations, but when things take longer than expected I start climbing the walls.

We are supposed to have
3 weeks at 3x a week and then
3 weeks at 2x a week

I think I would like to ask for us to continue 3x a week. I already feel like we are playing catch-up.

But I’m not sure how exactly to do that. I guess I need to talk to our PT.

 

[Dee243]

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

How did you find a new surgeon? We have several pedi ortho surgeons in the area and I made appts with three of them that i know had worked on gymnsasts and they all said the same thing. I know everyone here talks about surgeons that have you in PT right away but i don’t know how I would find such a surgeon.

 

[Pea'sMom]

How did you find a new surgeon? We have several pedi ortho surgeons in the area and I made appts with three of them that i know had worked on gymnsasts and they all said the same thing. I know everyone here talks about surgeons that have you in PT right away but i don’t know how I would find such a surgeon.

The first surgeon we used was a pedi ortho, and he was great. It wasn't his fault the fix failed, without getting into all the gritty details it was borderline one repair vs another and he opted for the more cautious first repair. The second one we found through a recommendation from a family friend, no insurance, big name, professional sports guy. I think even though she was technically a pedi patient, the sports person had a much better handle on the repair. But her injury was very specific to sports and overuse. He's very well versed in how to return to intense sports. He handed her a a specific return to gymnastics protocol this morning outlining what and how for every event. I was overly impressed. We've had a few trips to various orthos/pedi/sports, and have had a hard time finding one who 'gets' gymnastics.

Editing to add that every ortho seems to have their own protocol that they are most comfortable with, and finds them the most success. I don't think that means that either is a bad choice. I don't think waiting after the first surgery was 'wrong'. Comparatively it was just slower.

 

[Dee243]

That’s great finding the knowledgeable folks.

Our PT has seen a few of the girls from our gym but everything right now is still generalized range of motion.

It may be that our surgeon delayed PT because of her spitting stitches and infection there- not sure.

And yes they do their own protocol for sure. Our doc is for sure the slow steady type.

 

[QueenBee]

Echoing @coachp advice to find a new PT. With an athlete in a specialized sport like gymnastics - having a PT who knows how to rehab the elbow specifically (not just general range of motion) is important.

If you are having trouble finding a good PT person with experience rehabbing gymnasts, call the ortho dr's office and ask the nurse if they have a specific recommendation. Call each of the 3 doctor's practices you originally met with to see if there is any overlap from the nurses on recommendations for PT practitioners. Are there any children's hospitals in your area with ortho/sports med specialities? If so, call those practices and again ask for a nurse to get PT recommendations. Nurses can be very knowledgable with recommendations as they often have a lot of contact often with both the drs and the PTs.

 

[Dee243]

Thanks!

When Coach p made that recommendation we hadn’t started PT yet - we were just cleared 2 weeks ago. So I’m not sure why we need to change. Sorry to be dense. I’m just not following.

We are with a PT clinic that has rehabbed several of the gymnasts in our gym. He plans to get more aggressive this week - but she was only at 25-30* when we started.

What’s he doing wrong?

 

[QueenBee]

If you are happy with your daughter's progress and her medical team, then continue on your current course.

I misunderstood your posts. I thought you were asking why it was taking as long as it has to see improvement and why that the improvement had slowed to 'imperceptible'. I also thought you had said the PT you were seeing was working on "general range of motion" work, but nothing specific to the exact injury or the type of athletics that your daughter does (gymnastics). I thought you had expressed concern with how to find different medical professionals, which is why I suggested contacting the nurses of different practices.

You have much more information than I regarding your gymnast's injury and recovery. I have 'no dog in the fight' as it were, so if you are happy I wish you and your gymnast well and hope for a speedy and smooth recovery moving forward.

 

[Dee243]

Fair point.

I’m not happy with her progress - but I’m not sure if that’s on me just being impatient or on her progress. That’s what I’m trying to decide.

In hindsight i wish we had started PT earlier but I can’t change that and that timeline may have been due to her infection, and her incision needing more time to heal.

With PT I don’t know how to tell if it is reasonable progress or not. It doesn’t seem like much to me - but this is where almost our whole team goes.
‍‍‍

 

[strawberries]

I want to add my vote for finding a gymnastics-specific ortho and PT if you plan to stay in the sport for a while. There is so much more information that a doc who understands the specific skills can give in terms of what is allowed, or not allowed as she recovers. An ortho who doesn’t know gymnastics will sometimes err on the side of “avoid everything.”

 

[Dee243]

How do you find such a person? Everyone we’ve been too has experience treating the girls on our team (and other gymnasts). Of course it isn’t all they see.

What should I ask? Or be looking for specifically?

My daughter loves her doc and her PT and I’m not a switcher by nature because I usually do my research ahead of time. I guess I didn’t ask the right questions. In the 5 doctors I spoke to - they all had pediatric sports exprience but none were gymnastic specific when I called their offices.

 

[LesleysMom]

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.

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.

My daughter is just coming back after an elbow dislocation with small non-displaced ulnar fracture on Dec 14. She didn’t need any surgery. She was in a posterior mold cast for 3 weeks, then started PT. She was able to return to beam at the end of January and competed beam only at a meet Feb 9. On Feb 23, she competed beam and vault, and is now planning on doing beam, floor, vault (and possibly bars) at state March 23-25. The bars are what she hurt herself on, doing a giant-giant-flyaway. She hit her feet on the upper bar on the flyaway dismount and she fell onto her outstretched arm....so, bottom line is... yes, there is return to the gym, but it takes patience and lots of work in PT. Hope she is on the mend soon!