Bust Elbow

[wez]

Hi guys you might have noticed i haven't been posting alot recently thats because i broke my elbow 2 weeks back throwing the javelin, its a ridiculous injury and i had thought it would be the end of my throwing days.

I've broken the Ulnar (outside) bone of my forearm about 3cms away from the elbow joint where the tricep attaches. It seems that when i threw the tricep applied more pressure than the bone could take and it tore the end of the bone off. Resulting in an snapping noise, the jav scewing off at a weird angle, and my arm going all floppy.

Anyway i had to wait a week with my arm in a sling and then this monday i had surgery to have it pinned back together with screws and wires. The good news is that the surgeon says i have especially hard bones and she thinks i will be able to start throwing the javelin carefully again in about 6 months.

As you can imagine i'm massively dissapointed at the injury and the long break i will have to now take, but if i'm sensible and lucky i might be back in action for 2009 or maybe even the end of 2008 if things go very well. Unfortunatley there are no guarantees so i will just take things as they come.

BUT if there is anything to be learned from this experience its to not ignore niggling pains especially if they are getting worse!

I don't suppose anyone knows any success stories after this type of injury do they. I know of one thrower having broke their funny bone as a teen managing to comeback, but i'm alot older than that!

[Tezzykins]

Aww Wez mate don't worry about it at least it's not happened during competition period

I guess you can just do lots of leg strength work and come back stronger


Hope it heals fast

[robyn2012]

I hope you will recover soon! That sounds like a really nasty injury!

[Patience]

Hi Wez, hope the op wasn't too bad and that things will settle down in the next few days.

Take care of yourself - or get someone to wait on you hand and foot.

[sam]

have you got the x-rays we can see?

[wez]

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, its only been a week since the OP and already the swelling, bruising etc has gone but my arm is turning into a twiglet. Its going to be 6 months before i'm anything like back in shape and i will see then what my prospects are for throwing jav.

I haven't got a copy of the bionic x-rays yet but heres a taster of what my arm looked like 30 mins after it happened.

[pottsy]

Well you have my sympathies as well Wez, as I understand the lovely feeling of bone breaking under a throw, just make sure you keep an eye on any adverse side effects in the arm if they occur and get them seen to asap, as you don't want it to turn into something worse than it already is

[wez]

Thats right this happened to you a while back i remember, how are you getting on? and what do you mean by side effects? The bone is already broken, can it get worse? btw have you managed to throw since?

Thanks for the reply i would love to hear more mate

[Tezzykins]

Oww man that looks terrible


Get well soon

[pottsy]

wez said:

Thats right this happened to you a while back i remember, how are you getting on? and what do you mean by side effects? The bone is already broken, can it get worse? btw have you managed to throw since?

Thanks for the reply i would love to hear more mate

Yeah nearly a year ago I did mine mate

As for side effects well there can be a few but all going well none in your case, as it is a different area of the arm to mine

As for me throwing agian, there's pretty much no chance at all of that happening as I suffered damage to my radial nerve as well either during the injury or OP, and can't feel my lower arm and hand a lot of the time

On the bright side at about 5 weeks post op my bone stability was really good, in fact i was back at work at that point so 6 months may be an understimate of the time needed

Here's to a speedy recovery

[wez]

sorry to hear that Pottsy that sounds like a nightmare

I don't really know what condition the rest of my arm is in but i do have a weird aching feeling in my little finger and that side of my hand and can't really feel anything on the outside of my elbow. I hope that will all return to normal and i will keep a close eye on things to try to eliminate the chance of any further complications so cheers for the heads up.

I can use my arm a bit now and am even typing with it at this point but the movement is very restricted and tendons and muscles around my elbow and particualrly inner side and tricep are very unhappy.

I'll be staying positive about getting back to throwing atleast that will be my goal and i'll just have to see if it happens for me.

[pottsy]

keep us updated as to how the recovery is going then Wez

Hopefully you should be pretty much towards being pain free now and getting a wee bit more movement

[Tezzykins]

Hope the elby is on the mend

[wez]

Ok the latest update,

I've been for my 3 week post op checkup, the xrays show that the break has sealed very well and i am left with 2 pins inside the bone and a figure of 8 wire system. I don't yet have xrays of the repair but here are a couple of links to show whats been done.

This is the break of the Olecranon or funny bone exactly as i suffered.


and here is an example xray of the repair, this isn't my elbow as i don't have a copy of the xray but i've seen it and it looks the same except that my pins are only 7cms long



Currently i'm working on recovering the flexion of my elbow, it was measured on monday at 35/110 degrees. Obviously the target is to get 0/180 but its likely that it won't recover fully, nevertheless i will do my best. As to the long term i've been told the earliest i can have the apparatus removed is in 6 months with a view to full recovery within 12 months although there is no guarantee that i will be able to throw again.

I'm not going to lie down and take it like that though, its my intention to get back as soon as i can safely.

thanks for the support everyone, i appreciate it

[beano]

Sorry to hear about the elbow mate,you're one of the good guys,and you didn't need that kind of luck.

I hope the recover goes well.Keep us up to date.

cheers beano