so, sustained a radial head fracture on my elbow on Friday at the local dh track.
I’ve nevr had a broken bone before sso don’t really know much about the recovery process (I’m hitting 50, so guess it might be a bit slower than normal). I’ve got entries for the PPDS late June and the Mega early July- are either or both realistically still achievable for me – I’ve got to make decisions in fairly short order whether to pay the balance on my accommodation, or cancel.
Can i use the turbo, or an exercise bike? Is my arm going to be too weak for these events when I get out of the cast?
Any help or advice gratefully received- I’m in a bit of a panic. I know the doctors are going to have the final say, but I’d like a bit of general background knowledge before I broach the subject with them.

4-6 weeks for something like that is it not? I dont see any reason why you couldnt keep your fitness up on the turbo and still do the events. If you do the exercises that they gave you to keep muscle bulk in your forearm then I would say that you should be fine. I am no expert though.

Radial head fracture… hmmm had that one and cant fully extend that arm four years later. Even with masses of private physio and doing what i was told to the letter.

When I did i was quite blaze. Yeah its broken, take me to casualty. Was quite taken aback when the Consultant told me i would likely loose some extension of the joint. She were spot on as well!

Found this

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00073

this is one approach…

52 broken femur twice, clavicle once. My advice? Just keep going. Legs and shoulder aren’t 100% but I’m heading to trans alp this year. Make sure you go to physio and do as
much of your own fitness as you feel able. Early physio and fit ess will pay off.

I’m now 40 and I Broke my collar bone two weeks ago, the doc told me to be very careful for the first two weeks then I am allowed to move it more. I have been on my turbo 3 times this week. I had to do nothing 2 days after the first time(to painful), then just a day between the last two times. I have nearly got all my movement back. I havn’t tried strength exercises as I wanted the bone to knit back together. I go back to the fracture clinic soon so I will find out if I have done to much.

Pain is your body telling you that something is not right but sometimes I think you have to ignor it.

I AM NO EXPERT, JUST SOMEONE WHO THINKS HE KNOWS MORE THAN HIS DOC.

Cheers, Si

rather more than a few weeks IMO

It will be 4 weeks before its knitted together and 12 before its 90% of the strength it was before

If you want to risk breaking it again its up to you. I would be thinking of no riding for 6 weeks and nothing at all gnarly for 12

There really isn’t any way of knowing, different people heal at different rates and the same person can do the same injury twice and heal at different rates. Also impossible to read between the lines of diagnoses, some doctors seem to want to be pessimistic so you’re ready for the worst and happy with 6 weeks if you were told 8, frinstance, others seem to worry about dispiriting you (I was given wildly varying numbers for my hip, from “you’ll be walking normally in 8 weeks” to “10 weeks on crutches” to “you might never recover much mobility” depending on who I asked and how I asked).

Make sure the doctors know exactly what you’re asking, is the best advice I can give you, I wish I’d figured that out faster. Also, it’s a scary question to ask but find out what your worst case scenario is- I had to play very careful with my hip because if it healed badly or rebroke it’d have meant a hip replacement, no ifs or buts, and avoiding that was worth any amount of trouble at the time. But with some injuries it’s much less of a deal if you do it again so there’s less at stake.

Hope you get it sorted.

Have you been to fracture clinic yet? I’m guessing not.
Turbo should be fine, as you can sit upright and just keep the legs turning. Assuming you’re in a sling or support of some then doing this should place no load on the joint.
I’m a little bit more relaxed when it comes to what doctors tell me about breaks when I’ve had other opinions. I’ve used these guys a couple of times for collar bones (and know folk who’ve been with wrist, knee and shoulder problems) http://www.physioclinic.net and they’re worth a call and maybe a visit if they think they can do much. It’s 3 weeks today since i broke my collar bone (2nd time for this one, 1st july last year) and yesterday i did 54 miles on the road bike. It was nit in 7 days (lied on it with no pain) and mobility is improving all the time. It75% now and just not quite right enough to be back on the mtb, this weekend I’m hoping it will be.
In terms of your trips see what the fracture clinic guys/whoever you’re seeing soon say and take it from there. It will be weak though and mega especially is hard on the arms.