not me… but someone i know came off their bike yesterday and landed on both hands… he cant remember landing with his weight against the curb but i’m thinking it might have gone down that way as he’s snapped the radius in his left arm with a clean break about a 3rd of the way down from his elbow.

ouch.

no other injury though, wrist, shoulder, elbow etc are all fine…. hospital quite surprised to have a break like that and it not be reflected in any other bones!

im taking him back to the hosp this morning for an operation, pull it back into place if possible, if not then throwing some metal work in there. any one got any experiences of anything like this and an idea on recovery time? doctors seemed to suggest it would heal quicker after the operation that if left to heal itself.

cheers chaps an chappettes x

Phil,

Did radius and ulna on my left arm back in the dim and distant. No surgery, so spent 14 weeks with my arm in a cast from wrist to shoulder, after which my arm appeared looking like a zombie’s.

Metalwork will certainly help it heal quicker, but he should still expect six months before being able to even think about using it normally again.

ouch! the doc said potential for plaster off 2 weeks after surgery… i was extremely dubious about that claim!

any limited movement as a result of letting it heal without surgery?

Snapped my radius and had it k-wired. I was back on my *bike 6 weeks later albeit with very little movement in the wrist due to being in a cast for so long. Had full movement back after about 3 months with all pain and discomfort gone after about 4 months.

* wasn’t allowed on mountain bike, just the road bike only and no contact sports for 3 months after.

oohhhh sir mullet that is encouraging news.. he rides a mtb but mainly on roads to get to places, its rare he ventures into the woods.

cheers again for the replies 🙂

I did a compound fracture of both ulna and radius a number of years ago (spectacular football injury not MTB). Plates on both and the bones healed pretty well in about 5-6 weeks. The problem is getting full movement after that. Lots of heavy duty physio to get the twisting action going again (you only go to physio the first time without popping lots of ibuprofen!!) and I still can’t hold my hand fully flat to receive change in a shop.

I would go with the metal if that’s the Drs recommendation. I do worry sometimes though about the consequences of breaking either of those bones again on MTB near the plate

You say the wrist is ok but problem is it’s prbably been compressed so likely to get aching in winter and some problems in later life.

My advice is to make sure your friend is vocal about getting plenty of physio after – painful but better to try and get full movement back asap.

Physio is the key. I never got offered it, just told “don’t do weight lifting for a month or so afterwards”, so it took a long time to get back to strength. Even now it’s still a little weedy compared to the other arm and I am very much more right handed than I ever used to be.

Wife broke her leg a while ago and had metal put in. She was out of the cast after a fortnight, but is _still_ having issues with it (six months later). Metal helps the healing, but does not mean it’s going to be an easy process.

Snapped my radius a few years ago when some **** knocked me off my bike. Didn’t actually think I’d broken my arm but must have been obvious from the expressions of the nurses at A+E when I held it out to show them.

ORIF and told six weeks in a cast; went to a different hospital after 3.5 weeks and said I’d lost my notes and they took the cast off. In fact, the consultant I saw said that he only mandates a cast for two weeks, so depends where you go.

No complications.

A bit like this then?

That’s my brothers arm, it was as painful to watch as it was to have it happen, it’s slowed me up downhill a fair bit since I saw that. He’ll be off the bike for about 3 months. Scott said a “powerball” helps a lot to build the muscle back up again. He had to wear one of these (Clicky) for about a year or so after.

All is fine now.

a quick google has provided this image which is the closest to what we were looking at yesterday evening:

the image on the left, but a bit lower down nearer the elbow.

If you get a cast on it or have to have your arm in a sling for whatever reason, or are over-protective of your arm your flexors and extensor muscles in your fingers and thumb will shorten and become tight, your elbow will do the same, as will your shoulder and neck. Just keep them all moving and you’ll be fine in no time. The one exercise that people forget to do is to extend their fingers or bend them back – they end up with a claw hand for a few weeks. If they operate you might have some numb patches for a day of two in your arm, but they should regain sensation fairly quickly.

My oldest daughter just snapped her radius in 2 places this evening.
It better be all fixed in 3 weeks time as we have a skiing holiday booked.

i’ve got a powerball here at work i can lend him and i’ll be on his back about physio exercises etc 🙂

cheers guys!

I broke my arm snowboarding…the image on the left in Phils’ last post could actually be my arm!

6 weeks in a full arm cast followed by 6 weeks in a lightweight forearm cast.

The bone was pulled back in place by the medics in Andorra and they said I may need an operation to secure the bone when I got back to the UK. The docs in the UK were impressed with the fix and said it could be left…although I got Doogie Howser and he couldn’t make up his mind, basically left the decision up to me until I insisted he tell me what he would recommend as a medical professional, that’s when his supervisor popped in and recommended I leave it to heal naturally.

I couldn’t do much for the first 6 weeks as the full arm cast (required to stop me twisting my arm
and shearing the bone as it healed) weighed a ton… Was off work bored, although my boss couriered my laptop home for me – not actually what I meant when I told him I was bored!

Abigale snapped hers just above her wrist guard in January whilst snowboarding. 7 weeks in a cast. The Consultant and the insurance company said 4 weeks from cast off before any more snowboarding however we had a holiday booked to snowboard 3 weeks later. She was a bit scared of falling but was fine and we had a great time.

I had a messy break on the left radius which was k-wired, I was in plaster for 4 weeks though I was on a road bike for short rides after about 3 of those. Once the plaster came off it was really quite painful for several months, and took about 3 for full range of movement and reasonable strength to return.

Also had a simple break to the radius on my right arm, with no displacement. Went mtbing in the Pyrenees 2 days later with some strapping and painkillers (no cancellation insurance!), it was functional but pretty tender and I wouldn’t have liked to come off on it but avoided that by riding “conservatively”. Had it x-rayed and put in plaster when I got back, but modified the plaster to allow some more movement at the wrist after a couple of weeks. Healed like a charm, pretty much fully functional within 6 weeks of the break although still sore for a couple of months.

Broke ulna and radius close to wrist. Had a go a straightening it (both myself and Doc’s) but no joy.

After ‘straightening’:-

Had surgery to reduce and fix – a plate and seven screws.

Behold Mecha arm:-

Had surgery on the monday, left that afternoon with a back slab cast only. Had that on for 14 days or so then stitches out week later.

I just made sure I used it as much as possible – as normally as possible – I was driving a the day I had the cast off – shifting hurt a little but you need to work the muscles.

10 weeks after surgery Doc ok’d me to ride gently on the road. Gave It another week of not riding (it was raining) and just went straight back out on the DH bike with no issue. Had first crash on it a week later and everything was fine – no more pain than normal or anything. So 11 weeks day to day from DH to break to DH.

Second time bits of me have been bolted together and I’ll quite happily let them do it again – I want the bones to go back right and with no chance of being on the piss.

Smashed a 2 inch section clean out of my left radius 2 years ago in a motorbike crash. Amongst other things.

One end healed after metalwork inserted, the other didn’t so finally 3 months back my consultant (after me pushing and pushing) agrees to re-operate.

Feels the strongest it has for 2 years but my wrist is taking a lot of time and pain to get the range of movement back. It was fractured also in the original accident and hasn’t take too well to being immobilised for approx 8/9 weeks.

That’s what’s holding me back now.

Good luck to your mate. A good physio makes all the difference.

thanks for all the posts guys 🙂