I dislocated my elbow playing rugby today. The doctors popped it back in place, then told me to see a specialist on Monday to further evaluate the elbow.

Anybody know the typical recovery time for this injury? Assuming that I don't have any torn ligaments, how long would the doctors of TWW guestimate that I'll be out of commission? I'm assuming that I've gotta go through physical therapy to restore flexibility and strength to the joint.

Google gave me a bunch of varied answers, and several horror stories about people who never regained full function.

12/11/2005 3:58:33 AM

12/11/2005 4:00:20 AM

ow

12/11/2005 8:15:40 AM

12/11/2005 8:50:04 AM

well, let me see. i shattered my left elbow 11/01/04 and i'm still going to therapy and still can't lift over 5 lbs. with that arm.

12/11/2005 10:33:15 AM

I dislocated my elbow in 5th grade and was in a sling for about 2 weeks. I did not do any sort of therapy and was fine after that.

12/11/2005 11:21:24 AM

my (rugby) teammate dislocated her elbow during a match. took a long time before she was playing. DEFINITELY out for the whole next season.

[Edited on December 11, 2005 at 1:11 PM. Reason : but she also tore her bicep in the process]

12/11/2005 1:08:53 PM

i broke my forearm bones (radius and ulna) in a green tree fracture requiring a reset in the 7th grade and it required something around 2 months to heal and another 2 months to rehabilitate. hopefully this will give you some idea of how long the process takes.

12/11/2005 1:12:16 PM

it's very different for dislocated joints than for broken bones

12/11/2005 1:20:11 PM

This is basically what my x-rays looked like.



No fractures, luckily.

They gave me a lot of morphine and vicodin

I look like popeye now with my swollen forearm.

12/11/2005 2:50:37 PM

I fractured my elbow and still have limited movement with it and that was when I was in 7th grade, so about 11 years ago.

12/11/2005 2:56:23 PM

I dislocated my elbow freshman year when I got undercut going for a rebound - I remember not opening my eyes cuz I didn't wanna see what my arm looked like, but boy did I feel it


I had it popped back into place, sat it in a sling for a couple months (missed the rest of basketball and almost all of baseball). I think the extra rest helped it to heal, and while it still hurts every now and then (usually just regular pain from overuse), I haven't had anything serious happen.

12/11/2005 7:14:06 PM

i'm not sure how similar a shoulder is, but i've dislocated that 5 times, and each time was pretty much 2 weeks of worthlessness with it, and then doing some strength exercises (small weights, elastic cords) to get the muscles going again. i think the theory is also that since the ligaments are at least stretched and not holding the joint as tightly, you want to try and build up that muscle around it to try and stabilize with muscle instead.

that never seemed to help me, apparently.

but don't worry about restorying flexibility though.. from here out, you'll have more than you want

12/11/2005 8:57:17 PM

Quote :

"well, let me see. i shattered my left elbow 11/01/04 and i'm still going to therapy and still can't lift over 5 lbs. with that arm."

wow, a year later and only lifting 5 lbs? did you do any physical therapy immediately after your injury? i shattered mine 8/8/04, the only handicap it gives me now is a limited range of motion. i can only extend to about 15deg, and flexion is about 130deg. it still gets sore at times, but i've learned to live with it. but i'm able to use it as normal, even started back mountain biking. (i was riding on the road approx 2 months after surgery).

12/11/2005 9:02:47 PM