Post by mark072 on Jun 22, 2015 20:23:51 GMT
I am now 7 weeks post elbow fracture (olecranon) caused by a spill at about 20mph when out on a Sunday in early May. I was in cast for the first two weeks as the injury was not operated on due to the possibility of wound infection from the surrounding road rash (more like really bad oozing from friction burns as I had a long sleeved base layer on) and went over on smooth road, and the fracture was not displaced. During the five weeks I have had the cast removed I was able to move my elbow to just past 90 degrees bend for the first four weeks and at six weeks was able to start bending it as far as I could which I am not able to yet due to stiffness. I have been doing various exercises to loosen and build my arm up. I cannot fully extend it but can get it quite straight (it is my right arm as well - my prominent one) and may not be able to get it back to locking it at the elbow but may only lose a bit of extension. With not been able to get out on the bike I have been hitting the exercise bike in the local gym to keep my aerobic level up and to keep my leg muscles in shape that I use for cycling doing an hour session each time doing between 20 to 21 miles. Also the exercise is good for speeding the fracture healing time up as the improved circulation helps. I have been using an elbow support while on the exercise bike but don't lean no where near as far down as when on my road bike and may have lost some core strength on the top half of my body which I will have to get back over time and it will also put a lot of pressure on my right arm when am back on the bike and the arm may get tired quite quickly at first. I have started to build my right bicep up and get some shape back into it by doing some light weight lifting, curling with a 750ml bottle full of water, and my forearm using a hand gripper and doing tennis ball squeezes and will progress with the weight as my arm returns to normal. It will be about a month until I am able to start getting back out again so am going to continue to use the exercise bike until then. Well that's me, the bike got away fairly lightly, light scrapes to pedal, rear mech and top of brake lever hood. At least the weather isn't too good at the moment otherwise I would be chomping at the bit for some evening runs out. Regards, Mark