General Chat

Does anyone know how long it takes for a broken elbow to mend ?, I fell down 3 weeks ago (honest i was sober) and had to go to A&E where they said we think you have broken wrist/arm probably scaphoid fracture , so into back slab I was put with return in 2 weeks after a week the plaster became loose because the swelling had gone down and was rubbing and causing sore spots so I phone the A&E and they told me I could either go back have a 3 to 4 hour wait or self care by splitting the plaster padding it out and then bandage the plaster back on which I did , went back this week and was told they couldn't see a break but as I could not move my arm very good and was in obvious pain thought they would just x ray my elbow and lo and behold that's where the break is , I am now in a collar and cuff sling and have to go back on Monday, I know it's usually 6 weeks for a broken bone but know nothing about a broken elbow .

So if anyone can give some advise would be very grateful,

Thanks

Pam

Pam, I had a broken elbow some years ago - to be precise a fracture of the radial head, which is very common. I too had a collar and cuff rather than a cast. It was healed within 5 weeks, but obviously some discomfort persists for a while due to the surrounding damage.

B****y painful isn't it!!

Jan

Jan, will agree It is so painful as well as it being so difficult to do things, but seems I may be halfway to be mended although feel like it will take a million years, I am a good nurse but I am a terrible patient so my family are suffering, but still cant get anyone to do the ironing lol

Pam

I am a nurse too!! The world's worst patient. Hated the lack of independence, even needed help to dress for a while. Managed to have a nasty ankle/leg fracture a few years later, that's another story...
Hope all goes well.
Jan

I dont know the answer to your question but, I have a friend who fell off her bike and broke/chipped her elbow, dont know exacly where, but she carried on as normal as she could instead of it being strapped up.
Oh,it did heal but she cant straghten her arm now. That was a few years ago.

Marion

My granson broke his ( well snapped it ) a couple of years ago .
He had to undergo surgery to put a large pin through to hold it in place for 6wks untill it heeled , then more surgery to take the pin out .He had a cast on untill the pin was taken out .

He then had to go for physio for 6mths to train his arm to go back straight although they said that it may never be the same again and he could have problem with it later in life .

Cath

Pam - I worked in orthopaedics for 10 years, my guess would be that you should heal well if it's not displaced. The problem with setting a broken elbow is that in order to have the nerve supply maintained in good alignment, sometimes they have to compromise the position of the bony structure when reducing the fracture. If they have not seen the necessity of open or closed reduction, it does sound like it's in good positon and patience is your focus!! Physio will help but I'll bet you heal well without much limitation.
Good luck, be good to yourself,
Mary