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Broken Shoulder... When could you ride again??

44K views 92 replies 31 participants last post by  piaadoll 
#1 ·
I broke my shoulder MTBing four weeks ago, and I'm still nowhere near being able to ride. I can't run or lift weights, either. This really, really sucks! Anyone out there that's been through this, too? When could you ride again???? When could you run again????

My break is a one-part fracture of the greater tuberosity on the humerus. Thankfully, surgery wasn't needed. I've been in an immobilizer for four weeks, with at least two more weeks to go. I started range of motion exercises a week ago. It still hurts to even 'try' to lift my arm in front of me. Lifting it overhead is completely out of the question. When will I be healed????.......
 
#2 ·
If you did this four weeks ago

the questions you should be asking don't include: why can't I ride, it's been a whole four weeks since I broke my shoulder. From the time you first went to the doc you should have had a time frame in mind of maybe 6-8 weeks (I'm sure it could be longer. What's your doc say?) You need to let your body heal. Sorry for your accident but...four weeks? PT now, ride later. Almost everyone on this forum was as active as you before we got hurt and we all hated being out of action. Can't help you with a real shoulder prognosis, sorry.
 
#3 ·
when i broke me humorous and seperated my shoulder the PT person suggested using a wall or door jamb to assist myself in exercise to gain mobiliy back, just move around at first, not using much muscle, youre ok as long as you dont see any diference in circulation, sensation or mobility in the arm below the injury

what i did was put my hand on the wall, fingers facing up, and use my fingertips to work my hand up the wall, facing the wall directly and again to the side.
 
#4 ·
TrekChick said:
I broke my shoulder MTBing four weeks ago, and I'm still nowhere near being able to ride. I can't run or lift weights, either. This really, really sucks! Anyone out there that's been through this, too? When could you ride again???? When could you run again????

My break is a one-part fracture of the greater tuberosity on the humerus. Thankfully, surgery wasn't needed. I've been in an immobilizer for four weeks, with at least two more weeks to go. I started range of motion exercises a week ago. It still hurts to even 'try' to lift my arm in front of me. Lifting it overhead is completely out of the question. When will I be healed????.......
mine was 2 weeks ago... Xray showed fracture of head of right humerous, broke my ball joint into three and dislocated it behind cup...

i had open reduction and internal fixation for right humeral fracture surgery... cant move my arm AT ALL... luckily wasnt my dominant side.

im looking at 4 weeks of no movement then pt apparently... im pretty depressed atm

pain was freaking unbearable...
 
#5 ·
Scudweiser said:
what i did was put my hand on the wall, fingers facing up, and use my fingertips to work my hand up the wall, facing the wall directly and again to the side.
I don't think I'm quite ready for this one yet; maybe in another two weeks. That's when I move on to light resistance exercises. Thanks for the info, though ~ I'll keep it in mind!
 
#6 · (Edited)
ar1981 said:
mine was 2 weeks ago... Xray showed fracture of head of right humerous, broke my ball joint into three and dislocated it behind cup...

i had open reduction and internal fixation for right humeral fracture surgery... cant move my arm AT ALL... luckily wasnt my dominant side.

im looking at 4 weeks of no movement then pt apparently... im pretty depressed atm

pain was freaking unbearable...
OMG - you poor thing!!! I really feel for ya! I have been telling everyone that my break is very minor compared to how bad it could have been; sounds like yours is the worst case. Are you going to need a full joint replacement?? How did it happen / what did you run into?? I am sending healing-vibes your way!!
 
#7 · (Edited)
xcguy said:
the questions you should be asking don't include: why can't I ride, it's been a whole four weeks since I broke my shoulder. From the time you first went to the doc you should have had a time frame in mind of maybe 6-8 weeks (I'm sure it could be longer. What's your doc say?) You need to let your body heal. Sorry for your accident but...four weeks? PT now, ride later. Almost everyone on this forum was as active as you before we got hurt and we all hated being out of action. Can't help you with a real shoulder prognosis, sorry.
^^^^^If I was looking for this kind of reply, I'd have called my mommy.........

So in case others have missed the point, I'll rephrase the question:

For those who have suffered a proximal humeral fracture (if you haven't, no need in wasting your/my time in replying), at what point did your physician release you to: a) ride road; b) ride MTB; c) run?

TIA for your thoughtful replies :)
 
#8 ·
I don't know the technical jargon, but when I broke mine, the collar bone was sticking up and the end of my arm bone was down in what would normally be my armpit area. When I hit the ground I heard the snap and then I slid on my shoulder and side of my head for another twenty feet or so and thats why my arm was down where it was.

In the er they thought it was dislocated at first but the xray showed the end of my collar bone was still attached to my arm bone with the ligaments and whatever other stuff is in there, the rest of the collar bone was just really far away.

They put me in that figure 8 thing and for a second I thought I was going to puke on the dr, it hurt a little :) and gave me a sling. I was supposed to go to another dr but I never did.

I couldn't sleep with the figure 8 thing on so I would take that off and sleep on my back, it was tough to get it back on in the morning but I managed.

After 3 weeks I started riding my road bike and it hurt a little, so I took it easy, but then a couple months later I got hit by a car and broke the cartilage in my sternum so that kept me off the bike for a few more weeks, by the time that got better my shoulder was as good as new.

I think you just KNOW when your body is ready to go and sometimes the dr dosen't, he can't feel what you feel so he never really knows how bad it is or isn't.
 
#9 ·
TrekChick - I literally feel your pain! I broke my shoulder (proximal humerus fracture) on May 9th - today is July 21st and I have about 60% ROM. This has been the most painful and frustrating injury I've ever had to deal with.

My advice to you: get that shoulder moving as much as possible! Do the pendeulum exercises as much as your doc allows. Nobody told me I could, but I've been riding some very light (and painful) XC over the past week. I think I started pedaling around the road around 2 weeks ago. I was walking every day from week 1 and I think I was able to jog again around week 6.

Just remember that your hardest days are over and start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every injury is different but I would expect 12 weeks of PT. In fact, I'm so frustrated at the slow pace of getting my ROM back that I'm going to my chiropractor today to see if he can help also.

I wish you the best of luck and whatever other questions you have I'll try to answer as best as possible.
 
#10 ·
For those who have suffered a proximal humeral fracture:

I have broken both my shoulders at the greater tub. Both ended up needing surgery post healing because of frozen shoulders. But, just time for the bone to heal was about 10 weeks for one, and 12 for the other. My fractures were quite large, but they still recommend 8-12 weeks because the fracture site stressed by the soft tissue of the shoulder connecting in the area. So basically, every time you active your shoulder, it pulls the bone apart at the fracture. So the more time the better. Do your pendulums and all the exercises they say as often as they will let you, you don't want a frozen shoulder!
 
#11 ·
I just broke my humerous last week. ER doc told me that it wasn't bad and that I wouldn't need surgery. Today, the ortho told me I have to get a CAT scan b/c it looks like the fracture extends into the ball joint and might require surgery. So from what I can gather from all your posts, I should pretty much just put my bike into storage until next spring? :madman:
 
#12 · (Edited)
Fast track to healing

Hi TrekChick ,
sounds close to my injury : dislocated and two fractures to the head of the humerus after a massive off, hucking a cliff .

Bone generally takes 8 weeks to be 80% healed , I got mine at 6 weeks by the following this regime.

Avoid alcohol and caffeine as they both impede the laying down of calcium ,
on the subject of calcium you should be taking supplements and food rich in it , a good natural yogurt lots of milk sardines are really good , sesame seeds /nuts / kidney beans black eye peas/ collard greens /broccoli /kale, also to metabolize the calcium you need vitamin C ,D silica, zinc, iron,phosphorous and magnesium.

Find a good Physiotherapist and see them at least twice a week once you are about a week out of the sling ,
DO THE STRETCHES and exercises they give you.

Use some thera -band to start your exercises gently building up from yellow to eventually black.

At three months I am swimming everyday for 15-20 min which has given my shoulder complete mobility and now lots of gym time weight training to increase the strength in my Rhomboids and Supraspinatus which help stabilize the shoulder.

I started riding at nine weeks just gentle road riding then within a week I was on easy fire trails , now I am back doing almost everything I was before but with a lot more caution and relying on proper technique to keep me out of trouble.

At a guess I will be 100% by 4-6 months but only because I put a lot of work in,
at two to three months my Physio says I have close to 80% stability in my shoulder.

Good luck keep your chin up and be positive it is really easy to get glum and defeatist :madman: I went through a really bad period around week 4-5 where it felt like nothing was happening .

Go girl good luck and
STREEEEETCH
:thumbsup:
s-t-m
 
#13 ·
TortugaTonta said:
I don't know the technical jargon, but when I broke mine, the collar bone was sticking up and the end of my arm bone was down in what would normally be my armpit area. When I hit the ground I heard the snap and then I slid on my shoulder and side of my head for another twenty feet or so and thats why my arm was down where it was.

In the er they thought it was dislocated at first but the xray showed the end of my collar bone was still attached to my arm bone with the ligaments and whatever other stuff is in there, the rest of the collar bone was just really far away.

They put me in that figure 8 thing and for a second I thought I was going to puke on the dr, it hurt a little :) and gave me a sling. I was supposed to go to another dr but I never did.

I couldn't sleep with the figure 8 thing on so I would take that off and sleep on my back, it was tough to get it back on in the morning but I managed.

After 3 weeks I started riding my road bike and it hurt a little, so I took it easy, but then a couple months later I got hit by a car and broke the cartilage in my sternum so that kept me off the bike for a few more weeks, by the time that got better my shoulder was as good as new.

I think you just KNOW when your body is ready to go and sometimes the dr dosen't, he can't feel what you feel so he never really knows how bad it is or isn't.
Whatta bummer ~ you finally got riding again and then got plowed over by a car :eekster: !! That sucks! Truth be told, this shoulder incident was my 2nd 'crash' this year. The first one was in January when I rode into a strand of barb wire with my face. Fifteen stitches and 7 months later & Iook as good as new! Thanks for sharing your story!
 
#14 ·
drkenan said:
TrekChick - I literally feel your pain! I broke my shoulder (proximal humerus fracture) on May 9th - today is July 21st and I have about 60% ROM. This has been the most painful and frustrating injury I've ever had to deal with.

My advice to you: get that shoulder moving as much as possible! Do the pendeulum exercises as much as your doc allows. Nobody told me I could, but I've been riding some very light (and painful) XC over the past week. I think I started pedaling around the road around 2 weeks ago. I was walking every day from week 1 and I think I was able to jog again around week 6.

Just remember that your hardest days are over and start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every injury is different but I would expect 12 weeks of PT. In fact, I'm so frustrated at the slow pace of getting my ROM back that I'm going to my chiropractor today to see if he can help also.

I wish you the best of luck and whatever other questions you have I'll try to answer as best as possible.
Ah, pendulum exercises... or as my dear Dr. described it... make a pizza and then cut it - ha! (No wonder I was craving pizza on Sunday ~ I've been "making pizzas" five times a day!) After doing this for a week & a half now, I am noticing an increase in my ROM. Not a whole lot, but I'm able to get most of my shirts off over my head without Hubby's help now. And that take-your-breath-away sharp pain isn't happening as much any more.

I have been walking A LOT, too. (My dog is very pleased about this aspect of my injury!) I was signed up for a 10K this past weekend, so I walked it, rather than do a no-show, since I was pre-registered, and all. I really feel that I could do some light jogging now, but I will wait until my 6-wk check-up to make sure it's okay.

Thank you for replying with your experience! We'll all get through this together somehow!
 
#15 ·
DH Diva said:
For those who have suffered a proximal humeral fracture:

I have broken both my shoulders at the greater tub. Both ended up needing surgery post healing because of frozen shoulders. But, just time for the bone to heal was about 10 weeks for one, and 12 for the other. My fractures were quite large, but they still recommend 8-12 weeks because the fracture site stressed by the soft tissue of the shoulder connecting in the area. So basically, every time you active your shoulder, it pulls the bone apart at the fracture. So the more time the better. Do your pendulums and all the exercises they say as often as they will let you, you don't want a frozen shoulder!
I cannot imagine having to go through this a second time! You must be one tough chick ;) !!
 
#16 ·
BonnyGirl said:
I just broke my humerous last week. ER doc told me that it wasn't bad and that I wouldn't need surgery. Today, the ortho told me I have to get a CAT scan b/c it looks like the fracture extends into the ball joint and might require surgery. So from what I can gather from all your posts, I should pretty much just put my bike into storage until next spring? :madman:
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this!

As far as hanging up the bike, I was actually given the okay to pedal a stationary bike at 3-weeks (I know, I know - BORING!) But, I had Hubby set up my roadie bike on the fluid trainer in the living room anyway, and I've been getting in 30-40 min a couple days a week. I have to ride sitting up; can't hold myself up too long with just one arm, and the other one isn't ready to participate yet!

Hope you get only good news from the doc after the CT scan. Keep us posted!!
 
#17 ·
single-track-mind said:
Hi TrekChick ,
sounds close to my injury : dislocated and two fractures to the head of the humerus after a massive off, hucking a cliff .

Bone generally takes 8 weeks to be 80% healed , I got mine at 6 weeks by the following this regime.

Avoid alcohol and caffeine as they both impede the laying down of calcium ,
on the subject of calcium you should be taking supplements and food rich in it , a good natural yogurt lots of milk sardines are really good , sesame seeds /nuts / kidney beans black eye peas/ collard greens /broccoli /kale, also to metabolize the calcium you need vitamin C ,D silica, zinc, iron,phosphorous and magnesium.

Find a good Physiotherapist and see them at least twice a week once you are about a week out of the sling ,
DO THE STRETCHES and exercises they give you.

Use some thera -band to start your exercises gently building up from yellow to eventually black.

At three months I am swimming everyday for 15-20 min which has given my shoulder complete mobility and now lots of gym time weight training to increase the strength in my Rhomboids and Supraspinatus which help stabilize the shoulder.

I started riding at nine weeks just gentle road riding then within a week I was on easy fire trails , now I am back doing almost everything I was before but with a lot more caution and relying on proper technique to keep me out of trouble.

At a guess I will be 100% by 4-6 months but only because I put a lot of work in,
at two to three months my Physio says I have close to 80% stability in my shoulder.

Good luck keep your chin up and be positive it is really easy to get glum and defeatist :madman: I went through a really bad period around week 4-5 where it felt like nothing was happening .

Go girl good luck and
STREEEEETCH
:thumbsup:
s-t-m
I wish my crash had a good huck-off-a-cliff story behind it. What happened was that I came upon a HUGE SNAKE in the middle of the trail (sweet singletrax called "Just Outstanding"). Well, I didn't know if it was a Gopher Snake or a Rattlesnake, but it was freakin' HUGE, and I was going too fast to stop, and I ran right over it. The next thing I knew, I was uncontrollably screaming like a victim in a slasher movie (I'm such a girl sometimes!...), and then, BAM - I was on the ground. My first crash EVER, and I've been riding MTB since 1987. Hubby (who was behind me) said I was screaming bloody-murder, and looking backwards over my shoulder. Go figure... Man, I hate snakes!

Well, I'm down with all your vitamin & food suggestions, but no way am I giving up my morning coffee and evening beer :D !!

And, I am anxiously awaiting the next step in recovery - resistance exercises & additional stretching. Getting out of this dang immobilizer permanently can't happen soon enough!!
 
#18 ·
TrekChick said:
^^^^^If I was looking for this kind of reply, I'd have called my mommy.........

So in case others have missed the point, I'll rephrase the question:

For those who have suffered a proximal humeral fracture (if you haven't, no need in wasting your/my time in replying), at what point did your physician release you to: a) ride road; b) ride MTB; c) run?

TIA for your thoughtful replies :)
That was called "bumping up a 0 reply plea from an injured rider to the top so someone who had real information might see it and help out". You're the first one to take offense at my doing that. Good luck anyway.
 
#19 ·
Been out of town...

Just got back from Mammoth. Do you have any idea how hard it is to go to Mammoth and not be able to ride???? Argh!!!! My 6-week checkup is tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Doc will let me start running now, at least. I can tell I'm still not ready to ride though... :nonod:

I've been doing well with the pendulum exercises. I can even blowdry my hair all by myself again (it's the little things that keep me motivated...). I've ditched that dang immobilizer during the day; still sleep in it, though. (Will probably get my butt chewed tomorrw by Dr. Goodlookin' doing that!)

Keeping my fingers crossed that the x-rays tomorrow show continued proper healing. However, I am gonna ask why he hasn't MRI'd it yet. I would have more peace of mind knowing for sure that there's no rotator cuff injury. Seems like I should be able to lift my arm more than 90° by now!
 
#20 ·
hey there trekchick- glad to hear you are slowly on the road to recovery. I don't have a broken shoulder, only a rotator cuff tear from a wreck. I can't see an ortho for another week and WANT to do some exercises now! But I don't know what these pendulum exercises are. Can anyone tell me? thanks!
 
#21 ·
get yourself in front of you bed, a table or contertop about waist high. bend over, placing your uninjured sides' hand on said item for support. let your injured arm hand straight down. start to slowly swing your hand (arm) in a small circle. gradually build the size of the circle. relax your arm best you can. you will find over time that you can do bigger and bigger circles without pain. seems like not much, but it will help A LOT!

for all you folks suffering through these shoulder issues........HANG IN THERE!!! i have had MANY ortho procedures, and without comparison, the shoulder stuff in the biggest pain.....literal and actual. rehab is the WHOLE key. as is patience. you will seem to be getting nowhere, then you make a big jump in progress. i have an 85 yr old great uncle (emphasis on great). he has had both knees replaced, a hip replaced (and still skied with me this year!) and then went in for rotator cuff surgery. i warned him it would be his toughest yet.....close to a month, no movement. close to 3 months before he would be close to fully functional, a year before he wouldn't think about it..........when it was all said and done, he said the info was spot on. in the cases of dislocation, it is not unusual to have humerus head fractures of different degrees....lots of times they look like a "smiley" on a golf ball.
don't hurry your return to the bike too much.....quick re-injury is almost suicide inducing! the harder/more religiously you work in PT, the quicker you get back and the better the long term side of things are.
i used to work with a guy who was a TOOL. he told me he was going in for cuff surgery. i gave him the whole rundown on what to expect. about a year later i ran into him, so i asked him how it went.......(karma) he had been out of surgery about 3 weeks, arm still immobilized. got up in the middle of the night to take a leak. tripped over his gym back, reached out as he fell, popped his other shoulder out!!!!! not sure if he got a 2fer on the second surgery!
good luck to all of you! all great athletes struggle to overcome!, RIGHT?
 
#22 ·
jewels said:
hey there trekchick- glad to hear you are slowly on the road to recovery. I don't have a broken shoulder, only a rotator cuff tear from a wreck. I can't see an ortho for another week and WANT to do some exercises now! But I don't know what these pendulum exercises are. Can anyone tell me? thanks!
Hiya Jewels,
Bull_D did a good job of describing the pendulum exercises. I lean on the bathroom or kitchen counter ~ try to get as close to 90° bend at the hips as possible. I do 30 circles clockwise, then 30 more counterclockwise, followed by 30 swings front/back, and then 30 more side-to-side. As the doc described it... make a pizza, then cut it in half! Hope you heal quick!!
 
#23 ·
Bull_D said:
get yourself in front of you bed, a table or contertop about waist high. bend over, placing your uninjured sides' hand on said item for support. let your injured arm hand straight down. start to slowly swing your hand (arm) in a small circle. gradually build the size of the circle. relax your arm best you can. you will find over time that you can do bigger and bigger circles without pain. seems like not much, but it will help A LOT!

for all you folks suffering through these shoulder issues........HANG IN THERE!!! i have had MANY ortho procedures, and without comparison, the shoulder stuff in the biggest pain.....literal and actual. rehab is the WHOLE key. as is patience. you will seem to be getting nowhere, then you make a big jump in progress. i have an 85 yr old great uncle (emphasis on great). he has had both knees replaced, a hip replaced (and still skied with me this year!) and then went in for rotator cuff surgery. i warned him it would be his toughest yet.....close to a month, no movement. close to 3 months before he would be close to fully functional, a year before he wouldn't think about it..........when it was all said and done, he said the info was spot on. in the cases of dislocation, it is not unusual to have humerus head fractures of different degrees....lots of times they look like a "smiley" on a golf ball.
don't hurry your return to the bike too much.....quick re-injury is almost suicide inducing! the harder/more religiously you work in PT, the quicker you get back and the better the long term side of things are.
i used to work with a guy who was a TOOL. he told me he was going in for cuff surgery. i gave him the whole rundown on what to expect. about a year later i ran into him, so i asked him how it went.......(karma) he had been out of surgery about 3 weeks, arm still immobilized. got up in the middle of the night to take a leak. tripped over his gym back, reached out as he fell, popped his other shoulder out!!!!! not sure if he got a 2fer on the second surgery!
good luck to all of you! all great athletes struggle to overcome!, RIGHT?
Thanks for the input Bull_D! I cringed when I read about your friend busting his other shoulder before the first was healed. Bummmmmmer! Yesterday I was walking through a parking lot (without my arm in the immobilizer) and a little kid did a 180 and came right at me. I reached out with my BAD arm to keep him from falling down and he kinda pushed it backwards. It was "ouch", thankfully not "OUCH!".
 
#24 ·
Had my 6-week checkup today. The x-rays today revealed that the bone is still healing well - yay!! I start real PT next Tuesday ~ Heat/Ice, E-Stim, ROM and Stretching. No strength training yet :nono: !! Best of all, he said I can start running again - wahoo :thumbsup:!!!! I haven't really gained any lbs during the last six weeks, but I'm sure I've lost some muscle tone, despite all the hiking & walking I've been doing. I'm getting up at O'dark:30 tomorrow morning and hitting the trail with my dog. He'll be happy to be back out running again, too!
 
#25 ·
PT Update

Started PT this week. First visit caused a lot of pain. She took measurements on my current (limited) ROM. Directions were move the arm in various positions until: a) it wouldn't budge any further, or b) it hurt too much to move any more! The PT exercises themselves were not bad. I ached all day yesterday after the first visit. Tonight was the 2nd visit, and it wasn't so bad doing only the exercises.

Over the last 5 days or so, I've felt like the whole shoulder joint is starting to stiffen & freeze up. I'm glad to finally be in PT for this & I'm hoping that my ROM comes back quickly!

I ran last weekend for the first time in 8 weeks. That went well, with no pain in the shoulder. I still don't feel ready to get back on a bike yet. Maybe on the back of a roadie tandem... MTBing is a ways off in the future, I'm afraid...
 
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