Pinballers with motorbikes. Anyone had a proximal humerus fracture?

[VeeMonroe]

On Monday, I was riding my trike - alone, no kids - down The Avenue in Greenwich Park at 30-40 km/ph, when a squirrel ran out in front of me. I had a choice of getting it tangled in my back wheels (and probably flying over the handlebar), or swerving out the way. I swerved, lost control of the trike, and it rolled over. As I flew off, I went into a roll (to protect my head) as I hit the tarmac.



Trike is fine, squirrel is (presumably) fine, but I have a broken right shoulder (complex proximal humerus fracture). I haven’t seen the X-rays, but got a lot of “nasty fracture” and teeth sucking in A&E. They did a CT, as well as X-ray, incase I needed surgery, which I assume I don’t right now as I haven’t heard anything.



I’ve got a follow-up in a fortnight. Trouble is, no one’s told me anything. I was given a neoprene sling on Monday night, but no discharge instructions, and otherwise I got about five minutes with a nurse practitioner after my CT. I know I can take the sling off, but not how much, and it turns out from Google that 95% of breaks of the proximal humerus are falls in elderly people (largely little old ladies). The rest are mostly motorbike accidents, largely young men. Not so useful to a 40-something otherwise healthy-ish woman.

Advice on NHS Trust information sheets varies by NHS trust from ‘sling is for your comfort only, keep it off as much as you can to avoid your muscles/joints seizing up’ to ‘wear the sling constantly for 3 weeks. DO NOT remove the sling except to dress/bathe’.

I can move my hand, wrist, shoulder and elbow just fine, so I’m actually typing this two handed with my arms close to my chest (a bit like a T-Rex). Yesterday, I managed 450,000 on Centaur in T-Rex posture, but dunno if I should be doing that - everyone else with this kinda fracture seems to be in a lot more pain…

Wondered if anyone had any experience with this injury? And had any advice?

Picture of trike in less dangerous times (incase anyone is curious).

 

[Jib]

Hope it repairs quickly and it's not too painful. Personally I'd lay off the pinball for a bit, pushing buttons is probably fine but it could just take 1 nudge to make it worse.

 

[Calimori]

Sorry to hear this Vee, I hope you are ok and able to recover.

That might have been what I had when I had a motorbike accident but this was 20 years ago. If you hit something head on, it can go up you arm and the top bone fractures at the shoulder joint.

I was told to use the sling to rest a lot in the first week. But some movement is needed.
They said after a week, working in until it ached was fine but not silly movement like tennis. Or heavy impact.

The crashed was at end of July and I riding by the 19th of August. So that is about 4 weeks. I returned to the rock climbing gym at the same time.

The sling was largely used to let other know to not hit me on that arm, as it was tender the first week. I am ambidextrous so used my left hand more that first week to use a computer etc.

 

[VeeMonroe]

Sorry to hear this Vee, I hope you are ok and able to recover.

That might have been what I had when I had a motorbike accident but this was 20 years ago. If you hit something head on, it can go up you arm and the top bone fractures at the shoulder joint.

Yep, this sounds familiar, thanks

I was told to use the sling to rest a lot in the first week. But some movement is needed.
They said after a week, working in until it ached was fine but not silly movement like tennis. Or heavy impact.

The crashed was at end of July and I riding by the 19th of August. So that is about 4 weeks. I returned to the rock climbing gym at the same time.

The sling was largely used to let other know to not hit me on that arm, as it was tender the first week. I am ambidextrous so used my left hand more that first week to use a computer etc.

Also sounds familiar, thank you I read a bunch of accounts on Mumsnet (!) and motorbike forums, but it was all people on Tramadol for 6 months who couldn’t move their wrist at all for a year. And that didn’t seem to tally too well with my experience…

That said, I doubt I’m going to be playing tennis next week, given I’m still getting bone and muscle spasms from tensing up while stuck in a chair!!

 

[Calimori]

First week was bruising and lots of pain but I do not know how much was the fracture and the other bits I suffered.
I know where the x-ray is so I can take a photo for you to compare to yours if you want?

 

[VeeMonroe]

First week was bruising and lots of pain but I do not know how much was the fracture and the other bits I suffered.
I know where the x-ray is so I can take a photo for you to compare to yours if you want?

That would be helpful, although I haven’t seen the X-ray As I say, I have very little information - I keep logging onto my GP patient record as they’ll apparently upload the hospital paperwork at some point.

I’ve been told it’s “complex” (i.e. in several bits) and “nasty”, but doesn’t affect the socket. Having prodded around with my fingers, it’s on my upper arm just below my shoulder, and that’s also where all the bruising is.

 

[Moonraker]

Very sorry to hear and wish you a speedy recovery.

I'm not a medical professional (!) but I can highly recommend using your arm as much as possible to avoid shoulder muscle deterioration and/or wastage. I've seen a couple of cases where the shoulder hasn't been used and has wasted away (one on doctors orders and the other through not being able), it took the first person nearly 6 to 9 months to build the shoulder back up (with regular trips to gym/weights bay, etc) and the second hasn't manage to build theirs back up and so can't use it properly, nearly 4 years later.

Not everyone can take Ibuprofen but if you can then every 4 hours without fail would aid recovery and lessen the pain a bit. I would also engage a decent sports physio two or three times a week to help speed up recovery / promote healing (not cheap but I find many people chose to spend their money on other things in life like cars (or pinball machines!) rather than their own body).

 

[VeeMonroe]

Very sorry to hear and wish you a speedy recovery.

I'm not a medical professional (!) but I can highly recommend using your arm as much as possible to avoid shoulder muscle deterioration and/or wastage. I've seen a couple of cases where the shoulder hasn't been used and has wasted away (one on doctors orders and the other through not being able), it took the first person nearly 6 to 9 months to build the shoulder back up (with regular trips to gym/weights bay, etc) and the second hasn't manage to build theirs back up and so can't use it properly, nearly 4 years later.

Not everyone can take Ibuprofen but if you can then every 4 hours without fail would aid recovery and lessen the pain a bit. I would also engage a decent sports physio two or three times a week to help speed up recovery / promote healing (not cheap but I find many people chose to spend their money on other things in life like cars (or pinball machines!) rather than their own body).

Thanks

I’d already thought, and worried, about this, but wasn’t sure if I was being daft (which was why I was asking for advice) Good to know I’m not being daft!

I’m lucky enough to have a pretty high pain threshold to the point where it’s dangerous for me to take painkillers during the day, as I’d do myself further injury. So, I tend to return to normal activity within pain limits. Trouble is, this is my first broken bone, and I didn’t want to go to my follow-up in a fortnight and find the bone hadn’t knitted because I was moving around so much!

I’ve got a physio appointment booked for Monday because I was getting muscle pain/spasms from being in the sling, so I was trying to get some exercises/advice.