Plated ulna and radius, how long?

M

memeikle

Active Member
Joined
14 March 2009
Messages
39
Visit site
Having been booted on wednesday by horse and ended up with plates in both ulna and radius was wondering if anyone could give me any light at the end of the tunnel? Consultant reckons it'll be 3 months before I'm riding, SURELY NOT!
 
ouch, nightmare, poor you.
umm, ask Baydale, she got kicked in the forearm a few months ago, i think she only had 1 of the bones fractured and then plated, but she was back in the saddle pretty quickly.
i had a fractured then plated humerus years ago, was back in the saddle after a couple of months iirc.
the good thing is that bone heals really really well... given time...! i didn't start riding again until my arm stopped feeling wobbly, fwiw.
join me in the "Injured HHOers room", it's cosy in here.
wink.gif
wink.gif
 
They did say it would heal quicker with being plated, unfortunately thats a bit like a red rag to a bull! well, can't really do much for a couple of weeks until the plaster comes off, bloody typical, first time in 2 years I've got something to event this season and I'm broke!
 
Ah, give it another couple of days...

Joking. I am not the person to ask as I'd be back on as soon as nobody was looking
blush.gif


Having suffered more leg fractures than is really reasonable or fair, frustration has always got the better of me long before the official go ahead to ride again. I haven't had any disasters or even near misses but as a guideline wait til the stitches are out and the aching and swelling have gone down!
wink.gif
tongue.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ah, give it another couple of days...

Joking. I am not the person to ask as I'd be back on as soon as nobody was looking
blush.gif


Having suffered more leg fractures than is really reasonable or fair, frustration has always got the better of me long before the official go ahead to ride again. I haven't had any disasters or even near misses but as a guideline wait til the stitches are out and the aching and swelling have gone down!
wink.gif
tongue.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, that was me, hacking round the village with my arm in a cast from knuckle to armpit.
shocked.gif
I had mine on for 2 weeks before I had the op to put a plate in, then just had a dressing on it. The swelling went down a lot from moving it about (tacking up, skipping out, all those kind of physio exercises...
smirk.gif
) but I couldn't lift heavy things v easily. If you overdo it obviously you "slow down the healing, risk loosening the screws on the plate and may need a bone graft"
crazy.gif
, or that's what my consultant told me. I'm sure he said that to scare me a bit
mad.gif
, knowing what I was like when I had a fractured pelvis.

I did mine on 26 Sept and am pretty much back to normal now. It hurts when I've lifted really heavy things but I can straighten the arm properly. Yours is worse though if you've broken both bones, so I'd expect it to be a longer healing process anyway. Sorry.
frown.gif
 
did mine on 16th sept, radius only, but it was pinned and plated, rode a bit when it was in plaster, found it was worse for about 10 days after it came out of plaster, now more or less back to normal but lost quite a lot of muscle/strength, but then i'm quite old. Can now do girths up and was riding as usual before it snowed! It was a real pain though so you have my sympathy, (found driving the lorry easier than the car as the cast got in the way!). My consultant said I was nuts to ride, but I think they tell you that in case you do more damage and then go back and tell them that they said it was ok. But he said not to do any heavy lifting and i figured that it was the horse that did that!
 
ow, I do think it is going to take longer because you have done both bones, if you only do one the other goes some way to support and splint it. I fractured my radius about a week before baydale I think
wink.gif
but was never pinned so cant really help. My main problem was grip but sorted that pretty quickly
 
I only did the big one, but the other one was dislocated and they almost seemed more worried about that. I lost an inch of bone from the middle and my plate has 7 screws in it. I was never in plaster, so I rode at 2 weeks. I evented at Intro after 6 weeks. I found that an Eskadron brushing boot is an excellent splint!! Nice protection for the whole arm to the wrist, with a cover for the elbow too (the bit that goes around the fetlock).

If anyone has bought "Feet First" you can see the splint on my arm on the front cover!!

My surgeon was furious but I told him it was that or go mad !! He was worried that I would break it again at the end of the plate and I figured that I could do that after 1 day, 1 week or 1 year, so what did it matter when I did it??

I wouldn't recommend you to ignore your surgeon but I'd be the last person to criticise if you rode this afternoon
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I only did the big one, but the other one was dislocated and they almost seemed more worried about that. I lost an inch of bone from the middle and my plate has 7 screws in it. I was never in plaster, so I rode at 2 weeks. I evented at Intro after 6 weeks. I found that an Eskadron brushing boot is an excellent splint!! Nice protection for the whole arm to the wrist, with a cover for the elbow too (the bit that goes around the fetlock).

If anyone has bought "Feet First" you can see the splint on my arm on the front cover!!

My surgeon was furious but I told him it was that or go mad !! He was worried that I would break it again at the end of the plate and I figured that I could do that after 1 day, 1 week or 1 year, so what did it matter when I did it??

I wouldn't recommend you to ignore your surgeon but I'd be the last person to criticise if you rode this afternoon
grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Good thinking re the brushing boot, cptrayes. I'm going skiing next week so was trying to think of something to pad it with; it hurts like hell if I bash the plate on anything solid.
crazy.gif


My consultant and I have an unspoken agreement: we don't talk about riding, horses or what I've been doing. I've got an appointment on Thursday and need my knee x-raying as I think I've chipped a bit of bone off it - he doesn't need to know I did it on a gatepost out hunting.
tongue.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top