Forearm Fracture after a Biking Accident

TRUE PERSONAL PATIENT STORY OF A FOREARM FRACTURE TREATED WITH SURGERY I am a physically fit 38 year-old man who is addicted to exercise. As a former athlete, I suffered a number of injuries in my past. However, I had not experienced anything quitelike the broken arm I recently suffered.  Early one morning, I went for a ride towards the Stanford foothills on my mountain bike. About 20 minutes into the ride I found myself on the ground and in pain. I didn't know whether I had been hit by a car, or if I had simply lost control of the bike.  All I knew was that I was on the ground, my teeth hurt, my left arm hurt, and I was rather dazed. (It was never determined how the accident occurred.) Although I had fallen, I was still attached to my bike due to my footstraps. (I had a helmet on as well.) I tried to move and felt severe pain in my left arm, down near the wrist. I knew immediately that my arm was broken--I just didn't know how badly. I picked myself up, let my left arm dangle, and walked myself and my bike back towards town. I moved very slowly. Fortunately, a couple out walking their dog saw me and took me to a hospital. Each bump along the way was a painful reminder that I had broken my arm. I was feeling pretty stupid for the predicament in which I had placed myself. At the hospital, I discovered that I had (a) a mild concussion, (b) broken several teeth, and (c) broken my left arm. I looked at the lower part of my arm and it had taken on an "S" shape. Both the ulna and radius were broken completely, but neither broke the skin. It appeared to me that I had fallen over the handle bars and put my left arm out to brace my fall. Surprisingly, I didn't feel much pain while being examined. The arm was set that day, and two days later my surgeon repaired the arm. The surgery was necessary in order to insert two plates in the arm (one for each broken bone) to facilitate the healing process. Since I had had surgery once before, I was not concerned about the procedure. After the surgery, there was a fair amount of pain, but I was given medication, which helped a great deal. I was placed in a splint and instructed to rest and elevate my arm. However, during a lengthy visit with my dentist, I could not keep the arm elevated. As a result, the arm became very swollen, and the splint very tight. Also, I was in a lot more pain, and felt that I needed to take the medication more often. After trying to tough it out, my wife convinced me to call my surgeon. He saw me immediately. When the cast was removed, we discovered that the arm had swollen tremendously, and that the skin was blistering. I was put in a splint, given antibiotics, and instructed to rest and keep my arm elevated. There was a risk of a serious infection due to the swelling. Although the site of my swollen, blistering arm was surprising, I didn't feel a great deal of anxiety. I knew it wasn't supposed to be that swollen, and I was feeling pretty stupid for having spent so much time in the dentist's chair at the expense of my arm. My surgeon told me to follow his instructions and that he would check me every day. In other words, I had to rest and elevate the arm. So, I figured if I followed his advice, everything would be fine. When we got home, my wife put me to bed and propped my arm up with pillows. It was a little awkward to sleep with my arm sticking up over my head like that, but the pillows helped. However, I immediately felt the fluid in my arm draining towards my shoulder. I could see and feel a difference right away. My surgeon called to check on me that evening, and saw me the next day. Each day the swelling kept going down, and my arm started to return to its normal size. Seeing this progress made it easier for me to abide by being confined to bed and the sofa. After a few days, the swelling was gone and the blisters had gone down, but the old blisters had turned parts of my skin pink, and other parts black and blue. I thought, "Now, that's ugly!". I knew that the skin color would come back, but I was bummed that I would have to look at such an ugly arm for several weeks. It is now 10 weeks since the accident. We still don't know exactly what happened. However, the arm feels fine. I am rehabilitating it and have regained almost complete flexibility in the wrist and elbow. I am able to lift light weights. The skin color is almost back to normal as well.

Motion 5 months after surgery