Right fractured shoulder - anyone else done this?

chicoingles

sillyvixen wrote: »

family friend was operated on 4 days later - he was driving in less than a month following op. he did as much damage as me but i had to wait for surgery (3 months) it was a complex fracture - both greater and lesser tuberosities and hairline crack on the anatomical neck - 7 1/2 weeks later (after accident not surgery) a student radiologist who was struggling to xray the correct part discovered (by accident) i had also fractured mid way down the humerus.
my shoulder will never be the same as it was - it clicks and suffers in the cold damp weather - i cant lift as much as i did in the past, and i had to change my car as my ancient car had no power steering and i could not get it off the drive - i drove my partners car to start with ubtill i changed mine.
i have my independence back and i am happy with what i have got - it could have been worse.
all the best for your recovery - give it time - dont try to rush it. it will happen in time.

I'm sorry to hear that you don't have as much strength in your left shoulder as you did before the accident. Mine is a hairline fracture and my movement is good (I can lift my arm above 90 degrees in front of me but just don't have the strength) - I'm on week 5 now. My car has power steering luckily and I really want to get back to driving again. He/she was driving less than a month later?! Was it an automatic car then? I am looking forward to seeing the physio tomorrow anyway and hopefully really get on the road to recovery. Thanks a lot for your help and all the best!

Sazzie23

This is the advice I would give if you were one of my patients. A shoulder fracture is a complex injury, unless it's just collar bone which tends to fix easier although can still need an Op to,pin into position.

Everyone is different because bone healing depends on your lifestyle (smoking is bad for bone healing), metabolism, bone density and the nature of the injury. Bones generally heal together within 4-6 weeks however this is dependant on good immobilised position which is why casting or pinning can help. Casting a shoulder or upper arm is difficult though and tends to be ineffective due to patient movement.

You need to take and follow the advice of the orthopaedic consultant or physio which will be tailored to your specific injury and fracture. What you also,need to remember is that there will be soft tissue (ligament/tendon/muscle) damage when the fracture happened and this can take a very long time to heal, but can be helped by good physio.

Hope this helps.