Severely Injured Elbow

TeamKenpo

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Hey all,

As he title of the thread suggests, I suffered a severe elbow injury. I'm not in here looking for medical advice or anything, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever been in a similar situation and gotten back to training (and how that training is different than it used to be).

About two weeks ago, during a BJJ tournament, I posted with an extended arm while falling (noob move I know). My left elbow fully dislocated. The MRI has revealed a fully torn UCL and a fully torn Radial ligament (as well as partial tears of some other tendons).

My orthopedist has recommended Tommy John surgery, but also said that I could try the more conservative option of PT and rehab in an effort to regain stability in my elbow by strengthening the surrounding muscles. I've decided to try this first, as I am a father of a toddler and can't really afford to go through the lengthy Tommy John recovery.

I'm genuinely worried that I'll never be the same again. IMG_0855.JPG
 
you won't be the same. even with surgery, you might get function back, but it's never the same ya know?

PT's fun because you get a chance to focus on rehabbing and maintaining symmetry and all that. maybe it'll spur something in you to embrace weights and calisthenics until you're back on the mat?

i haven't flamingoed my arm like that but i've had the left hyperextended into oblivion by overzealous white belts at least a dozen times. even having rehabbed it and gotten to a point where it felt stable i still had to switch my batting stance and i'm reaaaaal careful with my golf swing followthrough or there's nothing keeping it from hyperextending.

other than not letting the muscles atrophy or falling too far off the training wagon, there isn't a whole lot you need to worry about that isn't incidental to begin with. pushups won't be fun but you won't wanna do any of those until you're ready anyway.

as far as posting on your arm, i guess you learned not to do it again huh?
 
Ha! Indeed, lesson learned.

Thanks for commiserating a bit. I appreciate it.
 
you have 2 FULLY torn ligaments. I'd be very interested to see how far PT only willcarry you. I suspect that that elbow will never be particuarly useful again, but hope i am wrong for your sake
 
One of my classmates injured his elbow in a similar manner. I am not sure what exactly happened. I know he had surgery and was out for about a year. Then he came back and he cannot fully extend his arm. He does still train but he just taps to arm bars really quickly if you attack that arm. Best of luck with your recovery.
 
you need to get the surgery. no sense in wasting 6 months of trying to rehab it before you realize you have to do it.
 
I've had Tommy John on my main arm used for morote seoi so all the stress is directly on that joint angle. I was skeptical but the repair actually left my elbow stronger than my unoperated one (Achilles tendon used is stronger than the normal medial elbow tendon apparently). Seems baseball players even elect to go for the surgery sans injury to strengthen their throwing arm even. No loss of flexibility, but a huge scar running down the elbow
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

It definitely crossed my mind that the 6 weeks of PT without the surgery could end up being a waste of time. I feel like I need to try though, based on my situation at home.

Maybe I'll post in here periodically over the next few weeks to share how things are going. Hopefully that'll include a triumphant return to the mats in about a month.
 
Good luck and please update on how things are gone. I agree with the conservative strategy... if it isn't working, then look at surgery.
 
Hey all, meant to keep y’all updated on this, in case anyone ever has a similar experience in the future.

A lot has happened since the injury, which was almost 6 months ago now to the day.

Hard splint came off after about a week, and the elbow was swollen as hell, barely could move. MRI revealed full thickness ruptures of UCL and several other ligaments. Orthopedist recommended Tommy John surgery, but i elected to just rehab with PT and not do surgery, accepting that my elbow will never be whole again.

I made quick progress in PT and was actually back on the mat for the first time only two months out from the injury. It was slow at first. I had to go easy and couldn’t really train back to back days. However, I kept up with my PT exercises and ramped up my training back to a full schedule slowly.

In December, I was awarded my brown belt by my coach Julio Rivera and Vitor Shaolin himself. It was a proud moment in so many levels.

Now, I’m back to a full training schedule. I’m sheduled to compete for the first time since the injury and that will be in May. My game has changed A LOT. I have to protect that arm, and the arm sprains now very easily because the muscles and tendon that are left are overburdened.

...but I made it back from this catastrophic injury.

If you’re still with me here, thanks for reading :)
 
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Thank you for the update. I am happy to hear things went relatively well without the surgery. Congratulations on the promotion. Do you mind sharing how you have changed your bjj to protect the elbow? Good luck in May and make sure you get your t-shirt if they have them at this competition!
 
Thank you for the update. I am happy to hear things went relatively well without the surgery. Congratulations on the promotion. Do you mind sharing how you have changed your bjj to protect the elbow? Good luck in May and make sure you get your t-shirt if they have them at this competition!

The main thing that has changed is that I’ve become much more of a guard puller, and as a result, much more comfortable playing guard. I felt that I needed to reduce the risk of big falls first, and also to move away from the urge to stand up whenever the opportunity would present itself. As a result, my skill set has really evolved a lot. So I guess I was able to make this whole thing into at least a little bit of a positive.

Oh, and you better believe I’m getting me a t-shirt.
 
I'm happy to hear you are better. I hurt my UCL doing the hitchhiker escape. My arm was in between an americana and armbar position when I heard pops and cracks. I didn't see a doctor but I guessed it was my UCL. This was 4 years ago and I still suffer pain in my elbow and popping when I straighten or bend it. It even goes numb at night when I bend it/my hand is near my head. I never did any rehab or anything which is most probably why I still have issues.

What kind of exercises have you been doing if you don't mind sharing?
 
I'm happy to hear you are better. I hurt my UCL doing the hitchhiker escape. My arm was in between an americana and armbar position when I heard pops and cracks. I didn't see a doctor but I guessed it was my UCL. This was 4 years ago and I still suffer pain in my elbow and popping when I straighten or bend it. It even goes numb at night when I bend it/my hand is near my head. I never did any rehab or anything which is most probably why I still have issues.

What kind of exercises have you been doing if you don't mind sharing?

I get the numbness sometimes too. When I tweak the elbow, the swelling can pinch the ulnar nerve and create numbness and sharp pains.

The excercises I was given have been tremendously helpful though. Mostly, the PT instructed me to do exercises that strengthen the muscles in the OTHER parts of my arm. So, rows, hammer curls, lat raises (all with resistance bands, not weights). Also, exercises to strengthen the muscles in the forearm, like flexing the wrist with a light dumbbell in hand, and twisting one of those rubber tennis elbow things. Arm bike too.

I haven’t been to the PT in a while, since the prescription ran out, but when I was going they did a lot of heat therapy, massage and ultrasound. Now, I massage the elbow myself with bengay after training. Not quite as good, but it does help.
 
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