So, the elbow had been feeling great the past several weeks. Generally, it would be almost impossible to know that I’d had surgery at this point. That said, I’m still not supposed to be doing any active lifting with the arm- for extension or bending motions. I have been doing isometrics as part of my PT though.
But on Saturday, I started noticing some discomfort in the elbow area. In particular, the elbow got stiff very quickly if I left it in a bent position for any length of time. Reading a book, or my Nook, was difficult actually by the end of the day. I hadn’t done anything to hurt it though. Or at least, not to the best of my knowledge.
On Sunday, it was worse. I’d lost 75% of my range of motion. Basically, I had a small arc of about 45 degrees I could move it through. I couldn’t straighten it out, nor could I bend it fully. When I allowed my arm to rest at my side, it almost looked like I had some kind of brace on it because it couldn’t extend. I had swelling just above the joint on the backside of the arm and there was a fair amount of pain in that area if I tried to move it out of the range it was limited to. Icing and compression were of little help.
Yesterday saw some improvement, though I was still a long way from normal range of motion. Today brought further improvement. I was at PT today and they ceased the normal routine and used some electrical stim and ice treatment and told me to call if it didn’t improve.
They felt it was a result of breaking down more scar tissue from muscles that hadn’t been in use. Essentially, they called it a form of tendonitis. I’m somewhat skeptical, since I’d been deliberately using the arm- though not to it’s pre-injury potential- for the express purpose of preventing something like that. Perhaps my efforts were in vain. Or perhaps something else is going on.
Fortunately, it’s documented with PT and I’m going for my next check-up with the Doc on Friday. Hopefully, he’ll have a better idea. Until this, I’d been expecting him to green-light the next stage in my recovery. Now, I’ll have to wait and see.
One reply on “Elbow Update- A Minor Setback”
I would be willing to bet on scar tissue, it hurts and bleeds like hell when you snap through it. It can be nasty, tough stuff and even if you are going through a range of motion and using the joint, it will still form. While you were in the brace and while you sleep, essentially anytime the joint is at rest.
It is always alarming when you snap some though, most times it feels like you injured yourself again, but that is rarely the case.