Dislocated Elbows

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frobalt

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Jan 2, 2012
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The other week, I dislocated my elbow when I fell over and put my arm out to break the fall. I landed with all my weight on my palm and my elbow just bent the wrong way.

Has anyone else on here ever dislocated an elbow?

I'm curious what other peoples' experience with it are.

It's been healing really well. I have regained most movement of my arm, but am still unable to fully bend or straighten it, and still have a slight pain here and there. It is also no way near full strength yet.

How long did it take for you to have it fully healed?

Also, was I the only one that passed out shortly after it happened?

P.S. I was lucky in my dislocation as it was a clean dislocate. IE: No bones broken/fractured or whatever.
 

GrimTuesday

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May 21, 2009
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Never dislocated my elbow, but I did dislocate my knee. It wasn't a clean dislocation, the fact that yours was is pretty lucky, and I tore some of the ligaments and tendons in my knee. It was the result of about 1000 pounds worth of people falling against the side of my knee during a football game. My knee actually bent inwards (from the side, it wasn't just twisted around so it bent in a normal motion). It took a long time to heal, and totally scraped most of my junior and senior years in terms of being a really good football player due to the fact that I never really got back into good shape and so I wasn't as good as I used to be.

I didn't pass out, in fact, because of the endorphins and the adrenalin that your body naturally produces is situations like this, I was able to walk to the sidelines under my own power without assistance, sit on the bench, and promptly started screaming in pain.

I knew a guy whose shoulder was loose in its socket and would dislocate, and relocate it at least once a week during football practice. One time he dislocated it four times in the space of a two and a half hour practice.
 

DkLnBr

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Apr 2, 2009
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I dislocated my knee this May actually. Nowhere near as bad as GrimTuesday's injury, just popped my kneecap out when I slipped at work (right knee bend out to the side). I didnt pass out when it happened, but then again I didnt actually think that I had hurt myself that badly and continued to work for 3-4 hours afterwords (albeit with a limp). Didnt go see a doctor about 10 hours afterwards because of the swelling (when it looks like you have an orange under your skin it is quite clear that something is wrong!).
But to answer how long it took to heal, my Doctor said 1-2 months to be at 100% (or at least close to where you were before). Personally it took 2 weeks before I got back to work, 1 week of modified duties, and then it was fine (not good, but fine)
So my strength is good, but my range of motion is limited. My knees could hyper-extend 4 degrees, but now my bad knee can only get to 0 degrees. Plus its still uncomfortable to kneel down, and my knee cracks when I go from a bent to straightened position

So I'm not an expert, but you could expect about a month or two of healing, but there will probably still be problems afterwords (loss of strength and/or flexibility, trouble straightening, cracking joints, that kind of thing)
 

Clowndoe

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Aug 6, 2012
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When I was 13 or 14 a mate of mine dislocated his elbow playing dodgeball. I'll let you fill in the blanks on that.

He was back to normal in a few months.
 

lacktheknack

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Jan 19, 2009
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I accidentally ran into a girl in gym class, and I apparently dislocated her shoulder.

Someone popped it back into place before I was even done the next lap. So... it was uneventful.

I've not dislocated any part of myself, though.
 

jake557

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May 30, 2008
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I dislocated my wrist just over a month ago. Broke two of the bone in a nasty fall. I didn't pass out, but I came close. My vision went blurry to the point of near blindness and I was very nauseous for a while. I'm only a week into my physiotherapy now so I doubt I have any wisdom to share that you won't already have heard, but I certainly sympathise with you when it comes to the stiffness and limited movement.

My Dad dislocated an elbow a few years ago. His advice has been just to keep it moving and that physio can work wonders.
 

Shdwrnr

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May 20, 2011
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I had an elbow dislocation at about age 7 or 8. A quick reduction and I was pretty much back to normal.

It's not common for people to lose consciousness after breaking a single bone or dislocating a peripheral joint, but it's not unheard of. I work as an orthopedic tech and have seen many injuries like the one you described and, given how common they are, they have their own name/acronym (fall on outstretched hand or FOOSH). You are fortunate your injury was limited to an elbow dislocation/subluxation since the most common result of a FOOSH in adults is a fracture of the distal radius/ulna; many times with dorsal displacement. Even with just the dislocation, you could have wound up with an ulnar nerve palsy or other complication such as an avulsion fracture of the olecronon. I assume you're relatively young or haven't reached skeletal maturity. Good luck with your recovery.
 

Thaluikhain

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Jan 16, 2010
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lacktheknack said:
I accidentally ran into a girl in gym class, and I apparently dislocated her shoulder.

Someone popped it back into place before I was even done the next lap. So... it was uneventful.

I've not dislocated any part of myself, though.
So...you dislocated her shoulder and kept going? Ah huh.

Also, did just popping it in fix everything, or did she need time for it to heal afterwards.
 

lacktheknack

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Jan 19, 2009
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thaluikhain said:
lacktheknack said:
I accidentally ran into a girl in gym class, and I apparently dislocated her shoulder.

Someone popped it back into place before I was even done the next lap. So... it was uneventful.

I've not dislocated any part of myself, though.
So...you dislocated her shoulder and kept going? Ah huh.

Also, did just popping it in fix everything, or did she need time for it to heal afterwards.
Yeah, I apologized and kept going, thinking she was OK.

And popping back in fixed everything. Apparently it's sore for a while, but it's not a serious injury if you fix it fast. I'm not sure I swallow all this, this is just what I was told later, which is why I wrote "apparently".
 

Thaluikhain

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lacktheknack said:
Yeah, I apologized and kept going, thinking she was OK.

And popping back in fixed everything. Apparently it's sore for a while, but it's not a serious injury if you fix it fast. I'm not sure I swallow all this, this is just what I was told later, which is why I wrote "apparently".
Ah, ok, fair enough.