Author Topic: Cycling with broken bones  (Read 1739 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Cycling with broken bones
« on: 08 November, 2009, 09:15:48 am »
Following on from  this, I had a check up of my shoulder on Friday. It seems the fracture is "healing nicely" and on the x-ray it looks pretty much as though it's fused together. However, I was told not lift anything heavier than 2 or 3 kg in that hand (which is an improvement on the original "nothing heavier than a coffee cup" - I hardly even drink coffee!)

So it's now about 2 months from the crash and 6 weeks from the surgery which put the plate in. I do want to get back on the bike, but I don't want to go and wreck my healing shoulder and have to potentially have another surgery. There's also my ribs to think about, one of them still very occasionally hurts.

What do the panel think? Bearing in mind you are not qualified doctors, etc, and any medical advice you give is from a position of speculation, etc. I'm sure there must be some people here who have experience of cycling with broken bones. How much strain is it likely to put on my shoulder (let's assume no falling off!)?
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hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #1 on: 08 November, 2009, 09:30:31 am »
I am a qualified doctor but never had a broken bone treated.
However:
1) I have not seen you.
2) I have not seen your X-rays.
3) I have not had the chance to correlate man & pictures and think of the two together.

I doubt that cycling itself would disrupt healing at this stage BUT falling off a bike might, obviously.

Balance and bike handling might not be as good as they were pre-crash and I think much balance/steering come from the shoulder and its attached structures.

I would heed advice from those who have seen patient & pictures together and maintain fitness by other means.

handcyclist

  • watch for my signal
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #2 on: 08 November, 2009, 09:30:41 am »
My advice (IANAD but I have broken a lot of bones) :-

DON'T get back on a two wheeler until  that bone is fully healed. Not only do you risk further injury by putting pressure on it before it is at full strength, but you risk big injury if you do have the misfortune to fall. Plates hold bones together nicely as they heal, but can make a real mess if you suffer further trauma in the wrong spot. That'll make you nervous (if you're anything like me) and your rides will not be enjoyable.

If you must get out on the road, beg buy or borrow a three wheel recumbent, or work on alternative route to maintaining fitness, say a leg and core muscle gym routine.
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Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #3 on: 08 November, 2009, 09:40:27 am »
As someone who has had serious shoulder injuries...

DO NOT GET BACK ON THE BIKE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD THAT YOU CAN BY THE DOCTORS/PHYSIOS.

To do otherwise is plain daft and will set back your recovery... :-[
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

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Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #4 on: 08 November, 2009, 09:47:27 am »
Well that seems pretty clear!

Trouble is I forgot to ask the orthopaedic surgeon about this (and in any case I'm not at all sure he has much of an idea about cycling!) but I'll have to keep off the bike till I see him end of Dec. I'll have to write down a load of questions for him!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #5 on: 08 November, 2009, 09:48:37 am »
Coo! We all agree, from different perspectives! What's wrong?  ;) ;D

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #6 on: 08 November, 2009, 09:28:36 pm »
'tis a stunning outbreak of unity and harmony :)

I know naff all about shoulders and broken bones and not a great deal about riding or fitness, but don't risk long term health and bike-enjoyment for the sake of getting back in the saddle a few weeks sooner than you really ought to.

Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #7 on: 09 November, 2009, 11:00:04 am »
Perhaps you could use a turbo-trainer for a bit.  Boring, but at least you'd be exercising your cycling muscles without the risk of falling off.  PS I DON'T mean rollers!

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #8 on: 09 November, 2009, 01:48:51 pm »
Static bike in the gym will do the same if you don't have a turbo (or want to lech).  On the recumbent bikes you can get a hard workout without even using your upper body.
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GraemeMcC

  • CaptainContours
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #9 on: 10 November, 2009, 01:20:04 pm »
Can relate some experiences about turbo-ing with fractured limbs - in my case, a duathlon crash (don't use time trial slicks on country lanes...) left me with 1 broken toe, 1 fractured wrist and 1 snapped humerous - not funny at the time.

Wrist and funny bone were same arm. Was in plaster from elbow to fingers.

With doctor's kind-of permission, I worked out that I could change the pedals on the turbo bike to rat-traps and ride with a flip-flop on my plastered right leg (below knee to toes) and spin the cranks without flexing the ankle too much. I needed to do this because I was preparing to ride the Marmotte. (Crashed on May Day appropiately enough - Marmotte in early July = 12 weeks recovery).
So, broken toe not a problem. The Doctors knew of this plan and didn't say I couldn't (or shouldn't).

Problem was my arms - my good left arm just wasn't up for to the task of hour long turbo sessions. It wasn't until the pain and swelling in my arm (post-pinning operation) had gone down that I could prop my mid forearms on a tri-bar, so spread a bit of weight onto both shoulders / upper arms.  At least the Doc signed me off work and I wasn't allowed to drive, so I had nothing better to do than sit on the turbo and keep my thighs in trim... Beats daytime TV.

With your shoulder snag - then one shouldered weight bearing will probably be your limiting factor.

Perhaps you could rig up a chest-cushion arrangement? You need to get into your "normal" back position otherwise you'll get different saddle pressures from sitting too upright, or lose any lower back strength.

Still, I succeeded.
Rode from Geneva to Bourg D'Oisons, one armed mostly, rode the Marmotte just missing gold for my age group, then got on the cover of Audax Calendar 2006 climbing Alpe D'Huez, so things can be done.

Best of luck...
PBP 2011: 1234 km by Nr. 5678 in < 90 hrs. Most auspicious...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Cycling with broken bones
« Reply #10 on: 11 November, 2009, 09:37:22 am »
Turbo trainer or static gym bike (that'd be, er, an "exercise bike"...) are both good ideas, but I don't have the former - or know anyone with one - and for other reasons it's not worth my while joining a gym right now. Maintaining fitness is only a nice idea anyway, TBH - I've already lost what little I had!  :(
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.