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Humerus Greater Tuberosity Fracture

NYSnowflake

Angel Diva
About 10 days ago I crashed my mtb :boom:going pretty fast, and hit the ground hard on my left side with arm outstretched... cut to the chase and I had MRI and Dx with non-displaced greater tuberosity fracture. The recovery sounds pretty simple. I was told to keep my shoulder immobile for 3 to 4 weeks and then I can start rehabbing in PT- range of motion and then strength. My ortho said it should not interfere with ski season :yahoo::yahoo:and I should be back to normal activities in 6 to 8 weeks. No evidence of any tendon or rotator cuff damage! I have nasty bruises, but luckily I am not in pain after the first few days of soreness. Has anybody experienced this fracture? How was the recovery? How did u stay sane while resting/healing? How are you doing now?
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Arnica is great for deep tissue bruising. I get one called "The Rub" from Swanson vitamins or hannaford by me has it in healthfood aisle. The rub has extra healing items besides arnica - no smell or heat, hope if helps.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I love the Weleda Arnica oil for injury rehab. As far as staying sane when I can’t get in my daily exercise it helps if I can set an alternate goal — a book I want to read or something I want to learn helps make it feel like the time is a chance to check out something I wouldn’t normally take the time to do instead of missing out on something. I hope your are feeling better soon!
 

NYSnowflake

Angel Diva
I love the Weleda Arnica oil for injury rehab. As far as staying sane when I can’t get in my daily exercise it helps if I can set an alternate goal — a book I want to read or something I want to learn helps make it feel like the time is a chance to check out something I wouldn’t normally take the time to do instead of missing out on something. I hope your are feeling better soon!
Thank you! At this time I am not very sore anymore- is Arnica oil going to help with a bone fracture and related aches? I imagine it’s a topical? My soft tissues seem to be healed.

I like the suggestions of alternative goals! I have been hiking some hikes that might have been too easy or short if I wasn’t injured, but seem just right for me at this time. I’m also setting some time goals for exercise on Strava that includes walking and elliptical which normally don’t excite me that much. But now give me something to shoot for. And watching tons of horror movies in the month of October is also a distraction!
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Oh, man, just saw this. How awful! Glad you're not in pain, and that it shouldn't interfere with ski season. Wishing you a full and speedy recovery.
 
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SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don’t know if the arnica oil would help with the bone ache. It reduces inflammation though I don’t know how “deep” it sinks in. With that said it’s great to have on hand for other days and when you have some soreness to knock out.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
@NYSnowflake : glad you didn't damage the rotator cuff! My husband had a frozen shoulder for a couple years a long while back. Considered surgery but decided against it. Also have a ski buddy who has messed up a shoulder a couple times. He's a senior BMX racer. Has been able to rehab pretty effectively after surgery.

Have you ever done any acupuncture? That's my go to approach for any injury. Takes more than one treatment though. Ideally about once a week for a few weeks.
 

VickiK

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Good news, since I'm catching up on this thread. Glad to hear you're on the mend.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
About 10 days ago I crashed my mtb :boom:going pretty fast, and hit the ground hard on my left side with arm outstretched... cut to the chase and I had MRI and Dx with non-displaced greater tuberosity fracture. The recovery sounds pretty simple. I was told to keep my shoulder immobile for 3 to 4 weeks and then I can start rehabbing in PT- range of motion and then strength. My ortho said it should not interfere with ski season :yahoo::yahoo:and I should be back to normal activities in 6 to 8 weeks. No evidence of any tendon or rotator cuff damage! I have nasty bruises, but luckily I am not in pain after the first few days of soreness. Has anybody experienced this fracture? How was the recovery? How did u stay sane while resting/healing? How are you doing now?

I had this same fracture from a skiing accident a few years back. I too was told to keep it immoblie for 3-4 weeks. I didn't obey my doctor. I was outside raking as soon as I could. I only did what did not cause pain, and remarkably raking didn't. Getting into and out of bed hurt, though. I did stop skiing for the rest of the season.

I did pretty much whatever I needed or wanted to do that didn't hurt. That daily movement helped it heal without the dreaded side-effect of frozen shoulder. My doctor congratulated me on its fast healing, but I didn't tell him the role movement played. Take this with a grain of salt, as YMMV.
 

NYSnowflake

Angel Diva
@liquidfeet - Thanks for sharing your story! Because I broke mine at the end of September I was super cautious because I didn’t want to jeopardize my ski season. I wore the sling for 4 weeks and the sling made my arm so achy!! I felt worse as time went on, not better. I took the sling off today without a formal Okay but the xrays look fine and I see my orthopedic PA on Tuesday. I am just waiting to lift my arm up until I get formally cleared. That’s awesome that you healed so well without the sling!
 

newboots

Angel Diva
Ohh, Snowflake, just take it slow! Gentle arm movements, slowly increasing range of motion.

Elliptical?

Signed,
Nervous Nelly, commonly re-injured by TMTS (too much, too soon)
 

fgor

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Good luck with the healing!! Shoulder injuries seem to be such a pain to heal, but I have a number of friends who have successfully rehabbed shoulder injuries with little-to-no ongoing issues :smile: getting into PT will help a ton!

Have you ever done any acupuncture? That's my go to approach for any injury. Takes more than one treatment though. Ideally about once a week for a few weeks.

I had the dubious pleasure of having my physio stick needles into my hip flexors a number of times during this winter. I was invited to swear freely to help with the pain :bounce: It was really effective though! I'm a fan of the results.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
I had the dubious pleasure of having my physio stick needles into my hip flexors a number of times during this winter. I was invited to swear freely to help with the pain :bounce: It was really effective though! I'm a fan of the results.

Hmm, maybe I should look into it. There is a PT at my PT place that does dry needling. My hip flexors (or my psoas) were injured in PT this summer, and I still can't sit for long (20 minutes) without pain, and there's pain every morning. Maybe I should try acupuncture again . . . it changed my life 40 years ago.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Good luck with the healing!! Shoulder injuries seem to be such a pain to heal, but I have a number of friends who have successfully rehabbed shoulder injuries with little-to-no ongoing issues :smile: getting into PT will help a ton!



I had the dubious pleasure of having my physio stick needles into my hip flexors a number of times during this winter. I was invited to swear freely to help with the pain :bounce: It was really effective though! I'm a fan of the results.
Difference with acupuncture is that the needles do not necessarily go in where the issue is located. A good acupuncturist can accomplish a lot in terms of promoting healing with very thin needles that you can't feel at all.

I do acupuncture monthly as a "tune up." But right after my knee injury in 2012 (not skiing), I went about once a week for a while to jump start whatever healing was possible without surgery.
 

NYSnowflake

Angel Diva
Ohh, Snowflake, just take it slow! Gentle arm movements, slowly increasing range of motion.

Elliptical?

Signed,
Nervous Nelly, commonly re-injured by TMTS (too much, too soon)
Thanks for looking out for me NB. I am taking it really easy but just allowing myself some gentle ROM stretches and light activity with arm at my side. The total immobilization was killing me. Doing hiking and elliptical for conditioning. Ortho appt tomorrow and hope to start official PT soon. BTW Bob and Brad PT guys on YouTube are the greatest!
 

NYSnowflake

Angel Diva
I officially got cleared to start PT and lose the sling! Xray shows bone has reintegrated! Don’t really know how they can see this because the fracture wasn’t visible on xrays to begin with but whatever! Ortho wants to check me one more time before I go skiing on Thanksgiving, but all looks good!C9606849-8B01-4E8A-8C1D-2A47887EBC75.jpeg
I don’t know why it has rotated the picture and I can’t seem to fix it. Oh well
 

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