[tommytwotone]

just thought I'd see if anyone has themselves, or knows anyone who has come back to climbing from a busted arm.

To cut a very long story short, I had a bad fall in Font in March this year and clean broke my humerus by landing arm-first onto an exposed tree root. Needless to say this has rather fucked up my climbing, and I have a plate and 8 screws holding my bone together.

Hopefully I should be getting the all-clear to start climbing again v soon, but I'm not sure what to expect about being shit again (i was climbing about B7ish before) - has anyone else done anything similar and regained their ability, or should I go out and buy some red socks and ski poles?

[SA Chris]

Hi TT. I was wondering what had happened to you. Hopefully you'll be  back in action soon. I have a killer pic of you doing that prob to the right of NTBTA. Might even be the last time you climbed? Must get it scanned and send you a copy. Might get you psyched a bit.

[tommytwotone]

hi chris,

I did go a bit quiet for a while on 'the other place', that's because work took exception to the amount of postings on cocktalk and barred me access. On t'internet at the crib now so I'm free to post again, seems like Rockfax has gone shit though so I've been lurking here.

It would be cool to see that pic - that was a truly great day out, I've only been busted since March this year though, so I was still out and about and actually got quite good!

I do actually have a couple of photos of the xrays, I was thinking of writing a piece for one of the mags, just need to get round to it.

[account_inactive]

I also had a bad accident (are there any good ones?) just over a year ago. Managed to become unclipped from a rope at 20m (don't ask) but managed to grab the rope and then drop from around 18m :shock: .  Hit the ground breaking both legs, smashing my ankle, breaking my hip and dislocating my shoulder.  A year later I still suffer from arthritis in my right ankle and there are cetain moves that I just can't do anymore.  Despite the injuries I've come back stronger, both physically and mentally from my time off.  Ironically my dislocated shoulder has started sub-laxing over the last 2 months and this is more a pain in the ass that my legs.  Anyway bro keep the faith and all that.  No reason why you should not regain your strength plus you can amuse friends by setting off airport metal detectors :wiggle:

[fatboySlimfast]

Dislocated my shoulder back in 90's really badly, thought at times would never climb proper again! Back climbing better now than then nearly 10 years later..patience is the key, let yourself heal before thrashing urself again

[tommytwotone]

cheers guys, sounds like it's not all doom and gloom...interesting to hear about the amount of dislocations - while I was lying on the forest floor covered in down jackets one of my mates tried to convince me that it was 'probably just disclocated', another of the guys took him to one side (and unfortunately I overheard) to tell him "errr look at his arm, it's pointing in two fucking directions", which perversely cheered me up a bit.

if anyone's interested, got an appointment on 7th Oct to have a bone inspection - finger crossed I'll get the all clear and ready to climb like a bad invisible easy problem doing muthafukka. For real.

[tommytwotone]

There's a pic of my fucked up arm on

http://www.fatsloperaction.com

be careful downclimbing!

[Bubba]

Aaaaaaaaaggghhhhh!!!!!  :shock:

Nasty.

[k2ted]

hello

did a search for broken humerus and yr name came up.

My girlfriend broke her humerus (snowboarding tho!) on 28th Dec 07 which resulted in 7 screws, 1 metal plate and two pins in the arm which sounded similar to your break.

She has the plaster off in 2weeks with the 2 pins coming out also (we think!). Noticed from yr post you didnt climb for 7 months after the break but from yr experience what can she expect in terms of mobility etc. Think she wants to know when she can use her arm in the gymn and run again too?? What physio did you receive??

Think I've asked all she wants and grateful for any info  She only climbs low grades but enjoys it all the same.

Cheers Neil

[tommytwotone]

Alright, I've PM'ed you...

[mmasters]

Wow. I was searching 'broken humerus' and found these posts. I broke my humerus on April 13th snowboarding. I now have a plate in my arm with several screws, although I was not in a cast. I started physical therapy about two weeks ago and I'm a little concerned with my progress. Could you guys contact me about how your physical therapy went?

Thanks,
Mike

[tommytwotone]

Right, thought I'd update this thread to help any putative future humerus snappers...

My recovery took pretty much 7 months, which was speedier than the initial estimate I got from the doctors here in the UK. Whether that was due to the quality of the work done by the surgeons in Fontainebleau hospital, or something to do with my rehab I'm not sure.

My advice ain't going to be earth-shatteringly novel, basically do your physio, do your physio and do it again. I got told I'd never have full range of movement back in the arm, which made me a bit obsessive about proving the physio wrong, so I focused on that in the short term.

Aside from doing your exercises I gather there isn't much you can do to speed things up - I asked about changes in diet etc and just got told that as long as I was generally healthy it was just a matter of time. Interestingly, the only factor the fracture clinic and physio both cited was whether I smoked, so I gave that up.

The only other thing to bear in mind is that it'll never be perfect even if it all goes well - I'm climbing harder now than I was pre-accident but certain moves / body positions really hurt, especially any dynos to my left hand, and the 'fridge hug' (good job I'm not a grit boulderer eh? Oh.). In the end you get to know your body and what you'll struggle with.

Hope that's some help to any future fracturees - feel free to PM me if you've got any further questions on this!

TTT