UCL reconstruction

DWx · Black Belt

Day 24: suffering from cabin fever so decided to travel down to national squad training with some buddies to coach. Good to put my dobok back on though difficult to demonstrate one armed

Day 25: my first physio appointment. More of an assessment to see where I am and if there were any suggestions they could make to make home life easier. Not convinced the physio has seen this injury before but she did call the consultant to get further clarification from the surgeon. Advised to slowly keep moving and work my way up to 30 degrees movement.

Day 31 (today): one month in after the surgery. Have been working hard at getting my mobility back. Reminding myself to move my elbow at least every hour. and keep trying to make a fist. Moving through 20 degrees now and can hold light objects. What's depressing me at the moment is how quickly the muscle goes and how quickly the weight is put on. Definitely some truth to the saying "use it or lose it". Can't wait to get back in the gym.
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

DWx · Black Belt

Day 34: first assessment in clinic to see how I'm progressing. Discussed the numbness in my little finger with the doctor. They didn't seem too concerned as I still have movement. At this stage they attribute it to swelling pressing on the nerve and there isn't anything they can do without being invasive. Movement is progressing well and I can just about hit 30 degrees now. Have been given the go ahead to open the angle up on my brace further.
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

I'm watching our master instructor recover from a hip resurfacing (this procedure should yield better results than a resurfacing, but has twice the recovery time.) He's dealing with a lot of the same issues you are, which makes this slightly easier for me to imagine.

Keep that martial arts spirit up!
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5th Geup Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do/Hap Ki Do

(Never officially tested in aikido, iaido or kendo)

sensei8 · KF Sensei

How are things going, Danielle?? What day are you in now?? Hope this post finds you doing much better!!

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**Proof is on the floor!!!

DWx · Black Belt

DWx · Black Belt

Day 41: 2nd physio appointment. Turns out my brace was set wrong and I had a little too much bend and not enough straighten for the first couple of weeks

Thankfully its not caused any damage and now I've been opened up to 60 degrees anyway. Physio spent some time stretching my arm out and showing me exercises to rebuild range of motion. Mostly resting my elbow on a table and using my other arm to try to push it straight. Focusing a lot on my wrist as scar tissue has formed where the tendon was harvested and is not allowing me to bend my wrist back at all. Working on isometric exercises to build it back up.

Day 42 to 44: working hard on my exercises. Physio recommended a minimum of 3x a day but I've been doing them at least once an hour. Have also ditched the shoulder strap and tried to let my arm hang to get a good stretch. All the dressings are gone and my scars are healing nicely. The surgeon has done a really good job on the incisions with the 2 scars on my forearm virtually faded. The incision on my wrist is also well hidden in one of my natural creases and won't be seen really once its healed up.

Day 45: Coached national squad training again. A huge difference to the last squad session (day 24). I can make a fist(!) Have a lot more movement and the swelling has gone down even more. Grip strength pretty poor. Also as I've not been training and haven' stretched much as can't weight bear on my arms, flexibility has tailed right off. Was trying to demonstrate some sparring drills and felt like my hips have seized up!

Day 46 (today): been working hard with the stretches and have a good 50 degrees movement now. Wrist slowly improving and have some extra movement though only when assisted with the other hand. Ordered some hand grip trainers to help improve my hand strength. Making myself hold and carry light objects but still don't have a lot of strength - even struggling to hold my phone in my left hand as it's too heavy. Currently can't open up an rubber band if I put it around my fingers.
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

Patrick · KF Administrator

Happy to hear about your progress! Glad that brace issue didn't set you back.

Patrick
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sensei8 · KF Sensei

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

DWx · Black Belt

I think I'm really screwing up my day numbers now but here goes:

Day 47 to 55: still working hard on my stretches and slowly seeing progress. One positive sign is that I had to cut the straps on my brace shorter as the swelling is finally going down in my arm. Can finally get my arm to fit in a jacket sleeve.

Day 56: 3rd physio appointment. Physio happy with my progress and released the lock on my brace to allow unrestricted movement. Since it's not inhibiting movement, physio advised that I could take the brace off if I wanted as long as I put it back on for anything strenuous. Also advised me I could try driving again as long as I felt confident to control the car properly. The goal now is to work back to full extension and gain full wrist mobility before we can begin strength training. Spent time stretching my wrist and arm out (v. painful!!!).

Day 58: first day driving in 2 months. Drove my sister and mother to the shops (1 mile away) to test out my driving. At this point my arm was still 30 degrees off straight so I had to sit really close to be able to reach the steering wheel. Was told I looked like a T-Rex

Luckily this year I switched from manual to automatic gearbox so don't have to worry about changing gear too. Drove OK but uncomfortable so longer journeys out of the question for the time being.

Day 59 to 61: huge improvement in movement and strength now that the brace can come off. Have been stretching and grip training like crazy and trying to use my arm where possible. It's the little things you notice like finally having the strength to push down on a door handle or being able to reach to tie my hair back. Being out of the brace is also helping me sleep better as is much more comfortable. Tried a few more short journeys in the car and getting a lot better.

Day 65: 2nd follow up in outpatients clinic. My consultant surgeon was out again but I saw his surgical fellow, (plus registrar and group of students). This time they went over the full procedure with me and showed me some of the photos which was pretty interesting. Got to see photos of inside the joint from when they did the keyhole part at the start. Could see all the loose body from my ligament and the inflammation. Sounds weird but it was nice to know that I was justified in moaning about how painful my arm was

Surgeon explained more about the exact type of UCL reconstruction they did as there are several ways to do a Tommy John. The method they used involved anchoring the ligament with two screws rather than the more common docking method. They also moved the ulnar nerve which runs down to the 3rd and 4th finger which explains why I have numbness there.

Discussed with the surgeon how he felt about me taking impact on my elbow considering that they drilled into it. He basically told me I could do what the hell I liked including striking with the elbow as long as I was sensible about it. Said he wasn't going to tell me to change anything as I could just as well fall on my arm and damage it. Told me that if I do damage it in the future, they'll just fix it again. Reassuring to hear.

For now they've advised me to keep using the brace for the additional support and have cleared me to do light strength work.

Day 66: 4th physio appointment. More painful stretching trying to get elbow movement and wrist movement. Physio's must have been medieval torturers in a past life. Have gotten maybe half my wrist bend back and only 15 degrees off of full extension now. Now I can take the brace off, have to work on getting rotation back too as can't quite get my palm upwards. Lots of exercises to do including band exercises (with the lightest band they have).
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

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