Updating dealing with an elbow injury

BobInMadison said:

Bad timing for this, but there never is good timing for a break.

I remember what my brother said after I smashed up my arm and wrist in a bike accident. It's better to injure yourself doing something fun than get fat and lazy and die of a heart attack.

When the cast is on it will seem like forever. At some point it will seem like a blip in your life.

One word of advice: if you are given physical therapy exercises, do them religiously.
In my case, the doctor said I would never get full movement back in my wrist and arm. I was one of the truly rare people who actually do their exercises, and I have about 99% mobility. If I hadn't done the exercises, all of them every day, I wouldn't get anywhere near that high.

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I know what your saying, Bob. No time is good for a break. I came home from the doctor earlier before I posted the original post and mom and I going to the mall and getting my second lobes and cartilage pierced, my brother had started ribbing me about my broken arm. I had ribbed him about his broken leg when he played football in 8th grade and broke his arm last year playing basketball.

As for PT...I will have PT to do once I'm out of the cast and I'll have to rebuild arm strength. How did you go about rebuilding arm strength and what will I be able to do while I'm in a cast?

softgabby said:

I know what your saying, Bob. No time is good for a break. I came home from the doctor earlier before I posted the original post and mom and I going to the mall and getting my second lobes and cartilage pierced, my brother had started ribbing me about my broken arm. I had ribbed him about his broken leg when he played football in 8th grade and broke his arm last year playing basketball.

As for PT...I will have PT to do once I'm out of the cast and I'll have to rebuild arm strength. How did you go about rebuilding arm strength and what will I be able to do while I'm in a cast?

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For me arm strength wasn't my biggest issue. My biggest issues were mobility and my grip. For my grip I did the exercises with both hands, which messed up the recovery parameters. They wanted to see my injured left hand get as strong as my uninjured right hand, but my right hand got stronger, which gave a moving target.

Also, in my case there were mobility exercises I needed to do when I was still in the cast, so after a little while I switched to a removable cast, so I could take off my cast to do the exercises. I didn't do as much for arm strength, and I am probably not as strong as I was then.

My advice would be to find a sports PT, esp one who has worked with softball players. My DD1's first softball coach was a sports PT, and used to play baseball and softball, so I know there are PTs like that, especially in college towns. Philly has colleges and pro teams. I'm sure someone in that area has worked with pitchers and catchers

Duplicate post. Sorry

softgabby said:

Thank you for your reply, Eric. It does suck that I'll be down for the summer. I had been looking forward to going to Florida and playing in a different environment than what I was here and learning a different way of playing softball and integrate it into my game. I figure I should be castless by the start of August if all goes well. You say I can work on my receiving skills while my throwing arm is down. What drills can I do with one good arm and can I still work on blocking?

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Since you can still catch with your glove hand (I assume), I recommend continuing to keep your receiving reflexes sharp by catching at least 1-2 times per week. It doesn't have to be long sessions, or even real balls. Even bare-hand catching tennis balls or foam balls is useful for working on the muscle memory for proper hand, arm, and body positioning.

Also...wall sits...and squats. Gotta keep those legs in shape, too.