Rehabilitation after a broken arm

After the doctor removes the plaster cast, you can not immediately return to normal loads. It will take about two months to recover from a broken arm. During this period, it is necessary to undergo a rehabilitation course, which includes physiotherapy, massage and physiotherapy exercises.

Recovery Features

The gypsum fixes the injured limb in a certain position, which helps to ensure peace and proper healing. While the bone is healing, the muscles and ligaments that attach to it become immobilized, weaken, lose their plasticity and vitality.

Recovery after a broken arm begins even before the cast is removed. The attending physician selects the optimal course of rehabilitation.

Physiotherapy

Methods of therapeutic action are aimed at the regeneration of the muscle tissue of the damaged limb. Some procedures can also improve metabolic processes in the bones. For example, the use of interference currents with a rhythmic frequency of 0-100 Hz gives a positive effect. Manipulation allows you to warm up the problem area, optimize trophism, increase lymph flow, and provide an additional analgesic effect.

In addition, physiotherapy after a broken arm includes the following procedures:

• exposure to diadynamic current, due to which the tissues warm up and recover faster, and the pain becomes less acute;
• ultrasound therapy improves tissue blood supply and reduces muscle spasms;
• phonophoresis - a procedure using medicinal ointments and gels;
• infrared laser therapy activates metabolic processes in bone fibers;
• syncardial massage, during which a special cuff is put on the arm. It contracts in sync with contraction of the heart muscle. Such an effect has a beneficial effect on the filling of muscle tissues with nutrients and improves their general condition.

Massage

This is the first procedure that is included in the rehabilitation complex. It is carried out even during immobilization, gently stroking the areas near the cast.

They improve blood circulation in the tissues and eliminate congestion by simple rubbing. They are performed independently, combined with light stroking and kneading the hands. Banal manipulation increases muscle tone, expands the walls of blood vessels and ensures the saturation of cells with oxygen.

Massage exercises for the development of the hand can be carried out with various oils, warming creams and gels, for example, cedar oil. It has a positive effect on the processes of restoring the motor activity of damaged tissues. You can carry out the procedure both independently and with the help of an experienced massage therapist.

Exercise therapy after a broken arm

By systematically performing special exercises, you can:

• quickly restore the movement of blood and lymph;
• prevent the development of complications (for example, a decrease in joint mobility);
• accelerate the formation of calluses;
• increase muscle tone and make strong ligaments.

Some exercises are performed while still in a cast, which allows you to quickly develop your hand after a fracture and removal of the bandage.

Therapeutic exercise is selected by the doctor on an individual basis and is performed daily for 15-20 minutes. For the first time after the removal of the cast, the development of the arm takes place in a mild form, using careful turns, extensions and flexions of the limb. In the future, gymnastics becomes more complex with the use of various devices: balls, rings, dumbbells, gymnastic sticks.

Important! Therapeutic exercises continue until the patient has an acute pain syndrome. If the pain becomes excruciating, the exercise is immediately stopped.

Complexes of exercises for a fracture of the radius

The therapeutic complex of exercises is developed taking into account the localization and nature of the injury. If the radius is damaged, you can do exercises while sitting at the table:

• The limb rests on the elbow. Each finger is clicked in turn with the thumb.
• The thumb is alternately connected to the rest of the fingers, slightly pressing.
• The thumb is drawn along the entire length of the remaining fingers.
• Connect the palms and alternately press on each finger.
• Imitate playing the piano.
• Roll a plastic / paper / plasticine ball with different fingers in turn.
• Hold and squeeze a small rubber ball in your hand.
• The ball is thrown against the wall and caught with the problem hand.
• They sort out beads / rosaries in their hands.

Gymnastics for the hand is also useful, aimed at rotating the joint in the wrist area and stretching it with the other hand.

A set of exercises for a fracture of the hand

Physical education with an injured metacarpal bone is performed with a cast on the elbow and shoulder joint, as well as to warm up healthy fingers. To do this, carry out:

• rotational movements of the fingers;
• alternate flexion-unclenching of the fingers in the phalanges;
• clenching the hand into a fist;
• alternately pressing fingers to the tabletop;
• clutching the fingers of both hands;
• finger pressure on the palm of a healthy hand with increased pressure.

A set of exercises after an injury to the elbow joint and shoulder

Since physical education helps to recover quickly after a fracture of the arm in the elbow area, you can use the following set of exercises:

• ball juggling;
• rolling a stick/ball on the floor;
• rotation at the elbow.

If the shoulder is injured, the patient must be told how to develop the arm and improve the flexibility of the joint. First, weakened muscles are kneaded, then:

• raise the shoulders to the chin and make 5-6 rotational movements;
• flex and extend the limbs. A stick is used as a simulator.

Rules for exercise therapy

So that complications do not develop, and physiotherapy exercises are beneficial, you should know how to develop a hand after a fracture and follow a number of basic rules:

• With pain syndrome, exercises can be done in a warm bath.
• The initial stages of rehabilitation may be accompanied by pain and rapid fatigue. You can not be lazy and feel sorry for yourself, refusing to exercise. This is especially true for the elderly, who risk being left with a sedentary hand, since tissue regeneration is significantly reduced in adulthood.
• Many patients are often worried about pain during training, and they do not understand how to recover an arm after a fracture if it does not obey? Before charging, it is necessary to massage with rubbing the limbs. It is necessary to stretch each part of the arm, which will improve blood circulation and increase metabolism.
• Overstraining of the arm should be avoided by increasing the load gradually.

Swelling of the limbs after injuries is a completely natural phenomenon. It subsides as tissue regenerates.

Proper nutrition during rehabilitation

The most important part of rehabilitation after a broken arm is the organization of proper nutrition. The patient does not need to adhere to strict diets, but he needs to enrich his diet with useful elements. The daily menu should include foods rich in calcium and vitamin D:

• nuts;
• legumes;
• fresh vegetables and fruits;
• greenery;
• berries;
• dairy products (cottage cheese, cheese, sour cream);
• dried fruits;
• fish;
• raw yolk;
• liver;
• vegetable oil.

In order for the hand to heal faster after a fracture, doctors recommend including foods enriched with vitamin C in the diet: bell pepper, citrus fruits, rosehip broth, blackcurrant, cranberries, grapes.

Additional Recommendations

The following rules will allow you to develop a hand as quickly as possible:

• Do not refuse the course of rehabilitation offered by the traumatologist. Hoping that everything will heal and pass by itself is stupid. Due to poor-quality restoration of the limb, there may be a restriction of movement, the inability to fully use the hand, as well as constant soreness.
• Eat in a balanced way, not forgetting foods with calcium and vitamins.
• Do not allow increased loads on the problematic limb, avoid overheating and hypothermia of the hand.
• Take multivitamin complexes.
• Engage in fine motor skills training: sew, knit, assemble puzzles, make crafts from beads, sculpt with clay / plasticine, etc.

For each person who has experienced a broken arm , the length of the recovery period depends on age, general condition of the body, the complexity of the injury, nutrition, and much more. In some cases, without comprehensive rehabilitation, it will not be possible to restore limb mobility. If the procedures are abandoned, the tendons are deformed and the mobility of the articular tissues is permanently limited.