Two weeks I had a tumble that resulted in a dislocated elbow, no broken bones, not much blood, just an inch and half of dislocation. its been 2 weeks in a splint which comes off tomorrow and i start physical therapy.

I was wondering if anyone might have experience with arm injuries like this and have a ball park off how long i should stay off the bike. I have searched around and its seems pretty common on the mountain bike fourms, and with football players who say 6 weeks til your ok and 12 until your at 100%. the weekly group ride got me thinking and i was able to ride my fixie around the parking lot with no pain with the splint on which lead to a little longer ride through some rollers on my road bike with out the splint that felt surprisingly good.

i feel like theres enough smart a**es that would kindly let me know riding the group ride, even at recovery pace, tonight would probably not be the brightest thing i've done, but how much longer would be reasonable? also any exercises/stretches to go along with PT that might help for once i'm back on the saddle?

It kinda depends I would think.

I've never had this injury but ribs and collarbones, sure.

I go by feel. How does my injury feel doing ordinary day stuff? Do I get sudden pain because I inadvertently over did something?

I remember my first collar bone recovery the best because it was special at the time and I was very anxious to get back on the bike. It was just at three weeks when I was comfortable with pressure on it. I could move my arm through most of the range of motion without much discomfort. I started back pretty carefully and didn't push my self on the first ride. I think I got comfortable with it and was very shortly back riding as before. Ribs just hurt until they start healing up so any heavy breathing is out of the question. A dislocation? I'd try the range of motion and putting pressure on it. If it feels OK take an easy ride and go from there.

One thing I've learned is subsequent injuries don't freak me out a bad as the first time. I mean it hurts but it's charted personal territory and thereby less anxiety producing. Your body's pretty tough.

Good Luck.

I dislocated my elbow in 2008 and it completely sucked. I was off the bike for a long time, but it also happened in November, and I had some pretty bad calcification on my ligaments, so that didn't help matters.

The thing that was hardest for me in getting back on the bike was that my range of motion was so limited, I couldn't properly reach the bars. Even on the trainer, I was relying so heavily on my left (uninjured) side that even a short ride would cause me lots of pain in my neck, shoulder, arm, side, etc. I used it as an excuse to take up running and swimming (the latter really helped with regaining strength and range of motion, btw).

Your PT will give you plenty of exercises to do at home, and my advice would be to do them religiously. You will probably need to do them many many times a day, and they will be painful, but it's totally worth it. Also, try to see a sports-specific PT if you can--they will focus on getting you back to where you were before rather than just making it good enough.

I would also say to just take it easy for a bit and give your body some time to heal. I know how frustrating it is, but it's a pretty tough injury (my doctor said I would have been better off just breaking a bone), so don't feel like you have to rush it. I remember being exhausted all the time and sleeping a ton for like six weeks, and I'm generally pretty tough and pain-resistant.

It does get a little better every day, although my elbow is still messed up and it hurts when I try to extend it fully (I still can't). I think mine was particularly bad though, so you might fare better. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice guys. its not really that i'm freaked out, its just that i had had a couple goals, like getting my first century ride in, and i was making really good progress toward it until this happened.

GirlAnachronism, as far as range of motion mine is almost backwards, i can almost straighten it out but bending i can hardly raise to the opposite arm pit. running and swimming (i've heard thats one of the best things for it) sound like good calls and i'll make sure to stay on top of my PT

The alternative exercise is great advice. As boring as they are a trainer for your bike or, if you belong to a gym or have access to one, a spinner bike can help stop the loss of tone in your legs and allow you to not have to rely on your arms as much while they heal.

I think some people are prone to dislocations. I had a girl friend who's arm would pop out of her shoulder at the least provocation. This was a problem for her because she was a sky diver and needed that arm to pull her ripcord. She had surgery to correct it but we'd separated by then so I don't know how it turned out for her.