Elbow replacement

[Slow.Patrol]

Has anyone on here had an elbow replacement?

I smashed my elbow just before Christmas - big time. Too many pieces to pin together. As a result it has healed with a lot of additional bone filling in the gaps.

I can cope with the restricted mobility - it won't straighten, but it is still very painful and I cannot put a lot of weight on it. Even using door handles hurts.

I have another appointment with the fracture clinic and at my last appointment the consultant was mumbling about a replacement. Although the information on the NHS website seems to indicate that the replacement joint has limitations.

I would be interested in hearing from someone who has had a replacement elbow. I would prefer to avoid it if possible.

[Jonmx]

Sadly my experience of GPs is that they don't usually know their arse from their elbow.
Maybe contact your local Bupa/Nuffield for an initial, prospective consultation as they'll give you the time to explain it in detail and answer all your questions far better than the NHS will. That should give you the information to make a decision one way or the other, even if you don't opt to have the op done privately.

[Badda]

Jonmx said:

Sadly my experience of GPs is that they don't usually know their arse from their elbow.

Relevance?

[The_Doc]

I don't do it, I'm mainly a knee surgeon, but

https://www.njrcentre.org.uk/patients/elbow-replac...

Is a good place to start.

[Slow.Patrol]

The_Doc said:

I don't do it, I'm mainly a knee surgeon, but

https://www.njrcentre.org.uk/patients/elbow-replac...

Is a good place to start.

Thank you.

I have concerns over the limitations of being able to lift anything over 10lbs.

[Elderly]

My wife had elbow replacement surgery on the NHS after an accident a few years back.
The service they offered and gave was fantastic, and very successful.

They gave her a choice of full movement but with limited weight carrying capacity.
or limited movement with a much larger weight carrying capacity;
only you can make that choice, but she went for the former ( Hemiarthroplasty ).

[Slow.Patrol]

Elderly said:

My wife had elbow replacement surgery on the NHS after an accident a few years back.
The service they offered and gave was fantastic, and very successful.

They gave her a choice of full movement but with limited weight carrying capacity.
or limited movement with a much larger weight carrying capacity;
only you can make that choice, but she went for the former ( Hemiarthroplasty ).

Thank you.

I can live with my current range of movement. I can touch the back of my head, but I'm about 30° off straight. It's the pain that is the issue.

I am back to the fracture clinic next month, so will see what they say. The annoying thing is despite going to a big county hospital, my details are sent to a hospital in the next county for a decision. It was the out of county hospital who decided that there were too many pieces to pin and cancelled the initial operation.

I would like to avoid an operation where possible. I will try for some one to one physio initially, rather than just being given a leaflet.

[Elderly]

Slow.Patrol said:

I am back to the fracture clinic next month, so will see what they say. The annoying thing is despite going to a big county hospital, my details are sent to a hospital in the next county for a decision. It was the out of county hospital who decided that there were too many pieces to pin and cancelled the initial operation.

I would like to avoid an operation where possible. I will try for some one to one physio initially, rather than just being given a leaflet.

Many hospitals will seek advice from a more specialist unit,
I think it’s known as ‘Patient Refer’.
The problem with that, is that YOU are not part of the discussion process as to which possible procedure is best suited to the outcome that is preferable to you and your lifestyle.

An operation ( at this late stage ) might still be better than a lifetime of pain.
You need to discuss your prognosis face to face with a specialist surgeon.

[Slow.Patrol]

Elderly said:

The problem with that, is that YOU are not part of the discussion process as to which possible procedure is best suited to the outcome that is preferable to you and your lifestyle.

Exactly this!

I got a phone call two days before the scheduled operation to say that the team at the other hospital said there were too many bits to pin back together.

[The_Doc]

Hold on here.
We routinely discuss difficult cases with other surgical units in a Multidisciplinary approach. Experience is spread across big and small units. Decisions about operations and feasibility of techniques are made on review of xrays.

Then you chat over the options available with a patient. It's a shared decision making process.

[Slow.Patrol]

The_Doc said:

Hold on here.
We routinely discuss difficult cases with other surgical units in a Multidisciplinary approach. Experience is spread across big and small units. Decisions about operations and feasibility of techniques are made on review of xrays.

Then you chat over the options available with a patient. It's a shared decision making process.

Thanks.

I will remember that for my follow up appointment.

It didn't help that the fractures were missed on the x-rays at the initial visit at A&E. I had a phone call a week later to say they had reviewed the x-ray and I needed to go back. By which time, a lot of the bits had been displaced.

No wonder it bloody hurt. I broke the capitulum.

[eskidavies]

I had a replacement radial head after smashing mine to bits about 10 years ago, I still get pain and can’t bring my hand towards me and touch shoulder, I can’t push myself up with palm of hand as it’ll just give away but I can steeple my fingers to push up , I can lift weight but I adjust to do it ,I’m a plumber and can lift rads and boilers onto walls I sort of bend arm grab item and pull in towards me and lift with body , you just change and adapt to do things , always at the back of my mind is it going pop out and I’ll have to have done again , Xmas and holidays when not working it starts to ache when not in use , when I’m still especially at night or driving long distance I find myself stretching it out to work it and it clicks and creaks a bit but as said you just learn and get on with it

Don’t watch radial head replacement on YouTube, I did after the op and realised why I was in so much pain when I come round

[The_Doc]

Total elbow replacement and radial head replacement are quite different operations.
Thank you for your contribution though. Adapting to the situation is key.