Elbow injury recovery

I couldn't imagine breaking both arms, but I broke and dislocated my left elbow a few years ago while mountain biking. I spent about 6 months in physical therapy trying to get my Range of Motion back which wouldn't get better than say 80 degrees bent and about 150 degrees extended. 180 being straight of course. And I couldn't rotate my wrist more than a few degrees in either direction. I ended up getting a second opinion and found that a piece of the radial head was free and blocking my motion. So off to surgery I went and with in a few weeks I had improved my range of motion to with in acceptable levels. I could completely straighten my arm and could also touch my shoulder with my thumb. Both with some effort. My wrist has improved a good deal too, but not as dramaticly. So as far as the impact to swimming. I found that I really had to take things slow when I started swimming again (which was a few years after the injury). I couldn't use paddles at all intitially or I would be very sore. I know I don't have near the power in my stroke that I used to. So while I was once a sprinter, my best times as a master have been in distance events. And like lainey, temperature and weather really effects my arm since it is arthritic. But by and large, I think swimming has been the best thing for my arm. My Doc told me my range of motion would continue to deteriorate as I get older. It will be a year in june since I started swimming again and so far I have been able to imrove my ROM. And prior to swimming my arm had atrophied to the point where I couldn't make a muscle in my tricep. Sad I know, but now muscle tone is the same in both arms. It also doesn't seem to bother me as much as it used to and feels pretty normal these days. Good luck and don't get discouraged if results don't come fast enough. Kevin

I couldn't imagine breaking both arms, but I broke and dislocated my left elbow a few years ago while mountain biking. I spent about 6 months in physical therapy trying to get my Range of Motion back which wouldn't get better than say 80 degrees bent and about 150 degrees extended. 180 being straight of course. And I couldn't rotate my wrist more than a few degrees in either direction. I ended up getting a second opinion and found that a piece of the radial head was free and blocking my motion. So off to surgery I went and with in a few weeks I had improved my range of motion to with in acceptable levels. I could completely straighten my arm and could also touch my shoulder with my thumb. Both with some effort. My wrist has improved a good deal too, but not as dramaticly. So as far as the impact to swimming. I found that I really had to take things slow when I started swimming again (which was a few years after the injury). I couldn't use paddles at all intitially or I would be very sore. I know I don't have near the power in my stroke that I used to. So while I was once a sprinter, my best times as a master have been in distance events. And like lainey, temperature and weather really effects my arm since it is arthritic. But by and large, I think swimming has been the best thing for my arm. My Doc told me my range of motion would continue to deteriorate as I get older. It will be a year in june since I started swimming again and so far I have been able to imrove my ROM. And prior to swimming my arm had atrophied to the point where I couldn't make a muscle in my tricep. Sad I know, but now muscle tone is the same in both arms. It also doesn't seem to bother me as much as it used to and feels pretty normal these days. Good luck and don't get discouraged if results don't come fast enough. Kevin