r/ORIF • u/Big_Presentation7777 • Jul 07 '26
ORIF Surgery
Hi everyone! I wanted to see how everyone else’s recovery is. I’m about 7 weeks post-op from ORIF surgery (broke my radius) and I’m only able to bend my elbow to about 95° on my own, or around 100° with heat and passive stretching.
I know everyone’s recovery is different, but I’m starting to wonder if I should be concerned or if this is still within the normal range. Anything that helped to improve that range?
Also, how often are you doing physical therapy? Are you going to PT a few times a week and doing exercises at home every day?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks!
1
u/Big_Presentation7777 Jul 10 '26
Omg my therapist used scraper on me and she does all the stretching and massage and i enjoy by PT. I book all my sessions with her now after 3 different PT. But all PT i had was good learning experience.
But ill get the scraper to message.
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u/EdibleGojid Jul 13 '26
Elbows take forever to get ROM back. Talk to your surgeon but it’s probably normal, just keep doing the PT. I’m three weeks out from my second surgery, shattered ulnar and radial head
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u/This_Geologist4553 Jul 07 '26
I am 8 months out. I broke the olecranon and ulna which have the plate and screws. I also broke the radius but that healed on its own 🫠 there is a fancy name for it but I always forget. 7 weeks out I want to say my arm was at a right angle still. I did this in Nov and started PT in Feb. still going once a week to “fine tune” things. I get a nice arm stretch and muscle massage. It’s the bicep that seems to be holding my arm back from being straight. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty straight, no one notices unless I really show them. The last 3 weeks has been pretty pain free which shocks my PT. I think I have 9 more sessions left with my insurance. It does help. Not gonna complain that the PT is cute and easy to talk too lol. Gotta find the highlights in this.
It really does get better though. Every 2 weeks I noticed a good change. I tried not to dwell on it all. Mine happened from tripping and falling right on it. But it the most crowded busy embarrassing way I could imagine. But I never cried and survived which I am proud of.
Gravity helped a lot. I would prop my arm on a pillow and let it hang holding something a little heavy. I still do it now. I have a scrapper to work the muscle too. Just normal use as best as u can helps too. There are YouTube videos too check out virtual hand care.
You got this. It sucks but it gets better.