this is hard work

I had a car accident a few months ago and smashed my right arm.Now whenever I ride ,it feels like my right arm is no longer there and that I am riding one handed.I went to physio this week ,and today It was the worst ride I have had in along time.Numbness ,pins and needles etc and no feed back from the road .Doesnt take much to put you off and slow you down does it .

[dizzyblonde]

that don't sound too good Gid. what have they said is causing this? Nerve damage?

[Shellywoozle]

Ouch poor you. You need to get that checked out by someone other than a physio. Sounds like something is pinching on nerves ..... this is the sensation I had when all my tendons/nerves were being crushed between my bones in my shoulder.

Hope you get it sorted soon .

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

that don't sound too good Gid. what have they said is causing this? Nerve damage?

welllllll...apparantly because of the accident and the pain ,I am carrying my arm in a defensive way ,so as to antisipate the pain that may or may not come.Because of this my muscles have tensed up ,which makes the pain worse.therefore my muscles tense up more,which leads to an ever increasing circle..
I have been given loads of excersises to do that frankly look and seem really stupid.Only time will tell

[dizzyblonde]

well try em Gid, you'll be pleasantly surprised. I've got a permantly foobarred shoulder, that can dislocate whenever it feels like it, traps tendons between the joint, and incidently is starting to play up again. Its completely instable, i can't control it, and theres no muscle strength in it. Luckily my physio was also a pilates instructor, and she gave me some daft excercises to do...along with stuff to improve my posture. When I keep up with the excercises for a few days I get pain free.
On a bad day I get pain from moving my shoulder, in the joint down my biceps through to my forearm, and I get pins n needles in my hand

try some acupuncture?

dislocated my shoulder and had it done. instant release of tension in my shoulder and associated pain just went...

Possible Brachial Plexus injury???

I have sustained two so far, one working and the after a smash. There are different degrees of this injury, ranging from some numbness to a paralysed arm. Do not start panicking as you may not have this (you could simply have a trapped nerve) and if you did it only gets better and not worse.

Might be worth looking into, basically it is when you arm goes one way and you neck/head the other which causes the main trunk of nerves in you neck to stretch and possibly snap.

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

Possible Brachial Plexus injury???

I have sustained two so far, one working and the after a smash. There are different degrees of this injury, ranging from some numbness to a paralysed arm. Do not start panicking as you may not have this (you could simply have a trapped nerve) and if you did it only gets better and not worse.

Might be worth looking into, basically it is when you arm goes one way and you neck/head the other which causes the main trunk of nerves in you neck to stretch and possibly snap.

Yes it is hard work, but you need to keep up with the physio stuff. I smashed up both hands and wrists (after a car/road inetrface incident) a while ago, and was given a lot of excersises to do by the lovely lady at the Hand Clinic over here.

It does feel like you're somehow disconnected when you first get back on the bike but things do get a lot better after a few weeks. I've still got nerve damage in the outside of my right hand where the bone was shattered and subsequently pinned, and can't get complete movement in my little pinkie, but it's not a biggie.

Still have nightmares about seeing the intern pull out the pins with a pair of needle nosed pliers. (After waiting long enough in outpatient for the panadol to wear off).