Broken Elbow, is table tennis good physiotherapy?

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Hello everyone :)

I broke my dominant elbow ~ 6 weeks ago and have just come out of a cast for four weeks without surgery.

I wondered if anyone else has experienced a similar injury and could offer any advice about returning to table tennis?

At the moment I can hold a bat and hit a few forehands, but backhands are nearly impossible!
 
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No dislocations - although my arm was moved from straight to 90degrees when I got to the hospital - I'm not sure if moving it popped it back into place (it certainly hurt!). I know it's uncommon to have the fractures I have without a dislocation (radial head and coronoid process fracture).

I had physiotherapy 3 days ago and the therapist said it's really up to me, but I shouldn't be pushing myself too hard. I've already made quite good progress and, in the two weeks I've been out of the cast, I've gained another 10 degrees movement in all directions. I guess I'll pop down to the club and hit a few balls with the younger kids. I feel ready to pick a bat up, I'm just conscious of doing any more damage.

Thanks for the help :)
 
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No dislocations - although my arm was moved from straight to 90degrees when I got to the hospital - I'm not sure if moving it popped it back into place (it certainly hurt!). I know it's uncommon to have the fractures I have without a dislocation (radial head and coronoid process fracture).

I had physiotherapy 3 days ago and the therapist said it's really up to me, but I shouldn't be pushing myself too hard. I've already made quite good progress and, in the two weeks I've been out of the cast, I've gained another 10 degrees movement in all directions. I guess I'll pop down to the club and hit a few balls with the younger kids. I feel ready to pick a bat up, I'm just conscious of doing any more damage.

Thanks for the help :)
DO exercise the arm but be smart about it. Some very short stroke not long using range of motion very light goes against convention but xan eork. I have seen kids with knee injuries who doctors said will stay in knee brace for years or life get back to 100% in a couple months just by riding bicycle everywhere.

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Yeah, if your arm is okay with forehands, you can do some basic forehand strokes. If doing backhands hurts or really doesn't work, don't do them. Only do them if they feel good.

But table tennis is not physical therapy. Physical therapy is work, movements, exercises, strength training, stretching, and electric stimulation, done in a controlled environment to target the kind of rehabilitation the area needs. For instance, if you had a knee cap that was not tracking right because the outer quad was to strong and tight (common) and the inner quad was to weak and flexible so the patella was tracking laterally, you would stretch the outer quad, strengthen the inner quad and do a bunch of other movements that help the patella track properly.

Whereas, the strokes in table tennis are continually adjusting to different placements of the ball and the movement is not controlled because you are adjusting to a moving ball. Sometimes you are hitting the ball when it is closer to you. Sometimes the ball is a bit farther from you because you did not move your feet to the exact spot. So, while you are using your arm and moving it, this kind of action where you are adjusting to a variable like the trajectory of the ball, would not be conducive to therapeutic exercise which is designed to make a body part that is not functioning properly, function well enough to do a more variable kind of action like playing table tennis.

Say you had a baseball pitcher who injured his elbow. He would not pitch to rehab his elbow. But he would probably do a bunch of therapeutic exercises to get his elbow and the surrounding muscles in shape so that he could eventually go back to pitching.

For now, if you hit a table tennis ball, only actions that do not hurt the arm. First rule: CAUSE NO HARM. As your arm gets better you will be able to do more. But table tennis is not what will get your arm better so that you can play table tennis. The correct therapeutic exercises for your injury is what you would want.
 
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Thanks guys. I've improved a lot with regards to range of motion and if I could give any advice to others in a similar situation: do your exercises as frequently as possible. I do them ~20 times per day and I'm around 80% back to normal after 6 weeks of exercise.

With regards to table tennis... Forehands are fine, but backhands are a problem. I've changed my backhand style to a blocking/chopping game, as pronation and supination is very difficult, backhands hurt too so I tend to let the ball fly past my backhand side if it is strenuous to reach.
 
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