Can a physio give me some advice about an injured 15-year-old?

[notquitesureagain]

I work with young people in a professional capacity. One of them was involved in a very bad bike accident a couple of years ago: smashed up his shoulder, collar bone, elbow, lots of surgery to pin everything back in place etc. Without going into too much detail, he didn't have access to physio at the time and now have very limited movement and strength in his right arm/shoulder/elbow, which prevents him from taking part in activities that he used to love/was very good at. Please can someone who knows tell me how effective would physio be two years on?

Thanks v much,

[Runningtokeepstill]

I'm not a physio but I reckon the amount of recovery is very related to the amount of damage.

What I'm getting at is that if for example someone's limbs are used in a different way due to an injury there might be scope to increase strength and possibly change ways of moving if they have become dysfunctional.

It's more complicated if there is nerve damage. My late husband had a cervical stenosis which pinches the spinal cord. Before the operation to repair it he had lost a lot of function in his shoulders and limbs. Basically he could hardly walk, one arm was sort of just hanging and he didn't have the manual dexterity to operate a normal mobile phone, keyboard, or even write his name legibly. The operation was to stop things getting worse and there was a chance he might be a bit better but not guaranteed. He was actually much better than expected and through usage gained a lot of function over the following months. He had some assessment by physio but not ongoing treatment.But some things did not improve as he had permanent nerve damage. This meant his muscles in his arms and shoulders particularly had atrophied and as the nerves feeding these areas did not recover he had limited strength in them and reduced function (although he could write, use phone and keyboard again).

I'm not at all sure what the pinning would do as I have no direct experience of this.

However, it would definitely be worth getting a physio assessment if the young person involved would consider this.

[notquitesureagain]

running thanks v much for taking the time to answer. That is very helpful. I'm so sorry about your DH

[Owllady]

Can he not access physio through the community team? :(

[notquitesureagain]

owllady I think we'll get someone to accompany him to the GP and find out what the options are/if there's any way of avoiding a v long waiting list for physio