Symptoms

What symptoms do elbow fractures cause?

Severe pain in the elbow following an accident is the typical symptom of an elbow fracture. This will often be followed by rapid swelling of the elbow joint as it fills with blood from the broken bone ends. The elbow will be tender and movement is likely to be very painful. The patient will often hold the arm close to the body to prevent movement. Any wounds in the region of the elbow joint should raise suspicion of an open fracture.

Numbness of the forearm or hand may indicate an injury to one of the nerves at the elbow.

After treatment there will continue to be symptoms of pain, tenderness, pain on motion, swelling, and bruising. These symptoms are caused by tearing of the muscles and by bleeding into the tissues. They resolve slowly in the weeks following the injury. Immobilization in a cast reduces some of these symptoms, such as pain on moving the elbow, but may increase others such as stiffness of the joint.