Totally understand your pain
-I dislocated my right elbow in 2004
-I dislocated my left elbow in 2007
Both from bouldering
-The first one was due to overclimbing, too many figure 4's and fatal campus run gone bad
-The second one was from falling and hitting the ground with a hyper extended elbow
-The first one took almost 3 years to fully heal
-The second one took a month to fully heal
The difference?
My right elbow, took 2-3 hours before it could be relocated by the ER.
My left elbow I relocated it on the spot.
I take it your injury is prolly like my right elbow, so here's my spiel
I was back on the wall in a month, but it took me close to 2-3/4 years before I regained the strength I had
before the accident.
I was very lucky to have a great guy and climber help me with the rehab of my elbow (I have 100% full range which surprised my doctor, the estimate at that time was at most 85%).
Progression of recovery of what I experienced, not sure if this helps, experience my vary
1st year:
-It'll hurt for a long time to hang on it
-Lock-offs are almost impossible
-Arm will tire out quicker than normal
-Strength will take the longest to recover
-Flexibility took a bit time to recover
-A dullness will always be there, hard to describe
2nd year
-Can hang for short period of times on the arm, but with a partial bend
-Lock-offs are now possible, but arm will feel stiff-ish
-Arm still tires out, but this gets better
-Strength slowly recovering to pre-injury
-Flexibility gain quite a bit of it back (Keep up with those PT exercises!!!)
-A dullness will always be there, hard to describe
3rd year
-Can fully hang on arm, no bend
-Lock-offs are possible
-Arm does not tire out as quickly, feels stronger
-Strength is back to pre-injury
-Full flexibility is back, once in a while there will be stiffness
-A dullness will always be there, hard to describe
Now (5 years since injury)
-Can almost do one arm pull-ups, can hang fully at full extent on arm.
-Lock-offs no discomfort
-Arm tires out 'normally'
-Strength has increased substantially since pre-injury / post injury
-Full flexibility is back, once in a while stiffness will occur (keep up with those PT exercises...it;s life-long thing)
-A dullness will always be there, hard to describe (Think this will be a life-long thing too)
Couple of other things, having a dislocated elbow makes daily activities weird, if not down-right frustrating at times, especially the first year of recovery, things like writing, brushing teeth, driving, slight push/pulls, daily activities that we took for granted with 'normal' limbs.
My arm in the first year would tire out so quickly it made things such as brushing my teeth challenging (great way of balancing of the left hand vs right hand)
Find a good PT, keep doing the exercises religiously, keep some good friends, have some good brew, and most importantly stay patient and be positive!
If you have any more questions feel free to PM me
Good huntings and a speedy-ish recovery!!!