Coming Back From a Broken Arm

Training Over 35 Lifter
1

A while back I had posted an article about how I managed to acquire high blood pressure from taking too many supplements. I received a lot of helpful replies and have slowly but surely getting it down. Well just when it seemed like things were starting to get back to normal, I wound up breaking my arm a couple days ago, my good arm. How it happened was pretty stupid. I got kind of pushed into an arm wrestling match at work, since I am one of only a few bigger guys there. The other guy was maybe about my size and he initially had the upper hand on me.

When I tried to push back, I think the two opposing forces got to be too much and I wound up getting a spiral fracture of the humerus. I was very surprised in that it happened so easy, I have a respectable amount of strength and size, at least I thought. I knew against my better judgment to do this too, considering my history of elbow and rotator cuff problems. But it is hard to say no when your co-workers are in your face.

So I am going to have surgery to repair the bone using screws and a plate. I initially balked at the idea because I don’t like the idea of someone opening up my arm and putting metal inside. The other option is just letting it heal on it’s own in a cast with no invasive surgery, but I guess there is no guarantee the bone will heal normal. I was supposed to get this surgery last Friday, but they told me about this other option at the last minute and I didn’t want to make any hurried decisions about surgery. After talking to some people, they seem to think surgery is the way to go if I want to maintain my lifting. I am 36 and about 250 lbs. or so.

So I am obviously pretty bummed. I was just starting to get this blood pressure fiasco under control and now this. I am trying my best to stay positive since it does no good to be depressed and moan and groan. This is worse than the blood pressure problem I think, I LOVE to train chest, back and arms.

Having said that, I want to do my best to get better. I would appreciate tips and/or stories from anyone that has had similar experiences or knowledge. Has anyone had this kind of surgery? Can you eventually get back to training normal and previous strength? Can I eventually keep getting stronger or do I always have to be careful? Thanks guys

2

Well - the good news is that your tendons and ligaments are very strong, else one of those would have popped during your contest. It’s very unusual to break the humerus in arm wrestling or so I understand.

I guess the only things that could be done is to make sure you provide that spiral loading on the arms in the future, to aid the bones in becoming stronger in those movement types and possibly make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D+calcium.

Vitamin D is instrumental in laying down bone calcium and most Americans are deficient in it. Make sure you’re getting high-value fish oil that contains vit. D and take a good calcium supplement. Calcium from milk is not readily bio-available and in fact can lead to osteoporosis according to some studies. Leafy green veggies as well as broccoli contain a surprising amount of calcium.

I’ve heard of bone fractures being speedily repaired by applying a miniscule electric current to the affected area - you may want to look into that. As far as rehab, a bone break generally repairs stronger than the original bone, so unless there was nerve damage or or major soft tissue trauma, you should be able to return to the kind of lifting you were doing once it heals.

Note - I am not a doctor nor have I had to rehab an injury like this - these are simply things I’ve read about in searches around the net. You are the best judge of what you ought to do.