I recently broke my right humerus and needed a plate and 8 screws to fix it.
2 and a half weeks out from surgery now and i can already use my arm pretty well with about 75% ROM. Im guessing another 2 weeks to get it back to 100% ROM. The bone however is still not joined (other than the plate) and wont be for at least 3 months.
Because of that i cant do any kind of heavy weight bearing. Ive already lost about a full inch off of my chest and 5lbs and I can only imagine what I’ve lost strength wise. So is there ANYTHING that doesnt involve my arm that I can do during these 3 months to help me retain or even gain my size/strength back in my chest?
For reference pre injury I could hit 255 for a single on the flat bench at 165lbs
Ive only ever trained compound movements before so im just a bit lost right now.
Short answer is no. You can probably work out the good side, but know that you will be overcompensating with that good side in everything you do everyday for the next three months. I’ve had a shoulder surgery, lets just say that a few years out, my repaired shoulder is the good and stable one.
I’m not saying that you will mess up the other side, I’m just saying that overuse is real. Just lay of for three months and murder legs.
Amazon.com if you have access to these you can attach them to a cable station and then put it around your upper arm and do fly/pressing movements… Probably still won’t be able to go heavy but you may be able to slow down the rate of atrophy at least.
Really cool video over all but specifically at about 1:20 is what I’m talking about
take the three months off, let it heal, let your arms/chest balance out. 3 months is nothing, i had to take that off for a pinched nerve, i didnt lose all my muscle at all, even in the upper body.
this is a marathon, not a sprint.
I’d continue to train the uninjured side as well, there have been few articles on here discussing unilateral work on the good side when a limb is injured and though the injured side doesn’t receive the mechanical stress there is still some neural activity there. That too may slow the rate of atrophy and help with “muscle memory” when you return to activity on that side.
Also, if you’re not already, it would probably be a good idea to do some light finger/wrist exercises to prevent loss of function downstream of the injury site. I wouldn’t do anything strenuous with your elbow till the bones are joined again though because most of your upper arm muscles origins are above the fracture and their insertions below it so activation them could disrupt the healing process.
