Broken arm...

[théo]

Hi everyone This is my first post on the forum but I've been following the NF blog for a couple of years now. I'm 23yo and last year I started going to the gym with a friend for strength training. He is a strength training veteran (rugby player for many years) so he acted as my coach in the beginning. Seeing as I hadn't done any sports in my life up to that point, I was apprehensive at first but after a couple of sessions the training really grew on me and became a really important part of my life. My body started to change and I started getting more confident and more motivated. I even kept training during my summer vacations last month.

 

Enter disaster: three days ago I broke my left arm   . The stupidest way possible, climbing on a tree. I had a fractured humerus and had an operation to place a plate and screws to repair the damage. The good news is that the surgeon told me there was no damage to any nerves or joints during the operation, so I should regain 100% range of motion and the bone should be completely healed in about three months. I will need about 6 weeks of physical therapy. 

 

The bad news is I'm feeling really overwhelmed and depressed about it and I don't know how to deal with it. I had planned to start a 5-day  training program next week and on top of that I had a lot of activities with friends planned all around the country (I live in Belgium) for my last month of summer. Now I have to stay in bed with a sling around my arm.

 

In the same time, I've read several horror stories  round the net from people who have had similar accidents about how weak they were when they got back to training and how painful it was and how they couldn't train certain muscles etc. etc., which really freaked me out.

 

I keep thinking about what I could be doing right now if I hadn't had the accident and how I destroyed my summer and the next few months of my life. I know this is not the way to go about it but I need help turning this around...

 

Sorry for the WOT, thanks in advance to anyone who read through it 

[Eleanorsbee]

so .. you are only 23 .... and you are going to regain full mobility in 6 months 

 

sorry for sounding dismissive of your predicament .... you spent the 1st 22 years of your life not training ... nothing is going to happen in the next 6 months .... yeah you will loose strength, but you will get that back in months at your age.

 

and I am pretty sure bed rest isnt needed for a broken arm 

 

and I am pretty sure there are thousands of athletes missing an arm  ...... just make sure you don't sit around all day eating crap ..... there is loads of stuff you can do using your legs and core 

 

23 .... I cant even remember what I did at 23

[Dradis]

Yeah, i'm not entirely sure why you need to stay in bed either.

I've broken my arm a number of times, its not nice but its not the worst injury i've ever had by a long shot and i've not had that many injuries.

 

Your arm will be weak when you start back. You will have to re-hab it. The doctor will probably give you some exercises to get you going. It will probably hurt too, that is par for the course. It will probably ache fairly badly coming out of the cast. Work through it as your doctor recommends.

You won't be benching/deadlifting/pulling/pushing your previous weights for a little while afterwards but you'll get your squat back up pretty fast as you don't really need arms for that.

 

Maybe not straight away, due to bone not being fused back together yet, but after a while you can still do things even while you still have a cat. You could probably still jog, certainly do things like bodyweight squats.

 

A year from now you'll have forgotten all about it, and you'll still only be 24, a mere baby!

[Dradis]

 

 

23 .... I cant even remember what I did at 23

 

I can. Not a lot in terms of exercise and quite a lot in terms of eating crap!

[théo]

Thank you guys that was exactly what I needed to put things back into perspective. It's true I should be grateful the operation went well as the damage could have been much worse. 5-6 months seem like a lifetime to me now but I'm sure it won't be the case a year from now Dradis, you're right. I'll work with my doctor  and start murdering my legs as soon as he gives me the OK 

[Eleanorsbee]

 you can still do things even while you still have a cat. You could probably still jog, certainly do things like bodyweight squats.

 

jogging and squatting with a cat ?

 

hmmm .... ok the squats ... but that cat aint gonna be happy when you start jogging !

[Dradis]

jogging and squatting with a cat ?

 

hmmm .... ok the squats ... but that cat aint gonna be happy when you start jogging !

 

 

Hahahaha, i didn't notice that. What has happened there?

 

Its true though, so i'm gonna leave it. Owning a cat does not stop you jogging on squatting people!

[northman88]

Perspective for you: I've broken 4 bones (elbow, wrist, foot, collarbone) and lemme tell ya, the only things that are required is time and once the bone is healed, commitment to getting back to your workout.

 

Each time I've broken a bone I've come back stronger and faster than I was before. Not having use of a limb definitely makes you grateful for having full mobility when you're healthy.

 

You can likely even do core exercises while your arm is in a cast. And of course, get sign off from your doctor first.

 

Did you get one of those newfangled waterproof casts?

[théo]

Perspective for you: I've broken 4 bones (elbow, wrist, foot, collarbone) and lemme tell ya, the only things that are required is time and once the bone is healed, commitment to getting back to your workout.

 

Each time I've broken a bone I've come back stronger and faster than I was before. Not having use of a limb definitely makes you grateful for having full mobility when you're healthy.

 

You can likely even do core exercises while your arm is in a cast. And of course, get sign off from your doctor first.

 

Did you get one of those newfangled waterproof casts 

 

 

Thank you for the motivation! 

 

I actually didn't get a cast, as the plate they inserted in my arm is all that's needed to keep the bone in place. So I just have to year a "stabiliser" ( I can't find the word in english   ) that keeps the arm in place for three weeks and then I'll be able to start moving it "freely" again (not to push / lift / carry anything for the first weeks of course). 

[northman88]

Oh ok. I had surgery and a plate/screws installed for my collarbone. That will help a LOT with keeping your mobility. I actually had full ROM with my shoulder almost immediately. It was just a matter of not stressing the bone with anything heavy.

[bim]

Hahahaha, i didn't notice that. What has happened there?

 

Its true though, so i'm gonna leave it. Owning a cat does not stop you jogging on squatting people!

BAHAHAHAHA!!! But the squatting people might not like it very much, whether you own a cat or not!!

I love swype keyboards.

OP, just be sure to do your physical therapy so you can regain full mobility. I started PT late for a broken elbow, and getting my mobility back was freaking miserable... But it's been a few years now and I'm happily doing all the things. Life will go on and you will be awesome.

[DrFeelgood]

Thank you for the motivation! 

 

I actually didn't get a cast, as the plate they inserted in my arm is all that's needed to keep the bone in place. So I just have to year a "stabiliser" ( I can't find the word in english   ) that keeps the arm in place for three weeks and then I'll be able to start moving it "freely" again (not to push / lift / carry anything for the first weeks of course). 

 

The English word is "splint". 

 

I acquired this bit of metal in early 2008, at age 30:

 

 

It healed up well, and I got almost all of my range of motion and strength back just during the 6 months of physical therapy; and that was years before I started lifting weights and concentrating on fitness.  Since beginning a weight-training program at the beginning of this year, I've seen even more improvement in that elbow.

 

There are a few movements that cause more soreness than others.  Pull-ups in particular seem to hit hard on that side.  Anything related to isolating biceps also can wear me out faster on the left, but I was always right-side dominant anyway.

 

My advice (even though you didn't ask for it) is "Don't rush it."  I know how depressed you're going to get (if you aren't already) about being limited by the injury and recovery from surgery.  You'll need to calm your mind and listen to your caretakers--they really do know how to give you the best chances of a full recovery.  Work as hard as you can during physical therapy and always (ALWAYS!) do the prescribed exercises at home, too.  If your care is half as good as mine was then you'll be back to your old self in almost no time at all.

 

I broke mine in January, had the surgery a week later, and was back playing softball (albeit, gingerly) by April.

[théo]

The English word is "splint". 

 

Haha at last, thank you   I did't see my xray after the operation so I don't know if it's as impressive as yours Thank you for the advice, I'm trying to get my mind off what I can't do for the moment and focus on other activities (fortunately I can still code one-handed - I'm studying computer science  ). I'll definitely follow my doctor's advice and do my exercices - I'll try to see it as temporarily replacing workouts with PT sessions. Pull-ups are already my nemesis, it took me months to get my first full rep, so if they become harder afterwards let's just say that someone cranked up the difficulty from hard to extreme mode

[Dradis]

Chin ups (and supinated lat pulldowns) are actually the one exercise that cause grief with my former broken arm. But then when I say "arm" I mean "wrist" which is a little more complicated as it's a joint.

Pull ups and deadlifts are fine so it's something about the position rather than the weight. I still do them, it just hurts a bit.

[tigertubagirl]

Thank you guys that was exactly what I needed to put things back into perspective. It's true I should be grateful the operation went well as the damage could have been much worse. 5-6 months seem like a lifetime to me now but I'm sure it won't be the case a year from now Dradis, you're right. I'll work with my doctor  and start murdering my legs as soon as he gives me the OK 

 

I feel for you, 23 or not. Yes, there are people who are way worse off, and at least your condition is not permanently disabling. It is good to have that perspective (and keep telling yourself those things); still, if you're used to being active then it's hell to have to sit around. I broke my collarbone and scapula on my dominant side while mountain biking three years ago, and I thought I would climb the walls from feeling cooped up.

 

I agree that you don't need to spend all your time in bed. You'll slowly find things you are able to do, and life will get better little by little. I went on lots of walks at first. Lots of walks! And I was slow as hell, too, because I bruised the heck out of my ribs and couldn't even get a good breath. But it was just lovely to be outside, so I shuffled along. I found that, at my slow speed, I actually noticed a lot of things that I hadn't previously taken the time to notice. 

 

If you decide to start on leg work, just be careful that there's no way you're going to accidentally fall on your injured arm. About a month and a half into healing from my bike accident, I felt like sure, I could ride a bike again! I told the doctor that I wanted to, and he said sure, you can probably ride a bike, and that won't bother your shoulder a bit. My concern is if you fall, because then we're talking bad surgeries. So, I stayed off the bike.

 

I also found that I could successfully do kettlebell swings (at a lighter weight) waaaay before I could do training that involved pressing anything against my arm or shoulder (push ups, bench press, overhead press, what have you). But I had a broken shoulder, and you have a broken arm, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

 

Also, the biggest thing that I feel helped me heal was having a great attitude. Not kidding. The doctor was stunned at how quickly I healed (about 3.5 months) because I had broken the hell out of my scapula. He said he'd never seen someone heal so quickly, and I asked him why he thought I did. He said that he attributed it to two things: 1. I apparently have a beast of a pain tolerance (I quit pain meds after 5 days because I'd prefer to have a little pain than feel weird, but that is not for everyone) and 2. I had, according to him, an excellent, positive attitude. 

 

So maybe, instead of focusing on what you can't do, you can focus on all the new things you'll be able to do or experience while you're healing. And maybe you can also work on some bonafide positive thinking. I promise it helps.

 

Belgium? Tu ne serais pas francophone, par hasard?

[Melissa Louise]

Sorry to hear about your arm, but so glad for you that it will heal up ok. I wanted to add that I think there's another hidden bright side to having an injury like this young in life, which is that it forces you to adapt and be positive when there are things you can't do. I think we have a much easier time of that when we are young, and I promise that will be a skill that pays off big time as you age.

I have an elderly relative who is extremely upset, angry, and depressed all of the time about all the changes happening with her body, and all the things she used to be able to do that are now very difficult or impossible. If she put even a fraction of that energy from being upset into finding new things she can do, she'd be in a much better place, but that's not a skill she has.

I believe that having significant health challenges as a young person has given me an ability to accept that there are limits to what I can physically do without wasting all my time and energy on being frustrated. Sure, I still have the occasional moment where I try to do something the way I used to be able to do it and get frustrated, but by and large I just spend my time finding things I CAN do, or different ways to accomplish the things I can't. To be clear, I am in no way saying you should use physical limits as an excuse to lay around, just that learning to accept what your body can and can't do is a huge gift. One of the cruelest things you can do to yourself is to constantly beat yourself up with what you used to be able to do and be angry that you can't do it that way anymore--learning not to do that as your arm heals is a skill you'll use over and over in life.

[théo]

 

Also, the biggest thing that I feel helped me heal was having a great attitude. Not kidding. The doctor was stunned at how quickly I healed (about 3.5 months) because I had broken the hell out of my scapula. He said he'd never seen someone heal so quickly, and I asked him why he thought I did. He said that he attributed it to two things: 1. I apparently have a beast of a pain tolerance (I quit pain meds after 5 days because I'd prefer to have a little pain than feel weird, but that is not for everyone) and 2. I had, according to him, an excellent, positive attitude. 

 

So maybe, instead of focusing on what you can't do, you can focus on all the new things you'll be able to do or experience while you're healing. And maybe you can also work on some bonafide positive thinking. I promise it helps.

 

Belgium? Tu ne serais pas francophone, par hasard?

 

First of all thank you for the advice Your post, as well as Melissa's below, really came in just as I needed them the most. I've actually been struggling with keeping up a good attitude because my usual source of positivity is being active, doing sports, working out etc. What's more, after a year of studying, that kind of activities was all I had planned for this month (before uni starts), so this accident left me with nothing to do. Climbing the walls has crossed my mind more than once, as well as breaking them down, I'm glad someone understands how I feel  

 

But after two weeks of focusing on what I've not been able to do, I'm ready to take your advice and focus on what I can do instead - I'm already working on setting some goals for the next few weeks. Sometimes it feels pointless, but I've decided that I'd rather fight that do nothing. I'll definitely check out positive thinking  

 

On the pain front I actually did the same, stopped pain meds 3 days after the operation, my doctor and my PT were very impressed   As for the leg work , my doctor told me the same thing, I can do whatever I want as long as I keep my arm out of it. 

 

Francophone c'est peut-être un petit petit peu exagéré mais je vis en Belgique depuis 2 ans maintenant et j'étudie en français, donc voilà, je fais mon mieux  

 

I believe that having significant health challenges as a young person has given me an ability to accept that there are limits to what I can physically do without wasting all my time and energy on being frustrated. Sure, I still have the occasional moment where I try to do something the way I used to be able to do it and get frustrated, but by and large I just spend my time finding things I CAN do, or different ways to accomplish the things I can't. To be clear, I am in no way saying you should use physical limits as an excuse to lay around, just that learning to accept what your body can and can't do is a huge gift. One of the cruelest things you can do to yourself is to constantly beat yourself up with what you used to be able to do and be angry that you can't do it that way anymore--learning not to do that as your arm heals is a skill you'll use over and over in life.

 

Thank you for your insight I hope I'll be able to follow advice and see the things the way you describe. For the moment I've not been able to avoid beating myself up but I admit that it's obvious it isn't helping. Still, not doing it is hard but I'm ready to try and turn this around and maybe win something along the way.