Most say that if you ever get some sort of injury to your bones or joints...

[The Viking]

... that they won't be as strong and "good" as before.

Is this true? They say injuries such as fracturing a bone, dislocating a joint, tendonitis, etc, etc will cause the injured area to be worse off than before; even after it heals.

From other information that I've heard, you can strengthen bones, tendons, and ligaments through normal exercise (such as various sports, running, weightlifting, etc). Is this true as well?

If so, then the first statement would be false.. since even after the injury, if you workout and exercise, you should be able to strengthen them. Including the possibility of getting them stronger than before the injury.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[The Viking]

Anyone?

[Rikwa]

some asian coutries break the legs of their young so they regrow thicker making them more effective in muai Thai
no bull****

[SlammaJamma]

some asian coutries break the legs of their young so they regrow thicker making them more effective in muai Thai
no bull****

True, maybe, but that will only work up to a certain age.

[JoshGrives]

My dad was telling me this, in his country vietnam the martial arts is brutal, they start off at an early age and break your legs.... then every day before bed time you would crush salt rocks with your bare knuckles and ect to get them tougher and what not..... that stuff is pretty crazy man....

And oh yeah i hurt my left wrist during a wresting match in 8th grade..... next day i hurt it playing football..... next day i hurt it wrestling again..... since then its never been the same.... but then again my biceps are bigger in my left arm then my right, alot bigger... If i dont curl my wrist when i work my bicep areas and ect i will have tremendous pain.....

[The Viking]

To above, have you ever been to a doctor? And isn't there a way that you can strengthen it? Whatever it is, tendon, ligaments, etc.

[JoshGrives]

Yeah 4 times....... know what they do? xray..... durrrr nothing is wrong with you Josh.... it will go away eventually..... the last time i went, the doctor told me to get one og them rubber balls to strengthen my hands..... it will help with ym wrist too.....

so all my doctors are dumb.... I was going to go to a palce that specialises in that stuff but its soo far.

[The Viking]

Ah, I see. I hope it gets better man.

So anyway... would anyone like to take a look at my initial questions on my first post..?

[Jhawk Fitness]

Actually most doctors will tell you you're less likely to break a bone after it has been done before (at least at the same spot) due to the callous that forms over the fracture when it heals. The bone actually gets thicker after it breaks. Why do you think people who play sports and exercise have thicker bones than the average joe? The bones incur microfractures and thicken as they callous over.

[THUNDERGOD]

For supplements, calcium for the bones, Omega 3's (Flax seed, fish oil) for the joints and multi's.

A friend of mine broke his arm three different times (three different spots, same arm) between forth grade and sixth grade and by high school he was lifting regularly, boxing (golden gloves) and never had a problem with the arm again, so I would say judging by my friend Dave, yes you can bounce back fine.... I'm a big believers in supplements, so the supplement part was my own two cents.

Good luck man

[Jhawk Fitness]

For supplements, calcium for the bones, Omega 3's (Flax seed, fish oil) for the joints and multi's.

A friend of mine broke his arm three different times (three different spots, same arm) between forth grade and sixth grade and by high school he was lifting regularly, boxing (golden gloves) and never had a problem with the arm again, so I would say judging by my friend Dave, yes you can bounce back fine.... I'm a big believers in supplements, so the supplement part was my own two cents.

Good luck man

With calcium supplements you need to watch when and what you take in order to maximize absorbtion. If you are taking the standard pills you should take one early in the day and one later at night. Your body can only absorb so much calcium in one sitting.

Also, what you take has an impct as well. For most supplements the absorbtion rate is somewhere around 15%, however, there is a product called BioCalth that touts a 75% absorbtion rate. This is what I took while I was recovering from a broken hip and I showed good results (fracture healing time was the fastest the doctor had ever seen).

[The Viking]

Alright, thanks a lot everyone. I think I have a good overall understanding now, but could anyone take some time to look at the tendons and ligament parts; and give some comments on them.

Most "medical" sites on the net seem to say ligaments and tendons pretty much NEVER grow stronger or rebuild.. I plan on asking my own doctor about this, but my mom who is a RN, tells me they don't usually get much stronger, if at all, either... (Though she says she's not too sure on the subject.)

However, on sport training, weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, martial arts, etc sites almost all tell me that you CAN strengthen tendons and ligaments (through normal exercise, lifting, etc)

I'm leaning towards the "you can" argument more at the moment. (If the majority of the medical people are right, and tendons can't heal and rebuild themselves, then won't everyone's be completely screwed due to all those microtears through normal use?)

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Jhawk Fitness]

Connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, etc.) will become more load bearing (more tensile strength) in order to accomodate gains in weight and strength as a person grows naturally (which is why athletes who uses pharms to make gains are more prone to injuries in thier connective tissues). However, after an acute injury, these tissues generally do not heal very well so medical intervention is sometimes neccesary. Doctors can go in with a heat gun and force the tissues to contract, thus re-gaining some of thier previous contractile properties (this is a common surgery for athletes who suffer from chronic dislocations).

[The Viking]

Thanks a lot man.

So to confirm (in case I got something wrong), in the normal case, these connective tissue can and does get stronger. If they take too much damage, and gets in some severe injury, its hard for them to heal, thus surgery.

Alright, I'm almost done, 2 final questions.

1. I've heard the tensile strength of the average tendons and ligaments are equal to that of steel. Is this true?

2. These connective tissue best be stronger than the muscles, right? If not, then, if a muscle can support lifting a weight, but the tendons/ligaments are too weak, they can be torn and easily injured, yes? If so, do you think I would have to worry about my muscles gaining strength too fast, outgrowing my connective tissue?

Thanks in advance.

[Jhawk Fitness]

Thanks a lot man.

So to confirm (in case I got something wrong), in the normal case, these connective tissue can and does get stronger. If they take too much damage, and gets in some severe injury, its hard for them to heal, thus surgery.

Alright, I'm almost done, 2 final questions.

1. I've heard the tensile strength of the average tendons and ligaments are equal to that of steel. Is this true?

No idea and I don't know of any studies done on the subject in terms of comparison to steel.

2. These connective tissue best be stronger than the muscles, right? If not, then, if a muscle can support lifting a weight, but the tendons/ligaments are too weak, they can be torn and easily injured, yes? If so, do you think I would have to worry about my muscles gaining strength too fast, outgrowing my connective tissue?

Thanks in advance.

As long as you are growing naturally your body should adapt and accomodate the growth. Unless you're taking steroids I wouldn't worry about it, you don't want to end up like David Boston.

[The Viking]

Alright, thanks a lot for your help.

EDIT:

Whats wrong with this David Boston guy? I don't really know much about him, besides that I seem to recall his name from the NFL a few years ago..

[Plateau Joe]

Bones return EXACTLY back to how they were prior to breaking. They at first have a visible overgrowth, but eventually return back to where even a doctor cannot find where the fracture occurred with an x-ray.

[Person]

Alright, thanks a lot for your help.

EDIT:

Whats wrong with this David Boston guy? I don't really know much about him, besides that I seem to recall his name from the NFL a few years ago..

Gained way too much size too fast--a great way to get connective tissue injuries!

Try out some different recovery modalities, including things like ultrasound.

[pkking]

i believe that at first the joints or bones will be weaker but you can rebuild them i myself injured my shoulder playing fottbal and couldnt lift my arm for 2 weeks but wafter i started workign with it i was stronger than ever my bench went up 60 pounds over the summer

[psycho69]

ive been told that broken bones heal back harder and stronger over time