Summary:
- Spiral fracture of the humerus via arm-wrestling.
- Did not require surgery.
- Lost 25lbs and all of my gains plus some, while recovering.
- Took 8.5 weeks to heal.
- Still currently working on getting strength back 4 months later.
Details: On February 23rd I was dicking around on my lunch break with a buddy and we decided to arm wrestle. I really dont like arm-wrestling at all, but my friend really wanted to and eventually pressured me into it. After a few seconds of deadlock there was a loud cracking sound and my arm suddenly gave out. I didnt feel anything in my arm, and at first I thought the table had broke or something. I very quickly realized it had been my arm however. Although it didnt hurt when it broke I had a sense that if I tried to move it, it most certainly would. I sat there waiting for the paramedics and started to go into shock (cold sweat, shaking) still didnt know how much this was gonna hurt. Well, the paramedics got there and finally I had to move my arm so they could splint it. My god, I have never felt so much pain in my entire life. This was in the middle of the cafeteria and if the paramedics hadn't already caught everyone's attention, my yells of agony certainly did.
Once in the ambulance I officially got high for the first time in my life, and the fact that my arm was broken suddenly became quite humorous at the time... but damn those meds sure killed the pain. I was already aware that my upper arm was definitely broken, and once in the hospital I was diagnosed with a spiral fracture of the humerus (upper-arm bone). Great. All my work in the gym, all my gains, my strict dieting, gone. Just like that. In a split second of doing something I didnt even want to do in the first place, a year of hard work and dedication was instantly nullified.
Angry and distraught for the following days, I began calculating how long it would take me to recover and get back to where I was. Luckily the two halves of my humerus were not displaced very much and surgery was not warranted. That saved my tricep from being cut in half in order to insert a plate into my arm. Instead I got a simple brace and a sling. Estimated time until bone union: 6 weeks. Actual time of bone union: 8.5 weeks.
April 23rd, I head to the hospital for my examination and get my brace and sling removed. Jesus Herbert Walker Christ, I almost died right on the spot at the site of how skinny my frail arm was. My deltoid had completely vanished, and my tricep hadn't faired much better. My bicep was spared the wrath of catabolism for the most part, but was still exponentially weaker than it had been. Needless to say, any semblance of symmetry I had once had in my respectable physique was nothing more than a distant memory. I could not straighten my arm or raise my shoulder past horizontal due to the joint seizure caused by prolonged immobilization of the elbow and shoulder. I got home and stepped on the scale. 192lbs. 25lbs lighter than before. What's that... is that a lair of fat covering my severely atrophied abs too? Well this just kept getting better and better.
Time to start the recovery. I made an appointment for the physiotherapist and within 10 days I had gotten about 97% of the motion back in my joints, although getting my strength back was another story. I decided to do some isolated dumbbell curls just to see what kind of juice my bicep had left in it. Well, after 7 reps of the 8lb dumbbells, the tank was empty. My sister uses 17.5lb dumbbells for the record, think of the embarrassment I had to endure! I moved on to the dumbbell shoulder press... 10lb dumbbells. Dumbbell flat bench... 15lb dumbbells. Tricep kickbacks... 2.5lbs. Thats the kind of weights I was moving about 10 weeks ago. More infuriated and determined than ever, I immediately took it upon myself to go back to my regular regiment at the gym, although easing into it in a responsible and cautious fashion with light weights and high reps and gradually increasing the intensity.
Fast forward to today, July 3rd. In those 10 weeks I've gone from:
Dumbbell curls: 8lbs to 55lbs
Dumbbell Shoulder press: 10lbs to 70 lbs
Dumbbell flat bench: 15lbs to 90lbs
Bent over dumbbell rows: 17.5lbs to 110lbs
This is still significantly behind the weights I once threw around in the gym, nonetheless I am pleased with my steady progress thus far, and both my arms are almost the same size again My goal is to be back where I was by the end of the summer... will be tough, but doable. I have also gained back ALL the weight I had lost as well... unfortunately my body composition is slightly more fat and slightly less muscle than it was pre-injury at the same weight. I plan on reattaining my previous lifts and then cutting down though, so it should work out ok in the end.
If anyone has any questions or comments about this type of thing, please feel free to ask, as I have become somewhat knowledgeable on the recovery process.
Also post your own stories of triumph over broken bones that have hampered your progress for inspirational purposes if you will! I would sure enjoy hearing some
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Thread: Broken arm from arm-wrestling
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07-03-2007, 09:09 PM #1
- Join Date: Apr 2004
- Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Broken arm from arm-wrestling
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07-03-2007, 09:23 PM #2
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07-03-2007, 09:26 PM #3
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07-03-2007, 09:29 PM #4
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07-04-2007, 12:50 AM #5
- Join Date: Jun 2007
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Good job man! I hope to have a similar recovery story from my car accident. Spinal injuries are a bitch, but I too will be back to my best before long and I will not stop until I have reach a new peak. Both mentally and physically!
CPT, CES, and FNS
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07-04-2007, 06:53 AM #6
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07-04-2007, 07:12 AM #7
- Join Date: Apr 2004
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I agree completely, that's why I hate arm-wrestling. I could lift roughly double the amount of weight in the gym that this guy could, and yet he is able to deadlock me in an arm wrestle and then break my damn arm. He was cheating though... leaning his whole body into it and grabbing the edge of the table with his other arm and pulling for extra leverage, not to mention his arm was pulled in closer to his body than mine and I was reaching across the table. Anyways, dont want to sound like I'm making excuses lol. Nonetheless, there were many emotions running through my head after the fact, one of them was embarrassment that this had happened at all. Mainly I was just pissed off that my arm broke though... I mean this isnt supposed to happen. I had a strict diet with tonnes of calcium intake. I had never broken a bone before in my life. This was the last thing I had expected to happen to me during an arm wrestle. I did a bit of research afterwards though and discovered this is actually quite a common occurrence among arm wrestlers. You dont even have to be huge muscular guys, it can also happen to untrained people just as easily. It has to do with a sudden shift in rotational force that places large amounts of strain on the humerus (usually occurs when one person applies a sudden surge of energy in an attempt to win a deadlocked match). The most dangerous scenario is when both opponents are evenly matched and deadlocked. If your opponent is much stronger than you, there is little chance of this injury occurring.
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07-04-2007, 07:18 AM #8
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07-04-2007, 08:33 AM #9
- Join Date: Jan 2006
- Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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Armwrestling is an excellent sport. I am a professional armwrestler with Team Canada and have suffered injuries myself but recovered. If you do not know what you are doing..DONT DO IT.... This is a very technical sport which requires speed agility stamina muscle and tendon strength...and a brain....i have been training and competing for 7 years now and the only people i have seen break there arm, are people who dont take the time to either practice properly or at least listen to the refs when they tell you your in a bad position. It is not hard to break your arm, especially in the case of SIDEFX....that is a typical break...but it is very easy to avoid.....I would hate to see this thread discourage anyone interested in this great sport...
I do wish the best on your recovery and glad your thinknig about training again....Good Luck to you..
Cheers
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07-04-2007, 10:10 AM #10
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Have you ever actually broken your arm during a match, or just other injuries? If you have, how long did it take you to build up the courage to arm wrestle again with the arm that you had broken?? I can honestly never see myself getting enough courage to arm wrestle again.
Also, arm wrestling is often just something a lot of guys do for fun without any technical knowledge of the sport, and obviously there are not referees present either. I had no idea something like this could happen to someone who wasn't juicing. I certainly learned the hard way hahaLast edited by SideFX; 07-04-2007 at 10:15 AM.
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07-04-2007, 11:07 AM #11
- Join Date: Jan 2006
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No I have not broke my arm, and it is very unfortunate that this happened to you. My point was that with the proper training, breaks are easily avoidable. I have seen 7 broken arms in my career and only due to lack og knowledge at the table. It wasnt due to the "armwrestling" only from the lack there-of...This is a very competitve sport. I have seen worse injuries from other sports that people jump into without any knowledge....."Juicing" is not needed to break someoes arm in the area yours happened. It really only takes 4lbs pressure. Now if you think about that, its not very much at all...and it only takes a second of not paying attention.
I wanted to make clear only that if people were to read this thread, might have a negative opinion on this sport and be deterred from trying it...with the proper training, it is the most gratifying sport i kniow...to go on-on-one with another opponent is a rush....I have been to the WORLD level and it is a great accomplishment.....Again I feel your pain on you injury and loss og training tuime....I recently hyper extended by Brachial Tendon and lost a lot of training time....but im back in there again.....
Cheers
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09-11-2008, 03:41 PM #12
oh man.. this is tooo good.
i broke my right humerus. mid shaft tho. not spiral.
i was wakeboarding june 21st 2008 up at my cottage doin flips and landed upside down totally wrong with my arm twisted. the force of the impact snapped the arm and the boat pulled it farther.
a year of lifting gone. all my dieting gone.
went from 205 lbs benchin 235 to 190 lbs and not being able to lift a book.
uhh it has been about 7 weeks from the accident.. im in a brace for now. and i see the doc in 8 days for a xray and update.
all the muscle in my right arm has gone. every last bit. went from 17 inches to 12 inches in just over 3 weeks. horrible sight.
im just getting back to normal range of motion and running again just to keep the extra weight off.
possibley the worst bone to break
its great to hear that you got back to lifting weights again and increasin the weight.
good modivation and looks like a good road ahead
cheers.
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09-11-2008, 04:20 PM #13
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09-15-2008, 10:59 AM #14
- Join Date: Sep 2008
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I have a similar injury. I broke my left humerus last Thursday (Spiral fracture) from not tapping out of an arm lock in jiujutsu. I've been going a bit stir crazy about all the setbacks I will have during recovery. Does anyone have any good tips about what I can do for the next couple of months to minimize the catabolism and possible increase in body fat? Not cleared for any physical activity yet. Waiting to see an orthopedic surgeon. I am looking to get as prepped as possible for when I can train again. Thanks.
Last edited by Zantetsuken; 09-15-2008 at 11:01 AM.
Progress is achieved through agony and sweat and devotion.
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09-15-2008, 02:21 PM #15
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09-17-2008, 01:56 AM #16
I did that being stupid at a party. Gave into peer pressure because I was the "big dude" so everyone wanted to see me go at it. I went through like 6 guys and then it started to hurt.. Hurts so bad now when I do tri's and bi's and back. So ive been meaning to take a break so now I am gonig to take a 3 weeks break to let myself grow and recover.
210lbs
6'3
21 years old
DONT ARMWERESTLE!
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01-13-2016, 08:16 PM #17
Well I broke my upper arm from the same thingoes today and everything you said was correct I was scared the whole time cause it hurt alot but I had to wait 5 hours till they actually looked at my arm and with the pain I had it couldn't take it till I got some pills then didn't hurt much but I now know I will never EVER!!! arm wrestle again
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03-26-2017, 09:02 AM #18
I dont understand how its possible to break your arm in arm-wrestling. Played it with my friends during school back in Russia, even at uni people play it sometimes. I think when you see that you are losing you should give up at the right time, you must have a sense of feeling that there's too much pressure at some point and you have put your hand down. People that plan to do arm wrestling, i suggest you do more dips, pull ups, push ups typical bar brothers training or military whatever u want to call it.
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01-17-2019, 08:48 PM #19
I was winning when mine broke. Just means the muscle is stronger than the bone...
You defiantly don’t see it coming. You hear the screams of everyone before you even realise yourself whats happened.
Awful.
Will post my pics and progress here later. Broke mine 22/12/18, put in a brace, got worse now two weeks post opp with radial palsy.
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