Humerus fracture recovery

Almost 3 months ago (3/3/06), I severely fractured on my left humerus (upper arm) from arm wrestling, of all things. I am only around 135 lbs, so I have a thin bone structure, which played a huge role in the accident. It was a spiral fracture, so I had to have surgery on it. Two days after fracturing it, I received a gift in the form of a plate and 12 screws in my arm. So I had to stop lifting for a little over a month. The injury was a huge blow - prior to it I had significant gains in strength (had JUST moved up from 185 to 205 on bench in about 2 weeks). Well, at least I didn't have to wear a cast for months.

On a side note, waking up from surgery is the worst pain ever. They had to numb my entire arm so I wouldn't feel any pain. The numbness lasted about 13 hours, and after it wore off, the pain was just as bad as when I woke up from the operation. Luckily, I had morphine on my side.

So they had me do light ROM exercises at the rehab center a few weeks after surgery. The rehabilitation went on for about a month, where I started doing light weights at the end (around the end of 4/06). After rehab was over, I started working out again with really light weights, such as 5-15 lbs on bicep curls, 45-75 on bench, just to get my muscles and tendons working again. It felt like it was the first time I was at the weight room again.

I have slowly worked my way back up again. To this point today, I probably have about 90% of my motion back. I used to be able to hyperextend my elbow, but not anymore. My tendons are still sore from the surgery, especially in the morning. I am probably back to around 70-75% of my strength (now at 155 on bench). The explosion is not there anymore, but in time I believe it will come back. Hopefully I will be at full strength in 2-3 months. I also have a 15 inch scar from the incision, but I am not worried about that, as long as I can get my strength back.

Just wanted to share my story. If anyone has gone through something like this before, please let me know how you coped with it. I am sure there are people who have had much worse injuries and have had much longer recovery periods. I actually feel that I have been recovering pretty quickly, and yet I still feel somewhat helpless about the situation. Hopefully I will not try to do too much and reinjure myself. The road to recovery is extremely tough to deal with, because just a few months ago you were in the best shape, and now you are set back to where you were a year ago. Good luck to everyone who is trying to recover from an injury, major or minor.

I have seen some nasty arm breaks from arm wrestling.  Not in person, but on the old Strong Man comps.  That use to be a event and im sure they discontinued it due to some nasty breaks. 

I hope you are right about getting your normal range of action.  However from my experience, getting back to 100% after surgery is difficult.  I use to play baseball and had a cannon for an arm.  I could throw from the outfield and hit the catcher without the ball hitting the ground. 

I had exploratory surgery on my throwing arm from an injury from basketball, and since then my cannon was reduced to a mini cannon.  I never got back to 100% even though i didnt experience any pain or discomfort.  Believe me, i tried, perhaps too hard and ended up with a rotator cuff injury that still gives me problems to this day (only when i throw too much or too hard). 

The best advice i can give (if you choose to take it) is to keep the goal of getting back to 100% but dont be dissapointed if you dont make it. 

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ORIGINAL: WS18

It was a spiral fracture, so I had to have surgery on it. Two days after fracturing it, I received a gift in the form of a plate and 12 screws in my arm.
 
I also have a 15 inch scar from the incision

 
1 plate...12 screws and a 15 inch incision (almost the size of your entire arm)...for a spiral humeral fracture??  
 
It is a long road back from surgery but itll be a much much longer road and possibly a very unpleasant rest-of-your-life if you dont do it properly.

I must have some horrible estimation skills- I thought the scar was around 15 inches, but I just measured it and it is barely 10. 

Im a 29yr old female, and broke my right humerus arm wrestling (a guy) it is a spiral fracture. its been 2 months, i still have 6 weeks to go in brace and sling before next x-ray. I hope it heals by then, going crazy with frustration. I wont ever arm wrestle again.  Which sucks cause it was a lot of fun - til my arm snapped!

quick update:
it has almost been 5 months now, and I am stronger than I was before the injury for all major compound exercises. Lateral movements with the extensor muscles still hurt a lot, so I am taking it light with those. The 10 lbs I lost post-surgery, I have put back on, plus an additional 5 lbs, so I am back on track. The extensor muscles are still a concern though... I do exercises that stretch them out (reverse wrist curls, lateral raises... etc) but they hurt like hell even with something like 5-10 lbs. However, I am seeing improvements, and I will ask my doc about it when I see him in a few weeks.

Hello you all, my names is João from portugal , i´m 27 and 6.2 height and 187 pounds, so i started on gym about an year ago and with good  results until past friday that i´ve broken my right arm humerous distal third im arm westreling, im to surgery tomorrow, and i know for shure that im installing a plate also, i hope that i recover the most possible to go to the gym  asap. my question is, can i let the plate insido for the long term, or maybe forever?, is there any problems of that kept inside?
 
Regards
 
Joãoo 

hello everyone, I'm Thomas from England. I'm 20
 
I broke my humerus bone(clean brake ,even heard the bone go snap) arm wrestling on july 1st, this year. I was lucky in that I did not suffer any nerve damage.
 
They put me in a brace and sling for just under 7 weeks in the hope that the bone would form a union naturally - which it did so I did not need surgery.
 
as soon as I came out of the brace I was in the gym doing exercises on the arm using light weights. 
 
right now, the doc says the arm is about 80%. In a year 90 % and 2 years 100%- which I find hard to believe. My guess is another 3 months and my arm will be 99% if not 100%.
 
it's my arm afterall!
 
 

That exactly the kind of attitude that causes re-injury.
 
Sure the doctor doesnt 'know you body as well as you do' but it is always better to play safe than risk re-injury.
 
I suggest you take his advice and ease back into things. Even if they take a year or 2.
 
If you re-injure it, the chances of it healing back to normal will be very low. Thats just not something you should be willing to risk - especially for gaining a few pounds of muscle.
 
Value your health. Look after yourself.

Hi WS18,
I broke my left humerus seven months before. I was in a brace for four months. I lost all my strength & mass in my left hand. Shoulder, biceps, & triceps are the muscles that were affected the most. It really screwed up my symmetry. I went through physical therapy for two weeks & I started working out again two months before. I managed to work my way up to 55 lb on dumbbell press, but I could not go above that. I could not do lateral rises or the biceps curls very well. I feel some pain when I try to go above 55 lb. I have been using both dumbbells & bare bells. Did you use dumbbells or bare bells to regain your strength?
? Did you use any particular workout programe? Its been so frustrating for me. I could not resist the urge to lift heavy.

Heh i fractured my left humerus in 10th grade, im now in 12th, it was a clean brake straight through from me doing something stupid. Anyway i just had to keep it in a sling for about 2 months and the doc gave me no rehab or anything. Lost all my muscle in it etc. but i guess its coming back slowly. Still i have trouble with my ROM and cant hold my arm up without feeling my shoulder tighten up and feel all weird. So yea it does suck 

Hey all, 23 from Australia. Spiral fracture on right humerous arm wrestling as well, I weighed 93kgs and now down to 86kg, very obvious that my right arm is shorter than my left.

Clean snap, heard the bone snap, spectators all shocked. Surgery to reassemble the bone (plate +8 screws) pretty cool scar though, definately one I can show the kids when Im older haha

Hurts like hell still...its been almost 8 weeks and I'm still on narcotics for pain....dammit.....all that hard work !!!!!

I'll be making sure I take care of my bones as well as my physique when I get back.

Just saw this thread and even though it is old, I wanted to reply to it as a way of helping others who are going through the same thing.
 
I had been lifting weights 4 days a week for two years, when I also decided to test my strength in an arm wrestle.  On March 19, 2007 I heard the loudest crack in my life.  It was my distal humerus (just above the elbow) giving way in a spiral fracture.  It was the worst pain ever!  They gave me 2 morphine shots, percoset, and valium, and they still had to knock me out totally in order to set my arm.
 
What I wanted to add to this discussion though, is that the doctors all agreed not to perform surgery (I had 3 opinions on this), even though it was as bad as you can break your arm.  New studies are out that show that if they don't operate but put you in a hanging cast, people do better long term.  What stinks is that I was in the cast for a month and I had to sit up in a chair 24/7 (even to sleep!).  Then came 2 weeks in a compression brace and then my arm came out with no muscle left in it and three joints that could not move (shoulder, elbow, wrist).
 
However, after one month of PT I can straighten out my arm 100% and almost bring it all the way in to my body.  I have to work on strenghtening and building back (very slowly), but it does appear that if you can avoid the operation, you will do much better.
 
As for symmetry, it is funny because my left bicep (the one on the arm that didn't break) is like 16" while my right arm (the broken one) is like 10.  They were almost the same before the break.  Oh well.........I have work to do.
 
All the best to everyone!
 

I am glad I found this thread.  I got a plate and 11 screws 2 1/2 weeks ago.  Just like everyone else, I broke it arm wrestling.  After trying a cast for a few weeks and then a Sarmiento brace, I opted for the surgery.  I lost 15 lbs, mostly muscle, after the injury.  My right shoulder has lost almost all of its muscle.  I am using my right arm in most of my everyday activities, but I still cannot straighten it.  My doctor told me that as long as my arm is swolen, I can expect this.  It is good to know that you were back close to 100% in 5 months.  Playing golf, working out, hunting, and going to football games are my favorite hobbies.  Football season hasn't started yet, hunting season isn't open, and I can't work out or play golf, so I'm about to go crazy.  My doctor said that I could be back to playing golf in a month, so, I am counting down the days.

Hey Joker, don't give up and don't get depressed, man.  I am at 100% range in my shoulder, elbow, and wrist.  My strength is coming back and I expect that I will be able to do everything as before...........EXCEPT ARM WRESTLE!  Nobody should ever do that!
 
Best of luck to you and keep your chin up!

Weight 215
Height 6' 1"

Goals: Bigger, stronger, better.........