OT: Staying surf fit with a broken arm - advice sought

General Discussion
1

I broke my humerus 16 days ago, right under the bicep, playing with my kids in the snow. I have been told that I will be up to 4 months in a sling &brace. I am 50 this year and have never had more than 3 weeks out of the water in 10 years. I am going to try and stay as fit as possible on an exercise bike and with a dumbell on my good arm. I do recognise that I will have a lot of strength and mobility issues on the broken arm when I regain use of it.

 

I’m sure that many people have had similar expeeriences and I was wondering if anyone had advice on staying fit in this situation.

 

Thanks,

 

Burnsie

2

Not had such myself but I do know that whatever small movement and exercise you can do w/ arm in cast will help a huge amount late.  Had friend who was a sander at local surfshop broke forearm skateboarding.  Got them to put fiberglass cast on so waterproof. He couldn’t work so he surfed!  Put thick layer of glass on deck where he banged it w/ cast everytime he stood and frequently repatched it.  Just the little bit of pressure on his fingers and moveing it thru the water resulted in almost no atrophy when cast was removed.

Check w/ doc first but even just gentle isometrics against cast walls in all directions should be a big help in the end.  You have to start slowly and really pay attention; do NOT push through pain!!!  Slight discomfort maybe but if it hurts, that is way too much.  Probably need to wait a few weeks to get mending underway before you stress it. Of course, your plan to exercise all the rest is key as well.

3

Just cut the cast off and duct tape you arm to your side.......or cut the arm off at the rotor and go surfing, you big baby.

 

Man up.

4

A long time ago I broke my right arm down by my wrist skating. Since then I’ve had 2 surgeries repairing the damage. Here’s my advise…

EAT RIGHT and as soon as you can, start aerobic exercise and flexibility training. If it throbs, stop and wait another week. Pick up the intensity over time, and you can become more aerobically fit than you have been in a long time, and with the flexibiltiy of a man 10 years younger, you’ll feel GREAT. You’ll be able to paddle like a machine once you get back in the water, and paddling is everything. You don’t need to be that strong to paddle, you need wind, flexibility, and stamina. Once you get back on the horse, you’ll be surfing at your former level in no time. Do not try to work out the injured arm. If you feel compelled ot strength train, stick to lower body stuff and CORE. I would not advise working out one arm only with a dumbell. You don’t need big guns to surf. You need endurance and flexibility, with some leg strength.

5

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My son broke his arm 2 times last summer and with a swimcast and rubber vacuum cast cover he was good to go.

Good luck!

6

Yep, I'm with Mr. J on this. It'll drive you nuts, but your first priority is not making it worse.

Some things to remember:

If you're, say, under 25, they say that if the busted bones are in the same room they'll heal okay. Well, that may be, but you're 50 now, and healing will be slower, especially considering where it broke. Be gentle with it. Healing it right is priority.

Next, you don't want to go into full couch potato mode. A good walk will do just fine, without futzing up the busted bone ends. Take that from a man with a crooked hand, 'cos I didn't.

Aerobic activity, fine, say on a bike, a stationary bike, but walking is best. Gentle aerobic activity, zero impact stuff. Don't worry about being 100% fit, just don't lose a lot of ground.

Eat right. Plus drink milk, the benefits of that are obvious. Stay clear of the alcohol...  mostly because when a little lit you may be tempted to do something dumb which may reinjure the bad arm or something brand new and different. Guess how come I know that one....

Do some dumbbell exercises on the uninjured arm. The body is a funny thing, it wants to stay symmetrical, so if you work the uninjured arm some the injured arm will get some benefit too.

When the cast comes off, you will have some very stiff joints, 'cos they haven't moved for a while. Range of motion will be less too, temporarily. It'll come back with a little work. Gentle stretching is good, but again, don't overdo. The cast comes off usually as soon as it can, but the bone still isn't back to 100%, and you can still do damage.

Catch up on your reading and such. I'm not gonna get all warm and fuzzy on you, but if you keep your mind occupied you'll heal better and tolerate the enforced inactivity better. Plus who knows, you might discover something like the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series and develop a lifelong addiction.

Hope that's of use

doc...

7

hello Burnsie, I stuff my biomechanics up every so often, although right now its remarkably intact - some history is (dates approximate):

1998 - fractured pelvis - bicycle accident

1999 - broken collarbone - bicycle accident - ran over by car

2000 - shoulder surgery to repair popping shoulder from surfing and windsurfing accidents.

2007 - broken ribs from skateboarding- similar to bruised ribs, but when I breathed in I could hear them crunch so knew they were broken

2009 - broken collarbone skateboarding

I offer an alternative approach - this is what I did every time during the injury immobilisation periods and it works for me, from both a mental health and physical point of view.

absolutely nothing other than a gentle walk, although obviously the 1998 injury ruled that out until I got crutches.

The advantages of this approach is that it does not jeopardise healing of the critical injury. I think its best not to do anything stupid and the site of injury should be protected as much as possible during healing. With the extra time I could relax, read books (eg on economics), program my puters and watch TV, so I didn’t waste time.

Then when its time for rehab start the physical training. Be dedicated with the rehab, but of course one step at a time.

 

8

I was out the water for 6 months last year with a torn shoulder thingie.

After 2 months of rest (what MrJ and doc said), I went to an osteopath.  Got deeep massage to loosen up the muscles that were contracted trying to protect the injured area.  You might not have this since you’re in a cast.  You’re lucky, the massage was darn painful.

Strarted private sessions with a yoga guy (yogasynergy.com).  He was able to guide me on when to put effort and when not.  Because of the style of yoga (more on movement, flow and balance, a fair bit of strength, and little emphasis on stretching) I kept pretty fit and limber until I could paddle around again.  At 50 it’s pretty important not to lose muscle tone and fitness, so we’ve got to do what we can  to support these brittle old bones :wink:

9

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience.   Getting the bones to knit is my priority, everything else is secondary. The exercise bike prevents any upper body movement while getting fit. I am only doing light dumbell work on my good arm and thats done lying on the floor to fully immobilise my body. A good core workout is difficult however I am doing some pilates sitting on a hard chair.

 

I am finding it easier than I thought to cope, I have loads of stuff I have always planned to do and good family around me, so hopefully the next couple of months will pass quick.

 

Then I can do the final hand sand on that quad nugget with Hannelei wings I almost finished.

10

I did my arm and taped a binbag to it, keeping it dry, then You can go surf mellow waves atleast.