paulsed1
Registered
Okay, here is my dilemma. A few days ago, I broke my arm, the humerus of my right arm to be exact. It occurred during an arm-wrestling match at work..That in itself is unbelievable considering it was such a random event. I work in an office, so since not too many others work out, I am the stereotypical office big guy, although I am not THAT big (about 245 lbs. or so). We hired a new guy this week who is also kind of bigger, so it somehow developed everyone wanted to see us arm wrestle. I guess he enjoyed it, I hadnâ??????t done it for years, primarily because my rotator cuffs and elbows are tender from years of heavy lifting. Well, long story short, he was at first beating me. I tried pushing back, a loud pop occurred and my arm was broken, a spiral fracture to the humerus. Of course I am upset, especially at my co-workers for egging me on and I know will be out of the gym for who knows how long. But I need to deal with it. Here are the choices.
Surgery - They would use screws and a plate to put the bone back together. From what I have gathered so far, on the plus side is the bone would definitely get aligned properly and I will not have to wear a cast for very long. I have had it on now for a few days and it already is driving me nuts. Potential negatives - There is a less than 1% chance of infection, which is of course pretty small. There would also be a scar left over, I donâ??????t know how noticeable. I donâ??????t like the idea of getting my arm opened up, which I have worked so hard to develop year after year. I also donâ??????t know how it would feel to train with this metal in me, I hope there would be no compromise of any sort. I think they said the metal is left in for good too, not taken out. Donâ??????t know if that is a negative or not.
Non-Surgery - Positives are, the bone would heal without having my arm opened up, although that seems hard to believe with how it feels right now.. They claim once the bone is healed, it would be just as strong as the bone with the screws and plate. On the negative side, there is no guarantee the bone would grow back properly aligned (I think they said 10% to 20% chance of not happening, not sure.). The cast would also have to be worn for a lot longer, 6 weeks are so.
So there is the situation. They said the bone itself should heal in about 6 weeks with or without the hardware, so no difference there. My main concern is I just want to be healthy and back to lifting normal after fully recovering from this set back. I donâ??????t want to second guess myself if I want to do a heavy set on the bench. What would you guys do in my situation, what would you recommend? Every little thought counts
Thank you,
Paul
Surgery - They would use screws and a plate to put the bone back together. From what I have gathered so far, on the plus side is the bone would definitely get aligned properly and I will not have to wear a cast for very long. I have had it on now for a few days and it already is driving me nuts. Potential negatives - There is a less than 1% chance of infection, which is of course pretty small. There would also be a scar left over, I donâ??????t know how noticeable. I donâ??????t like the idea of getting my arm opened up, which I have worked so hard to develop year after year. I also donâ??????t know how it would feel to train with this metal in me, I hope there would be no compromise of any sort. I think they said the metal is left in for good too, not taken out. Donâ??????t know if that is a negative or not.
Non-Surgery - Positives are, the bone would heal without having my arm opened up, although that seems hard to believe with how it feels right now.. They claim once the bone is healed, it would be just as strong as the bone with the screws and plate. On the negative side, there is no guarantee the bone would grow back properly aligned (I think they said 10% to 20% chance of not happening, not sure.). The cast would also have to be worn for a lot longer, 6 weeks are so.
So there is the situation. They said the bone itself should heal in about 6 weeks with or without the hardware, so no difference there. My main concern is I just want to be healthy and back to lifting normal after fully recovering from this set back. I donâ??????t want to second guess myself if I want to do a heavy set on the bench. What would you guys do in my situation, what would you recommend? Every little thought counts
Thank you,
Paul