exercise advice needed

Hi all,
within the next month or so I plan to finally resume rugby after breaking my arm in September, and I was looking for advice for any exercises (preferably stuff I can do at home with free weights or just my own body) for rebuilding the muscle in my forearm, upper arm and shoulders.
Any advice would be very appreciated! thanks

Press ups. 100 a day. When this becomes too easy, raise legs onto a chair and press up from that position. Then press up using one arm.

Can you tell us the exact type of fracture and the date of the injury? The type of rehab and training is based upon the injury how far along you are in recovery. Are you planning to see a physio?

doctor_grey wrote:Can you tell us the exact type of fracture and the date of the injury? The type of rehab and training is based upon the injury how far along you are in recovery. Are you planning to see a physio?

fracture the radius
had it plated with 6 screws, I think I was around the 15th of September. The Doc said I should be able to resume contact after 5/6 months.

You should definitely see a physio first mate just to be sure of what you can and cannot do

The radius is more fragile than the Ulna and has more function since it is the bone which rotates as you move your hand. If you received 6 screws than I will presume you had a very severe break. For your recovery, this obviously means a slower rehab.

Does your doctor believe you should restart exercise now at Plus 4 months? Don't start until he gives the green light. And then, I strongly recommend seeing a physio. They can give the most appropriate exercises to build muscle around the injured area. They will tell you to stay away from any direct stress longitudinally through the bone, and direct stress perpendicular to the bone, at least at the outset. it is better to wait an extra month than run the risk of starting too early.

welshy6 wrote:Hi all,
within the next month or so I plan to finally resume rugby after breaking my arm in September, and I was looking for advice for any exercises (preferably stuff I can do at home with free weights or just my own body) for rebuilding the muscle in my forearm, upper arm and shoulders.
Any advice would be very appreciated! thanks

I can think of one. Has a detrimental effect on the eyes unfortunately.

Ye I would def heed Doc greys words, he knows what he's talking about!!!

Key is not to rush, and I know exactly that that is what you do not want to hear, youve waited and waited for the moment you can start training and now people are telling you to wait some more?!?!?!

But you really have got to take it slow, a good physio will be able to diagnose you and build you to a point where you can start to consider going hell for leather again!!

Also want to point out that building the forearm is pretty simple, just live your everyday life and train similarly to what you were doing before, the forearm is very complex and is made up of a lot of smaller muscle types that help flexion, extension, are connected to a number of nerves and all have differing jobs. The forearm muscle are rarely built up and the good news is once ready the forearm will return to the condition it used to be pretty easily!!!

With regards to training I would avoid all free weights if your looking to aid performance anyway, if you train to perform you are much better served actually training performance techniques and not looking to balloon (unless you have specific goals and a need to)

Once you have recovered fully let me know and I can help write a very effective programme and give you tips.

GOOD LUCK

doctor_grey wrote:The radius is more fragile than the Ulna and has more function since it is the bone which rotates as you move your hand. If you received 6 screws than I will presume you had a very severe break. For your recovery, this obviously means a slower rehab.

Does your doctor believe you should restart exercise now at Plus 4 months? Don't start until he gives the green light. And then, I strongly recommend seeing a physio. They can give the most appropriate exercises to build muscle around the injured area. They will tell you to stay away from any direct stress longitudinally through the bone, and direct stress perpendicular to the bone, at least at the outset. it is better to wait an extra month than run the risk of starting too early.

thanks very much for the information Doc
what the doctor said was he recommends that I could restart contact sports (in this case rugby) after 6 months, I will not see the doctor for another 8 months in which to discuss whether or not I should leave the plate in, I haven't been given a physio appointment as after having my arm in a full cast for 4 weeks I then had just a forearm cast on for a further 4 weeks, therefore meaning movement came back gradually and now have full movement in my arm once more.

Christ mate! Now I understand exactly what happened.
That would have been severe, and must have been a touch painful, too.

If you have doctor's authorisation to resume exercise now, but not with the arm or with contact (before the 6 months), its OK to start back with the cardio and legs. Be careful if sprinting because of how you pump your arms. I would strongly recommend wrapping your forearm or having a wearing forearm pad when you do your sprinting or any vigorous cardio exercise.

Please double check your doc is comfortable with the Rugby. You now have two fulcrum points for potential breaks on your radius. These are the opposite ends of the plate. If the doc is OK based upon his eval, then go ahead, but take it slow. I agree with bluesman, stay away from free weights. I would even avoid press-ups in your particular case. Best thing, as we said, is to see a physio.

Good luck, and keep us posted! Any questions, feel free...........

yeh it did hurt a wee bit, what's more frustrating is how it happened, the guy jumped into the tackle knee first and connected with my arm as I was going full pelt to smash him. Then to top it all off the team lost the match (which they were winning at half time, with me there I might add....!)

my dad is trying to get hold of the original x-ray (as he works in the hospital) I will post it on here if he does get it.

I have a forearm guard and am attending training tomorrow for the first time in a few months (due to cast, and exams :/ ) will do fitness, and a bit of touch and passing.

Tbh the Doc didn't really say much, just said yep arm fully healed now, recommends waiting 6 months (from injury/op (which was the day after) ) till resuming contact. I did get the warning about increased chance of breaking it, hence the appointment in 8 months, to discuss removal.

Just would like to say thanks very much for all the advice off everyone, will keep you all posted on my rehab!

On a slightly different subject I did a kettle bells class on Monday and have since been walking around all week like I have two wooden legs. Hamstrings are soooooooooooooo tight. Anyone ever do kettlebells classes?

I take a few classes mate, if your Hammys are very very tight it could be for a number of reasons...

Warm ups are so imortant especially as you get older.

Some classes can be very bottom heavy depending on instructer experience.

Cool downs can be non existant at some classes.

A lot of instructers are quite young and fail to take the needs of the class into consideration, especially with the bells, a quick course is taken with little actual knowledge of anything except for the bells themselves, IMHO most class leaders are wildly underqualified!

Just out of interest Guns are we talking Soreness/Stiffness or pain? Are you able to move, work, live ok and just need to stretch off before next session or is it near debilitating?

If you are new to the bells though I would guess that a common problem is the over balysticity of the movements, creating a shock to the hammies in particular. This is pretty common I have found.

It may just be a case of Pavels lumberjack though.

http://www.myosynthesis.com/articles/doms-muscle-soreness

It was the first time i did it. Im sure my technique was poor and no warm up or down offered. My own fault for not doing it myself. I still think Im 24 but really 33. It was just stiffness but bad stiffness. Hard to sit down or walk down the stairs. Will know better the next time.

Guns

I hear you, I'm near 30 and still havn't adjusted to how my body reacts to excercise!!!

Generally though there is little to worry about, first timers ALWAYS struggle with stiffness in the Hammy's and Glutes, when you really think about it it makes perfect sense...

How often do you perform 30-50 Glute clenches in a row... hardly ever so of course they will overreact to the first time you've done so!

Plus the Hammy's very rarely get worked with such specifity, normally with squats etc they have plenty of antagonists to help but with the bells they get isolated a lot.

See what I mean with regards to instructors, NO WARM UP OR COOL DOWN???? Was he/she quite young by any chance?

I mentioned Pavels lumberjack, it's pretty pertinant, if the Lumberjack gets sore and takes 2 days off after 1 days hard work he'll quit or get fired quickly... so best thing to do is take as many Bell classes as you can until your body adapts, obviously don't overdo it but 3 classes a week should sort you out quickly..

Just don't forget to stay Hydrated (so important for 2 days before exercise) ensure you have a 10 min warm up which should def include small Glute and Hammy stretches leading to dynamic ones, then most importantly cool down, stretch and hold for 10 seconds on each leg for each muscle, you can even rub down and use a bit of ice/cold for a few mins, I suggest sitting on bags of peas when you get home, works wonders!!!

Late to the show here but Bluesman and the doctor_grey have you fairly well filled in here. Its going to be a gradual recovery and you'll notice a significant decrease in muscle bulk and strength. If you've been given a green light by your doctor to resume training I can give you a physio rehab programme for the forearm and upper arm if you want.

thebluesmancometh wrote:

How often do you perform 30-50 Glute clenches in a row... hardly ever so of course they will overreact to the first time you've done so!

Yeah not very often. Maybe just occasionally when I'm standing at the bar.

Thanks for alll the advice and tips everyone.

Sorry for hijacking the thread for a moment but what qualifications has this person who is taking an exercise class if they are not getting the exercisers to warm up or warm down/stretch?

That's fairly basic stuff.

I'd steer clear of that class.

MrsP

It's sadly very common for instructors to rush through a class, I don't take classes much any more as their too much hassle, by the time you rush the group before you out of the studio, set up and get going you've lost 10 mins, then you generally have to stop the class at 10 to the next hour, by the time you take a solid 10 - 15 minute warm up and a good 10 minute cool down you only really get to the good stuff for 20 mins, this is just not long enough for the type of workout people want to pay for.

I've seen some instructors lead their classes in warm up outside venues before the class starts, Ive seen them stretching in hallways, Ive even seen 90 second warmups in class.

Generally instructors of these types of classes are poor quality, if you want a good bell class 1 on 1 sessions are the best, and are unrivaled!!

ok just wanted to post an update on how my injury is progressing,
Have resumed training and have been doing contact a little bit (sorry doc!!) although I have only been attacking rather than defending, arm is feeling fine and its just now confidence issue as pre injury I would throw myself into a tackle without thinking about injury but obviously feeling a bit more reserved at the moment. So I shall be working on the bags to get my technique bag then hopefully be available for a match soon. (although fitness still isint 100%!!!)

Thanks for the update, Welshy!
Glad its doing better. No pain at the site of the intial break(s)? How about any pain when lifting weights or doing any kind or arm exercises? Even with arm stretches? Hopefully all signs are positive.

When do you see your doctor again? I would be interested to know whether he decides to remove the plate or not. Hopefully not, as that is another surgery and another recovery. Please just make sure you have developed the muscle in your forearm and when you start playing in anger, you wrap the arm first!

Best,

Grey

nope, no pain generally, although I did get a slight soreness when I had it stuck under a ruck, so I took a break, also wearing one of those forearm guards (doesn't have much affect but more a confidence thing I think!) no pain doing weights, was lifting in the lineout and had no trouble (although the guy only weighed 11stone!!!) and no problem with press-ups.

I see the doctor in august and was discussing removing it depending on how seriously I want to play rugby, especially as I want to play rugby in uni. so even if I have surgery it will not inhibit too much! haha will do, in fairness my technique is usually pretty good!