Joejoe is back. Yo. Word?

joejoem

Yeah, hey everyone, some old people here and lots of new that I have never heard of. I havent been in here in a while....

Anywho, I'm looking for a little bit of advice....


I am back in the gym after over a years absense due to injury. I tore a tendon in my hand and I have had two surgeries to gain the use of my hand again. They took an unused tendon from my forearm and put it into my hand in two big surgeries, a relatively untried surgery.

As you can imagine, without being able to use my left arm, my physique reverted to that of a 14 year old. My left arm / side grew partiularaly weak as I couldnt use it at all (the guts of a year in a cast).

Well, I have started getting back into it but my lifting has been hit severly. Since I still only have the grip strenth of an infant in my hand I can only use 10k weights to do curls, shoulder presses, chest etc with my left hand.

The question

I reallly want to get a nice build back, I am concerned about the fact that I can lift so little with my left side but I can still do heavies with my right. Should I be doing the same weight (ie light) with both sides until the left catches up with the right?


Also, I need to know how to build up the strenth in my hand. I have a stress ball that I use, I was also thinking of carrying a small weight in my left hand while I run on the treadmill.

My working out is not for any sport or anything, just to be happy with my physique I guess.

Thanks for your time and advice.

#Smokey#

id say you'd definitely want to build up the left to match the right for safety reasons.

when you say build up strength in hand i presume you mean grip. If so you could get a pair of grippers to build up grip strength.

bwardrop

Were you given given a post operative training regime by the hospital / put in touch with an occupational therapist?

joejoem

bwardrop wrote: »

Were you given given a post operative training regime by the hospital / put in touch with an occupational therapist?

Yeah I am finished with the OT. They said to continue with excersises and the doc said to just start using it as normal so the strenth will build up.


What do you think about running with the weight before heading up to the weights? THat way I'm not pushing it with massive weights, just knackering it with small ones.

#Smokey#

running with the weight seems like a good idea just keep your grip really tight on it to give it a good exercise.

bwardrop

Not so sure about running with the weight - that will after all essentially just be a sustained isometric contraction, and not really develop strength through the full range of motion. It will have some benefit, but not the most bang for your buck.

I think that you may be better with the stress ball thing you mentioned initially, then progress on to more difficult grip / forearm exercises. Open and close the hand fully to exercise the muscles completely. The stress ball will only work the muscles that flex the fingers (close the hand) - there are exercises / gizmos to work the muscles that open the hand too. There are literally dozens of hand strengthening gizmos out there - do a search on amazon and you should get some ideas.

I would also suggest a maintenance program for your strong side and bring the weak side up to speed. Lots of work with the dumbbells. Once they are matched, develop them both in unison as per normal.

joejoem

I had a look on Amazon, the selection of hand strentheners is pretty poor.

Anyone know any sports shops I could try?

I need the full range of light to strong as my range is restricted so I would like to build it back up.

bwardrop

http://www.amazon.com/tag/grip%20strength

There should be a few ideas there - if you see some thing you think might be for you, just shop around online for the best deal. If you want something really adjustable, try this:

http://irish-lifting.com/product_info_equipment.php?cPath=1_10&products_id=187