Running with arm in cast

wtd2008

I managed to cut tendons in my hand and as a result I have my hand and lower arm in a cast for four weeks or so. This is not going down well as I am missing my training a lot. Obviously I can't swim or cycle so was wondering if any of ye have run with casts and how did it work out?

Mods; not looking for medical advice just past experiences from anyone in a similar situation.

Thanks.

rom

Why not bike in the gym ? A bit safer.

Pisco Sour

Eric Cantona played football (and scored a cracking goal mind you) with his arm in a cast back in 93. So yeh why not!

Timmaay

Hmm afew years back I was down helping out at our county t&f championship, local enough affair, with no great standard ha! Anyways it was just a few weeks after I broke my upper arm and had to get a pin put in in. My local club were shy the 4th runner for the 4x100m relays ha, they knew all they needed was a 4th runner of any standard and they would have it won, so I got roped into doing it ha!

Sure enough on the final handover, we were well clear and I wasn't under any great pressure, I still went as hard as I could, but couldn't move my arm properly! I probably looked like a right idiot in front of all the crowd ha!

But yeh, I used an exercise bike back then to keep me sane, it did the trick grand and kept my fitness at a reasonable level!

thirstywork2

going back about 13-14 years ago i was running with Tallaght ac at the time.There was an amazing bunch of middle distance athletes and one guy called dottsie was messing with a medicine ball and didnt catch it and broke his arm.

He decided he couldnt train and became very unfit.Anyway we where out watching the tailtean games which is the best atheltes from each Province competing for a place on the Irish team.

Leinster where short someone in the 1500m as the guy that was meant to run injured himself, so in steps Dottsie with his cast on his arm and having not ran in about 4-5 weeks and p1sses all over them and wins.

Two weeks later at the internaional he finishes last !!!
HIS LACK OF FITNESS TOLD...

Point being you can train but i wouldn't do sessions but just try maintain your current fittness.

meijin

wtd2008 wrote: »

Mods; not looking for medical advice just past experiences from anyone in a similar situation.

what did your doctor tell you?

robinph

Once you're no longer needing to carry the weight in a sling then you are most likely OK. Keep it dry. Note that you will have an even stinkyer arm than before once you've sweated a bit. Don't hit anyone with it.

Rantan

sorry slightly off topic....but for some reason this thread had just brought back a memory from playing u16 rugby, we played against a team who had a one armed prop, I was a 2nd row and our tight head was freaking out at half time....the guy was using his stump to belt him in the face in the scrums!!!! anyway the lack of an arm didn;t stop that guy!

metamagical

I was in the same situation after breaking my hand this summer, and managed to train pretty regularly. I had a fibreglass cast, which is a lot lighter than ye olde-fashioned plaster of paris, so there wasn't much of a weight penalty; however, it stank so much after just a few days that I ended up getting rid of the cast entirely after just over a week.

This worked for me as I had a clean break that was healing nicely, but in your case you really need to check with your doc beforehand - tendons won't misalign when healing like bones can, but they take longer to heal and you can really f*kc yourself up if you don't give them a chance to mend properly. If you absolutely need to be in a cast, ask your doc to fit you with a removable one - they're more expensive, but will give you the best balance between being able to run and having your hand supported the rest of the time

wtd2008

Thanks guys,might have to give in to it for a while! Seeing the doc again next week so there might be some progress.