Can you run a marathon with a fiberglass cast on your arm?

Henrythomas6

Hi All,

Unfortunately I have fractured my thumb and as a consequence my hand and arm are in a fiberglass cast for 3 to 6 weeks. I had been training for the Connemara marathon in early April!!

Should I defer? I would be grateful for any advice.

Many thanks,:(

ecoli

Henrythomas6 wrote: »

Hi All,

Unfortunately I have fractured my thumb and as a consequence my hand and arm are in a fiberglass cast for 3 to 6 weeks. I had been training for the Connemara marathon in early April!!

Should I defer? I would be grateful for any advice.

Many thanks,:(

Mod: Quick reminder of the charter.

We do not give out medical advice. Injuries may have common symptoms but are unique to the individual - just because you were able to keep training with X injury or were out for months because of Y doesn't mean that the same will apply to someone else. Bad advice given here and followed through could aggravate an injury and prevent an athlete making a full recovery in as rapid a time as possible. This restriction is Boards-wide and purposely heavy-handed. So don't feel offended if your thread about a sprained ankle (which you may deem "non-medical") gets locked.

In the spirit of this what does your doctor say?

robinph

When they have just put the cast on you'll not want to be doing anything will your arm.

When it's close to the time of being taken off you'll be using the arm with no problem and dying to get it cut off.

When they have just taken it off you'll be back to not wanting to do anything with your arm again.

seamus

As above, consult your doctor as to whether there would be any issue with recovery when you're rhythmically bouncing your arm up and down for 3-4 hours.

More practically I would be concerned about the effect on the cast. You will get insanely warm and sweaty under the cast. Will that cause it to go soft and possibly break?

robinph

seamus wrote: »

More practically I would be concerned about the effect on the cast. You will get insanely warm and sweaty under the cast. Will that cause it to go soft and possibly break?

Ahh, yep. Forgot about being a marathon they were on about doing. I would not want to be anywhere near the arm in a cast that had done a marathon. It would be very, very, very unpleasant. :eek:

They reek just from you going about normal day to day things and your arm sweating. Doing anything like a marathon would be bad. You'll struggle with the weight after that long swinging the arm anyway.

Enduro

I did a mountain marathon (about 70km over 2 days with an overnight camp) in the Mournes once with a cast which went from my wrist all the way to my armpit (Broken bone in lower arm.. left to heal naturally). The cast was on about 5 weeks at that stage, and was scheduled to be taken off the following week. I didn't have any particular problems with it (apart from the fact it was pretty muddy by the end!). In fact we (it's a pairs race) finished 3rd in the top category, my best ever result in that particular event.

plumber77

I did the ring of kerry with a dislocated thumb and had my cast on for 3 weeks out of the recommended 6 at that stage. Did get quiet hot and sore by the end, and for a few days after. At that I could rest it on the handlebars anytime I needed. Having done a few marathons now at this stage I can safely say I would never attempt it with a cast on. Everyone would be affected differently, how fast they actually want to do the marathon and how the bone has healed. I definitely wouldn't want to prolong the period in the cast by doing so either. personally I would defer and maybe slip another marathon like limerick in as not to waste all the training.Last few miles of a marathon has perfectly healthy muscles and bones aching..

Henrythomas6

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll stick to a short runs in the interim and see what happens closer to the date.

rom

Give guinness world records a shout.

hot to trot

Enduro wrote: »

I did a mountain marathon (about 70km over 2 days with an overnight camp) in the Mournes once with a cast which went from my wrist all the way to my armpit (Broken bone in lower arm.. left to heal naturally). The cast was on about 5 weeks at that stage, and was scheduled to be taken off the following week. I didn't have any particular problems with it (apart from the fact it was pretty muddy by the end!). In fact we (it's a pairs race) finished 3rd in the top category, my best ever result in that particular event.

But we all know you are superhuman