Broken in a strange way. Need some input

[zwischenzug]

Hi everyone,

Over the past four months I have been doing some weight-lifting (isolation/powerlifting) which has proved to be very benefitial to my physical well being both asthetically and health wise. About a week ago I was in the gym doing my routine workout and while doing flat bench press with dumbbells (55lb/arm) on my fourth rep up I heard a loud snap and I fell to the ground with my arm immobile/tingling and in moderate pain. After spending two days in emergency they concluded that my arm was broken (bone connecting my shoulder to my elbow). I am now in a cast and recovering from this injury but from what the doctors and others told me that it is very strange and unheard of for a bone to just break while pressing weights. Bones usually break upon inpact not during controlled correct exercise movement. I found this particularly odd because I was not even doing my maximum weight which I was successfully able to do at 70lb/arm with no problems. My question(s) is, has anyone ever experienced or know of anyone who broke a bone in a similar manner? Also, does anyone know why this could have happened? Anything I can do in the future to prevent this from happening again? Is there things that can be done to warm up bones before a workout? (I know stretching helps muscles to warm up but I don't do this usually). Any other tips on how to avoid such thing from happening again? Also, can I expect my arm to fully heal or is the original place of fracture always going to be weaker and suseptable to future breaks? Thanks in advance for your input...

[Heidi]

Hi,

This is extremely unusual, I have never heard of anyone suffering a fracture in this way.

The only reason for it that I can image is that there was a weakness in the bone there for some reason.

What type of fracture is it? Is the bone completely snapped in two, or was it a hairline fracture/ avulsion fracture (bone pulled off by a ligament/tendon)?

Once the bone has fully healed it is just as strong as before and so you shouldn't be at risk of doing it again.

I don't think there is a way of warming up bone exactly. All you can try to do is warm-up the soft-tissue which attaches to them, i.e. muscles, tendons, ligaments.

[Sophie Hart]

It’s really painful indeed, no do doubt I haven’t faced any problem like this one, but there are some occurrences when I felt a mild pain during weight lifting.