thumb injury = huge loss in size and strengh :(

[Dodge]

about a month ago, while here in argentina, i was fucking around which resulted in me falling from about 2ft in the air, all my body (around 100kg)
onto my left hand... now, how my hand wasnt broken remains a mystery, mabe its because all my life i drink alot of milk and milkshakes and stuff, but thats not relevent... while the injury has improved alot, there is still a lot of pain the the joint and the fleshy part between thumb and hand,and any pressure on the palm of my hand that excerts even a small amount of pressure on the thumb side causes quite alot of pain, this has meant that i have not been able to lift weights or do pressups, resulting in me going from lifting 22kgs + (i think 25 including the bar) dumbels, down to 15kgs with my right hand, and my left is looking super skinny so im thinking i couldnt even lift that now if i didnt have the injury...

a few questions...

should i ride through the pain and lift wieghts to keep myself from losing any more, or could this cause worse/perminant dammage?

since ive already had much more muscle mass, is there a quick route to regaining what i lost, or will i have to ride through that long journey of gradual gain again?

is there any way to stop me losing more muscle mass while im waiting to heal?

if i am unable to lift weights for a long time, will i eventualy revert to a tall skinny guy who struggles to lift 10kg dumbels again? or will i stop shrinkiing?(baring in mind i eat alot of meat, fairly decent diet that should, as far as i know, hlep sustain muscle, but im no expert)


thanks

 

[Yanick]

The hand is tough. Its something someone qualified would need to evaluate. You can try contrast therapy, moist heat and ice/cold compress (10 min each, for a couple of rounds). That might help, but other than that its pretty hard to say anything other than, try going to a sports doc, massage therapist etc and see what they tell you.

Riding through the pain should never be an option. Pain is your bodies' way of telling you something is wrong.

Regaining is a bit easier than gaining in the first place. There are lots of theories on why muscle memory exists, but anecdotally speaking, it does exist. There are no shortcuts, get your injury taken care of and start hitting the weights, the muscle will come back.

To preserve muscle, you should lift what you can. Total body movements, rows, squats, deadlifts, pull ups. You can't do any pressing, that doesn't mean you can't workout. I hurt my shoulder a few years ago and couldn't do any pressing either, for about a year i worked around the injury. I was in great shape (probably the best shape of my life) and the only thing i did in terms of pressing was 135 on the bench for a couple of sets of 15 because anything more caused me pain for days.

A proper diet will curtail muscle loss to an extent, but the reason your body puts muscle on in the first place is the stimulus of mechanical loading. The calories just facilitate this process, so if you remove the stimulus your body will eventually drop that muscle because it is not needed (there are lots of factors that play into this mechanism but in simple terms thats basically it). Like i said though, you can't press, that doesn't mean you can't lift. There are still tons of things you can do, i got by without any pressing for over a year.

 

[Dodge]

thanks, thats really helpfull man, so what kind of excercises could i do while im waiting?

my brother, who knows absolutely nothing about the bodyor weightlifting told me earlier on the phone that when im alone, just to keep tensing and relaxing the muscles will stimulate them into growing or staying the same, but obviously to nowhere near the extent of weightlifting, while this sounds kinda stupid to me, in a way it kind of makes a bit of sense in the way of that they can force muscles to grow by sending electric shocks through your muscles, and mabe it works like that on a minute scale, i have no idea, is that something that could be any help?

 

[Yanick]

You can do whatever exercises don't cause you pain. From the way you describe it, you can basically do everything but presses. So try squatting, deadlifting, rows (all variations, cables, machines, db's etc), pull ups/pull downs (varying grips, attachments etc). Basically take a look at the workouts/exercises all over this forum, in the stickies etc and put together a balanced program but forego any pressing movements (bench press, over head press etc). I've read some research that showed a set or two with your good side might aid in curtailing strength loss on the affected/untrained side.

Basically with the big compound movement, sans the pressing of course, you will give your body the stimulus to build, not just keep, muscle. The anabolic hormonal environment created by such exercises will have a "spill over" affect to help keep your pressing muscles from totally shriveling as well.

Just get in the gym and experiment, if something hurts don't do it. Try it a different way to see if you can do it pain free. Hell if you can creative you might even be able to use some kind of band work around your elbows to do sort of flyes and such for your chest/shoulders. The only thing limiting you is your imagination.

 

[bigback51]

you have to experiment, if you have a pec deck at your gym maybe you can do it since most of the movement originates from the inside of your elbow vs using your hands. Also if you have a "smith machine" maybe you can do inclines using a compromised hand grip, you need to try things out, including wrapping your thumb in an ace bandage for support. I`ve used ace bandages several times because of injuries.
BigBack 51