Injured shoulders are all the rage!

[supahC]

Hi there! I'm new here.

I broke my proximal humerus - upper arm, basically the ball of the shoulder joint in a spectacular rollerblading accident. Speeding along the street, trying to make up for the fact that i was late for work, i managed to get a rock stuck in one skate, stopping it while the other one still had some serious kinetic energy in it. I then spun around uncontrollably until i fell over the curb.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WEAR YOUR HELMETS! They're not sexy i know, but neither are brains or brain injuries! The accident could have been life threatning without my helmet!

Anyway, xrays show that i have thin bones. I'm going to go to a metabolic specialist to rule out osteoporisis and the like. I'm pretty freaked out since i'm a 33yo woman and too old to build much new bone (?) and young enough to be terrified of a longish life with osteporosis.

Of course i'm being mildly fatalistic, but i'm also tryng to get a much knowledge about vegan bone health, calcium, vegan suppliments & any medication that might be prescribed (which i won't want to take).

If anyone has any knowlege that might be helpful, id love to hear it.

Happy healing everyone!

[fredrikw]

Sorry to hear about your shoulder injury, I know from very recent experience how bad shoulder injuries really can be...

unfortunately I don't have anything to say about bone health, but I wish you all the best of luck with your injury and everything.

btw, welcome to the board!

[Pete]

For bone health you need to eat plenty of food containing calcium, & get vit D regularly. Check out http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm
You aren't to old to increase bone density, you are never too old, I've seen studies of retired people who increase their bone density, so you don't need to fear never increasing your bone strength. Begin a weight training program & your bones will get stronger.
I'm assuming you're vegan, but there is some research that proteins from animals either block calcium uptake by bones or increase calcium loss in bones (they are not 100% sure which it is), but you get the same result, your bones tend to thin faster when you consume anuimal proteins (meat, milk etc), so everyone with thin bones should eliminate or at the very least limit the amount of animal proteins thay consume (milk produces REALLY hate this research as it really throws light on the fact that although milk contains calcium, it may be counter-productive to actually drink it if you've got thin bones!)

[supahC]

Thanks,

Its really reassuring to hear that I can realistically increase bone density.

I've heard about the weight bearing excersise and bone mass connection but i have a question. If the bulk of your weight bearing excersises is in one part of your body, will the increase in bone mass be confined to that part of the body or are there benefits throughout the body?

And thanks for the link, its good to know collard greens are so high in calcium, i love collard greens!

[sensless]

I've heard about the weight bearing excersise and bone mass connection but i have a question. If the bulk of your weight bearing excersises is in one part of your body, will the increase in bone mass be confined to that part of the body or are there benefits throughout the body?

That's pretty easy to rectify, just perform multi-joint compound exercises. I understand that this won't be possible while you recovery from your unfortunate accident, but once you do, you can start performing exercises such as the squat and power clean. By doing these types of movements you won't have to worry about only one area of your body becoming strengthened.

Regards,

Sensless

[Pete]

supahC said:

I've heard about the weight bearing excersise and bone mass connection but i have a question. If the bulk of your weight bearing excersises is in one part of your body, will the increase in bone mass be confined to that part of the body or are there benefits throughout the body?

Unfortunetly no. You gain bone density where you need it, there may be a "slight" increase all over, but generally it's where you exercise.

Like senseless said. The big compounds are best. Especially as things like hips etc are the worst when it come to healing & the big moves will build them up, but also your other body parts.

Say you do:

Squat
Shoulder press
Chin (start with a Pulldown until you get your strength up to a full chin)

one session

Deadlift
bench press (inclined if you prefer)
one arm row

second session

these can be your core moves core moves. Do them all say 3 sets x 10 reps. If you've any problem areas, you also want to work, say your arms need tightening, or you need some ab work, you can add that into a session. Keep them to about an hour.

Start with 5 minutes warm up bike, jogging, skipping, whatever. Then do you workout, then stretch out. Just remember your post-workout shake & you'll grow (bones & everything!).
No need to worry about going heavy at first, just get your form right & go extra slowly as you're bones may need to catch up with your muscular strength. ANY doubt, then lower the weight & work up again.

Obviously, you are limited until you heal, you could do some bodyweight moves. Deep knee bends for reps (just copy the squat moves, but with no weight, just go up & down until tired), some abs might be possible. It really depends how your shoulder/arm feels as you're doing them, any pain then best to leave stuff for now until you're healed, but definitely plan on weight training from now on if you want healthy bones into old age!

[supahC]

thanks! i'm looking forward to changing my fitness routine and joining a gym! (or so i'll do my best, i'm a solitary excersiser mostly) it will be good to build bone, and also to try to sculpt my body.

By the way my arm is healing nicely, i'm getting range of motion back and some limited voluntary use. Right now, my goals are (they seem kind of silly) to be able to lift the injured arm 90 degrees so i can drive and then to be able to reach my head so i can do my hair (its way frustrating to have long hair and NOT be able to put it in a pony tail. Oh and another nice thing to be able to do again would be to be able to sleep on my stomach and use both hands under my head (sleeping on my stomach was a major milestone)

[nervine]

It's no use having a high calcium intake if you don't get enough vitamin C. Your body needs vitamin C to help absorb calcium. I don't like supplements. Eat raw fruit and veg.