Korean J Sports Med.  2017 Dec;35(3):149-154. 10.5763/kjsm.2017.35.3.149.

Humeral Shaft Fracture Sustained during Arm Wrestling in Young Males

• Yi SR
• Kwon J
• Lee YH
• Yang BK
• Ahn YJ
• Im SH
• Cho JH
• Park SH

• KMID: 2397809
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5763/kjsm.2017.35.3.149

Abstract

Humeral shaft fracture sustaining arm wrestling is rare, but occurs intermittently. We treated 15 cases of humeral shaft spiral fractures occurred during arm wrestling for fun since 2007. Average age was 22.47±2.69 years, average body mass index was 22.67±2.06 kg/m2. There was no prominent tendency for the fractures to occur at a certain phase of the match. Fractured level and length of each case were measured in the plain radiographs and compared with those of previous reports. Eight cases (53.3%) had an associating medial butterfly fragment, and the time taken until the fracture occurred was longer than that of simple spiral fracture (15.62±9.03 seconds vs. 7.85±2.67 seconds, p=0.048). Fractures were distributed mid to distal one third of humerus, the length of fracture was 7.93±2.69 cm and involved 25.43%±8.24% of humeral length. All cases except one treated surgically using plate and screws and returned their full activities within postoperative 3 months. Although arm wrestling is a simple and joyful sport, participants should be aware of the risks of injury during arm wrestling, especially for the amateur players.

Keyword

Arm wrestling; Etiology; Humeral fracture; Young male

MeSH Terms

Arm*
Body Mass Index
Butterflies
Humans
Humeral Fractures
Humerus
Male*
Sports
Wrestling*

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Typical type of fracture caused by arm wrestling is the external rotation type spiral fracture with (A) or without (B) a medial butterfly fragment.

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  Fig. 2 The site and the average length of fractures. Most fractures occurred in the mid to lower one-third of the humerus and eight out of 15 cases had butterfly fragments.

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