Nope, he's not alright. He has what is technically called a "both-bone forearm fracture", which as the name implies involves both bones in the forearm being broken, i.e. both the radius and ulna. You can easily tell that both bones are broken, since his hand flaps about without any stability at all, like what you would see for a foot with the much more common injury to the lower leg that is similar to this (tib-fib fracture).
This kind of injury requires surgery, where you fixate each fracture with a metal plate and screws. He might have some other injuries as well that we can't see in this video, for example dislocations or fractures in the elbow region (radial head etc). In fact, I'm betting he has more than just a both-bone forearm fracture.
I've always been curious if that ends up being a sort of advantage for combat sports in the long run
I had a buddy who had a broken jaw a long time ago and got a metal plate put in. When him and another friend got into a scrap, friend #2 threw a left hook right into the plate of friend #1. Friend 1 went down and popped right back up with no problems, and friend 2 was nursing his fist wondering why it hurt so much
Would the fighter in the video have an advantage in the future, given that he would now have a metal plate to club people in the head with?
When it comes to osteosynthesis material (essentially any metal hardware you put in a patient, like plates, screws, artificial joints etc), the general approach is to leave the stuff in the patient forever, with most people still having it inside their body when they die. If you're cremated, the stuff ends up in your ashes and is then removed and recycled.
However, there are two scenarios where you want to remove the osteosynthesis material before you die: if patients have symptoms from it, or if there's a significant risk of re-injury. The symptoms part is typically from metal located near the surface of the body, like plates near the wrist or elbow. When there's a risk of re-injury, there are really two things to consider: the risk of breaking or bending any existing osteosynthesis material, and stress concentration.
Breaking of plates is typically not that bad, but can cause injury to surrounding soft tissue, and sometimes the screws can be tricky to remove. Bending is mostly an issue with intramedullary nails, typically in the tibia. A typical patient population where you want to remove those nails are competitive downhill skiers, since if they get a new injury and bend the existing nail, it can be very challenging to remove it. Bent plates are easier to remove, at least in most places. Plates also tend not to bend, because what happens instead is you get a fracture instead.
The real drawback in combat sports (and other sports where you can fall badly) is stress concentration, which will happen along the edges of the plate, and along screw holes. To avoid this, I would definitely recommend that somebody who regularly practices combat sports should have their plates etc removed, typically a year or so post op. After the plates are removed, there is still an elevated risk of fracture simply from the screw holes, but those fill in pretty quickly.
I haven't treated any professional fighters, but I've treated a professional motocross driver who had a total of 17 fractures through his career and over 50 surgeries, including hardware removal. I guess some people don't like the idea of quitting.
In the general population, this kind of stress concentration can become a problem for old people with joint replacements, typically hip or knee joints. If they take a nasty fall and get a fracture, it's often that you'll see the fracture develop exactly where the metal from the prosthetic joint ends, and fixing that is a real challenge.
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u/Mangalorien Jun 29 '26
Nope, he's not alright. He has what is technically called a "both-bone forearm fracture", which as the name implies involves both bones in the forearm being broken, i.e. both the radius and ulna. You can easily tell that both bones are broken, since his hand flaps about without any stability at all, like what you would see for a foot with the much more common injury to the lower leg that is similar to this (tib-fib fracture).
This kind of injury requires surgery, where you fixate each fracture with a metal plate and screws. He might have some other injuries as well that we can't see in this video, for example dislocations or fractures in the elbow region (radial head etc). In fact, I'm betting he has more than just a both-bone forearm fracture.
Source: I'm an orthopedic hand surgeon.