My girlfriend recently had a PICC line put in her non-dominant arm. The general advice I’m able to find on google is not to lift more than 10 pounds or so with that arm. However as well all know this advice is given often for a lot of procedures so… What can she actually do? I don’t expect her to be crushing bench 1rms with it in, but can she safely do a back squat? A deadlift? The advice available online is frustratingly nonspecific.
As you suspect, there are not clear guidelines for this kind of thing, so we are not going to be able to give much more specific advice because it wouldn’t be based on anything.
If I had a PICC line in, I would at minimum be trying to use a safety squat bar for squatting and good mornings, and would obviously feel comfortable doing any/all lower body machine work. Harder to say with confidence how upper body training should be approached; other considerations may include how long we actually expect the line to be in, and what it’s being used for.
Thanks for the input Austin. To clarify, the line is being used for fluids (girlfriend also has POTs) and is supposed to be in for six months.
I understand there is some research showing that training one limb can have a carryover effect for hypertrophy, but as far as I’m aware this research is fairly short term and not entirely applicable for her case. Would training the other arm if she is unable to train both be adviseable?
Obviously I am not her treating clinician and have limited information based on what you’ve described so far … but if the PICC is purely for fluids to treat POTS, this is extremely unusual. I suspect there may be other indications for this line to be in place, although you do not need to reveal that personal information here.
That is probably what I’d be doing in this situation, if I felt unsafe training the arm with the line in place.
No worries about privacy here. I might be missing some information, as far as I know it’s just for fluids as she is chronically dehydrated… Doctor unclear on why exactly, unfortunately. We are Canadian(so public healthcare might be different) and she got the PICC line so she can do her own fluids at home rather than have to go to the hospital weekly.
I spoke to her more about this and she’s working on seeing a doctor qualified to give more clear guidelines. Thanks again for all the advice Austin!