TikTok User Shares Horrifying Moment When Her Arm Snapped During Powerlifting

Powerlifter Robyn Machado recalled the horrifying moment when her arm snapped under 369 pound weights during heavy workout almost two years ago.

Warning: Graphic content

According to The Sun, in the video from March 2020, the 35-year-old gets ready for the intense exercise by getting into a squat and trying to lift the 369-pound bar, but it slides down her back. One can hear a crack before Machado, who is from Raleigh, North Carolina, screams and moves away from the bar. She said that she'd been lifting for more than 20 years, and had never experienced something like that in the past.

Machado said that when she felt the pressure and heard the loud breaking sound, her "first thought was, 'OMG the bar broke.'" But when she glanced at her arm and saw a bone trying to poke through the skin, she "was so stunned that I screamed." Before being informed that she broke the radius bone in her forearm, she received X-rays and ibuprofen at a hospital.

The video of the painful moment on her TikTok account @PowerLifting _Portagee has been viewed more than 20 million times. In the viral video, she also included an X-ray of the fracture and an explanation of what happened back then.

Now, she uses her TikTok account to document her recovery, reported Daily Star. The powerlifter said that she decided to share the video to raise awareness on lifting safely and correctly. She said that low bar can be done safely, but some people like her try to push limits by setting it as low as possible in an "effort to move as much weight as possible and it's dangerous."

Her bone healed in nearly eight weeks after getting a plate and eight screws inserted in her arm. The recovery was not easy for her, and the worst part was due to severing her radial nerve, she had nerve damage. She shared that she could hardly move her thumb, index and middle finger. She said that the skin felt like it was on fire and she would feel "zaps" all day and it would keep her awake at night. She added that it's not totally better but "the zapping pain is gone."

The painful injury didn't stop Machado from working out. In fact, she ended up officially surpassing 369 pounds, the weight that had earlier broken her arm.