i have to have surgery on a non-union fracture of the scaphoid bone in my wrist. i will be in a cast for three to six months. during that time i still will be doing leg exercises. i thought i had heard something somewhere that there is something like a 30% crossover effect if you work only one of your arms, so your non used arm still keeps a little bit of its strength? is this true? i would like to keep as much strength in my casted right hand as possible. are there any specific activities i can do?
I don’t have the study, but there will be some cross-over. This is due to CNS recruitment. Not unlike skipping squats to do bench press while peaking to get some CNS stimulation while saving the legs. There will always be some cross-over from left to right.
There are some great threads on the crossover effect in the Central Drive and General vs Specific threads in the archives.