Local arm wrestler overcomes injury to find success

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on July 22, 2022.

Lethbridge Arm Wrestling Club member Dustin Houghton did not think he’d ever participate in the sport again after breaking both his arms in the fall of 2016.

The left arm was broken at a Provincials final — where he was previously undefeated heading into the final — and it was three weeks later that he was wrestling with his brother and broke his right arm.

“It was a rough couple of months after breaking my arms for sure, trying to do anything just to get back to work. It took months and then about a year it took to get back on the table and then about eight or nine months after that we had a tournament in Lethbridge and that was the first we had in a while. So that was my first tournament back and I did alright and then slowly started hitting up amateur tournaments and then into the pro division and then competed at Nationals in 2019. I was making some headway there.”

Houghton then resided in Toronto for about a year-and-a-half and practiced with arm wrestlers out there.

Houghton returned to Lethbridge six months ago and trains with his father Len, his brothers and the Lethbridge club.

“It was definitely a mental thing coming back, right,” he said.

“Like physically I still kind of had some aches and small pains from different angles when you’re arm wrestling. So I definitely had to try and start slow and kind of just be really aware of positioning on the table as I was easing back into it. And then each tournament it kept getting better and better and slowly the confidence kept building.”

Houghton has appeared to be back in full form as of later as he has won both the Provincial title in May in Grande Prairie and a National title in Winnipeg earlier this month in the pro category, which has landed him a spot in the IFA World Wrestling Championships in France in September and the Arnold Classic in Columbus next March.

“It’s exciting to pull with some of the best in the world,” said Houghton.

“(I’m) very excited to test myself and see where I sit some of the other top pullers in the world.”