Bicep tendon injury

[MedicYeti 96]

I think I have a partial tear of my distal bicep tendon, an injury sustained at work Friday night. Workers comp doc said "wait till Monday and follow up". If it is a partial tear I'll likely require surgery.

Have any of you been through this? What were your experiences?

[67gtonut 847]

Yep..... Complete tear of the lower right Distal Tendon.... 

 

Get surgery ASAP...... especially if it tears all the way

 

First few days suck after surgery, but it quickly gets better. I had such a good recovery I did not even need physical therapy ..... 

[Porthole 15]

I think you may be far better off with the distal then the 2 upper tendons. My surgeon told me for the most part they don't do surgery anymore for partial tears, just rehab. Maybe that is different for the distal.

 

In the past year and a half I have torn the long head tendon and most of the rotator cuff on both shoulders. By far the painful thing I have ever experienced (post surgery).

The rehab and following guidelines if very important post surgery. Very easy to screw up the docs work if you push it.

 

When is the MRI?

[MedicYeti 96]

MRI is Wednesday.

[mag1 0]

both of mine were completely  torn off the elbow, one was repaired.

The one that i didnt get repaired has no decrease in strength, but it cramps when doing biceps.

 

Since its WC, get it repaired. It will be better than new in a 5-6 months. Plus it wont look weird.. I hate my right upper arm.

[Bellasdaddy 31]

I think I have a partial tear of my distal bicep tendon, an injury sustained at work Friday night. Workers comp doc said "wait till Monday and follow up". If it is a partial tear I'll likely require surgery.

Have any of you been through this? What were your experiences?

I had this injury in 2011 and had surgery within 2 weeks of the injury. Surgery was performed by a professional sports team orthopedic hand surgeon.

 

I was doing pull ups four months after the surgery.

 

Contact me if you have any questions or concerns

[jm1827 284]

I had this injury in 2011 and had surgery within 2 weeks of the injury. Surgery was performed by a professional sports team orthopedic hand surgeon.

 

I was doing pull ups four months after the surgery.

 

Contact me if you have any questions or concerns

HI Bellasdaddy- I may send you a PM if you don't mind.  I have been going through a similar situation for over a year and my doctor can't seem to pin down the problem.

[Bellasdaddy 31]

HI Bellasdaddy- I may send you a PM if you don't mind.  I have been going through a similar situation for over a year and my doctor can't seem to pin down the problem.

Absolutely.

[Bellasdaddy 31]

Hey, just wanted to add that the longer you wait to do the surgery, assuming you have a full tear, the more involved the surgery. This is because the biceps muscle begins to scar up and is harder to pull back down. Sometimes in these case or when the distal biceps tendon is irregularly ruptured, it is necessary to use a cadaver tendon and the scar incision needs to be much longer which also requires more recovery.

 

I do remember that whether you have a partial or full rupture, the repair is the same. And, that is, cleaning off the frayed end of a full rupture or snipping off the attached portion of the partial tear, cleaning it off and then reattaching to the forearm.

 

Workers comp cases complicate this particular injury because they make you wait - but for this injury, waiting is not helpful.

[PD2K 115]

Sorry to hear that...hope you recover quickly

[MedicYeti 96]

The MRI shows it's mostly torn and the doc said to be careful that I don't tear the rest of it.

Surgery on Wednesday.

[67gtonut 847]

Your future look for awhile

 

[Porthole 15]

Good luck, follow the orders explicitly as well as the PT. Last thing you want to do is tear the repair.

 

And in 6 weeks you may learn to hate the sound of velcro.

[peppers 1]

i had mine rebuilt. i sustained the injury when i was 27 doing steel work. comp was a mofo to deal with. usually if its torn they use cut it and thats it. because of my age they did the full reattach surgery. nothing showed on my mri so be prepared to fight comp. I'm at 80% capacity of what i used to be on that arm. i can't throw anymore without pain. i wear a forearm cover like football players do that goes halfway up my bicep so i can work without upsetting the muscles.