Ruptured bicep tendon- happen to anyone?

I ruptured my right bicep tendon Friday (complete tear at the elbow) and saw an orthopaedist this morning to confirm it. I was set on the surgery, but he claims that I would have ~90% of my elbow flexion strength without it, only supinating actions would be a lot weaker (supinating DB curls and possibly chins). Deadlifts and the like would be fine.

Has anyone had this happen to them and if so, did you have the surgery?

What has happened since with or without the surgery?

I'm especially curious because I want to start doing more ring work when I get Coach Sommer's book & DVD's.

I won't be doing iron crosses or anything fancy at 235 lbs.

Thanks.

Biceps Tendon Surgery

I would recommend getting the surgery.

A good friend of mine (a former multiple-time Olympian as well as a high level Cirque performer) had a similar mishap some years ago and decided to not do surgery so as to avoid the subsequent interruption in his performing. To this day the injured arm is substantially weaker in some positions.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I would also recommend the surgery. Now a days And you should ask for this if need be) they can put this mesh matrix fabricky type stuff (easiest way to describe what it is haha) that will help the tendon heal and grow nicely and should restore your tendon back to probably 99.8% full capacity. Can't say 100 as once something is broken it never is the same.

I would recommend the surgery, however me personally i would probably not do it cause i would hate to have all the time off. Blaine Wilson (US team memeber) raptured his bicep tendon, had the surgery and was back in the Olympic team by 2004. So really the surgery is the way to go in my opinion.

Thanks.

I have decided on the surgery and will see the surgeon Friday. I think the surgery will be next week.

wish you all the best and hopefully it will be as painless as possible. Wish you a fast recovery.

I ruptured my left bicep tendon at the elbow on 6-20-08. I had the surgery 6 days later. The doctor informed me I would not return to normal work (I'm a cop) until early to mid February 2009. I was cleared for duty and returned to work on Oct 1 2008. My strength is very close to what it was, and aside from some pain when the weather changes quickly, all is well. I was told I would never do pull ups again. I am back up to 3 right now and still working. The strength will come back. I used cod liver oil for omega 3s, isometrics on the arm for strength, lots of infra red heat, and I bought my own ultra sound machine. The injury mostly occurs in older men (50's), so the info about healing is based on that age bracket. The physical therapy can be painful, but keep in there and it will get better.

Frost

Wow! Good to hear the recovery is going well, man!

I was wondering, how do people rip their bicepts and how can they avoid doing it?

On of my bicepts has a kinda weird shape when I move my arm towards my torso, sometimes I worry if it's gonna rip.

sasquatch said:

I was wondering, how do people rip their bicepts and how can they avoid doing it?

On of my bicepts has a kinda weird shape when I move my arm towards my torso, sometimes I worry if it's gonna rip.

Generally, you can feel overuse coming on in the form of tendonitis or pain along the insertion or origin. Those are signs that you need to back off to let them heal/catch up with the rest of your body since muscle adapts to training much faster than connective tissue. Ice and massage help.

Otherwise, there's not much you can do.. most of the old guys it's just wear and tear from a long life of doing stuff. Just genetics in that factor.. but correctly done strength training should help avoid that as it should strengthen connective tissue.

Also, it's "biceps"... no T & with the S

braindx said:

sasquatch said:

I was wondering, how do people rip their bicepts and how can they avoid doing it?

On of my bicepts has a kinda weird shape when I move my arm towards my torso, sometimes I worry if it's gonna rip.

Generally, you can feel overuse coming on in the form of tendonitis or pain along the insertion or origin. Those are signs that you need to back off to let them heal/catch up with the rest of your body since muscle adapts to training much faster than connective tissue. Ice and massage help.

Otherwise, there's not much you can do.. most of the old guys it's just wear and tear from a long life of doing stuff. Just genetics in that factor.. but correctly done strength training should help avoid that as it should strengthen connective tissue.

Also, it's "biceps"... no T & with the S

Thanks for the information, do people get this stuff mostley from lifting weights or does it happen in bodyweight training too?

And thanks for the spelling of biceps, I thought everyone else was spelling it wrong.

Happens to anyone.

You'll probably see it more often with the people who only go to the gym to bench and do curls though since they're not balancing their body's strength correctly and trying to overload everything on benching and curling...

I had a very slight tear in my bicep back on 2000. I did a lot of weight lifting and the curling motion kept the tendon stable/strong (so the doc says). After I quit lifting (and no curling) the tendon weakened and eventually tore. Mine happened while moving furniture. A small end table next to the couch was stuck, and when I pulled back on it the tendon just snapped. I do recall having pain in it from doing pull ups, but just figured I was weak at that point.

The peak of my arm rolled back into the shoulder. The pain wasn't overly bad, so I was praying it wasn't torn, but deep down knew it was. The feeling and noise of it snapping made me sick to my stomach. The tendon tear at the elbow would have prevented me from being able to turn my palm up and down and being able to open doors had I not had the surgery. Over all I am happy with the surgery and learned from the experience that I have no ability to tolerate hydrocodone and to hire someone to move furniture.

Frost

I had the surgery mid-October and my recovery is going well. I'm still not back to full strength, but I'm getting there. After I see the doctor one more time next month I should be cleared for all activity. I had a few weeks of PT, but now I'm doing everything on my own- some bodywt. exercises along with the specific bicep/wrist work. Incidentally, I'm 37 and tore it while lifting/rolling a large rock (think tire flip position).

Great to hear that you are healing well.

That's great everything is healing, make sure to warm your active tissues and do some light stretching!

I have a related story, but this was a torn bicep muscle. One of my coaches was spotting one of the girls from the girls team of course, forgot what event she was on, but she fell he grabbed her with one arm, and these girls aren't to light more than 100 pounds all of them in mid-air but unfortunately tore his bicep muscle

But the great thing is I know you can't relate tendons and muscles but he was back after a small period of recovery and conditioning as normal.