Bummed out torn proximal bicep tendon with picture.

[Bicep1976]

Really bummed out guys. I was at the gym today doing back and biceps and was on the incline bench doing arm curls when all of a sudden I heard and felt 2 big pops. I knew right away it was bad. I have been involved in fitness for most of my life and am a certified professional fitness instructor and nutritionist. I have also been through 3 back surgeries and suffer from permanent nerve damage on right side due to a botched up surgery. So with the deformity on my bicep I immediately went to the doctor. I am getting scheduled to see a good ortho surgeon in the next couple days and more than likely will require surgery. Anyone else suffer a proximal rupture? I would like to hear your feedback and recovery time. Very in tune with my body and very passionate and good at what I do so I will use that to my advantage in my progress back to normal post op. I will keep you all updated. Just kind of bummed out now. Thanks for reading and hope you all are well!

P.S. Wanted to post a picture but I do not have 50 posts. Sorry.

[marinevet63031]

Man, welcome to the board. This is not good news. A tear can be a bad deal. Sorry this happened and please keep us posted.

[Bicep1976]

Man, welcome to the board. This is not good news. A tear can be a bad deal. Sorry this happened and please keep us posted.

Thanks man! I see your a Marine. My father was a Marine. He was in the Vietnam War and Hue City in the 1968 Tet Offensive. Wounded 3 times (3 purple hearts), came back from overseas and was a DI and a weapons instructor. Thank you for your service brother!

[carbkilla]

Very in tune with my body

Sometimes the body doesn't know what the head knows. Get well soon.

CK

[zedx]

I'd like to ask you how much weight was you using?

Also, you can post the picture to imageshack.us and then just link the picture.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

[Bicep1976]

I'd like to ask you how much weight was you using?

Also, you can post the picture to imageshack.us and then just link the picture.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

55lb. dumbell strict form and negative reps. Usually do 8-10 reps for muscle fatigue. This was our last set and I was on the top of my 4th rep when it popped.

[Bicep1976]

I'd like to ask you how much weight was you using?

Also, you can post the picture to imageshack.us and then just link the picture.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

Tried doing the imageshack and it still would not let me.

[mslman71]

This guy is recovering from a distal rupture:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=126349223

Sorry to hear about your injury. I know how big a mental hit these injuries can be.

[zedx]

55lb. dumbell strict form and negative reps. Usually do 8-10 reps for muscle fatigue. This was our last set and I was on the top of my 4th rep when it popped.

I have pretty strong biceps and i wouldn't try 55 on the incline bench. There is a tremendous amount of pulling in that position to where it makes 30lbs feel heavy.

[marinevet63031]

Thanks man! I see your a Marine. My father was a Marine. He was in the Vietnam War and Hue City in the 1968 Tet Offensive. Wounded 3 times (3 purple hearts), came back from overseas and was a DI and a weapons instructor. Thank you for your service brother!

Thank you, no purple hearts for me. Your pop is a true hero.

[StressMonkey]

This guy is recovering from a distal rupture:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=126349223

Sorry to hear about your injury. I know how big a mental hit these injuries can be.

I think gympunk is recovering from a similar injury. I tried to find his thread with the "awesome" new search but I only got three pages of results from several years ago. sigh

[flat6nut]

That sucks OP. I think gympunk pulled his on a flower pot at home.?.

I am always very cautious about bicep. I never curl the stuff I know that I can, always seem to make gains with lower weight. Think 50# is where I stop on inclines.

[Black Sunday]

I have a proximal tear of the bicep. I tore it in Dec. of 2010. Due to snowstorms, scheduling errors and work, it took me about six or seven weeks to get the official diagnosis.

The proximal and distal tears are different. There are two attachments at the shoulder and the outer head is generally torn due to impingement or rotator cuff tears. In my case I have had a full thickness tear of the supraspinatus for many years. The bicep tendon had frayed over the years. It popped doing light incline flies, maybe twenty five pounds. No real pain, just a crunching noise and no bruising for the most part. I dropped the weight rather than fight it. It didn't prevent me from working (installing office furniture) and the pain from the impingement was gone. The distal is a single attachment and the tear is usually the result of an injury, like the arm straightening while lifting a heavy weight. The ones I've heard of seem to happen most often while dead lifting or doing preacher curls.

I didn't train for the seven weeks as I wasn't sure if the tendon was partially torn or completely torn. It turns out that in addition to the supraspinatus my infraspinatus is completely torn as well as the bicep.Not sure when I tore the infraspinatus, but the doctor looked at the mri and said "you're not fixing the shoulder". The bicep she left in my court. Going in I was pretty adamant about fixing it. As time went on I thought about yet another rehab and chose not to do it.

It hasn't bothered me, only looks slightly freakish and I can still do pull-ups at pretty much the same level as I was doing them before the injury. I just didn't feel the repair and rehab would justify the end result in my case. I'm sure i have more surgeries in my future and have had enough in my past that I didn't want to go through another at that time. I guess only time will tell if i made the right decision, it hasn't seemed to have limited me and the tear did eliminate the impingement pain, so for now I'm pain free.

Good luck
Steve

[Tommy W.]

I had distral rupture 18 years ago and the Dr. talked me into no surgery as back then it was very risky. Now days it's very safe. It has haunted me the whole time with the imbalance visually and physically. My entire right side is smaller due to the strength imbalance.

[StressMonkey]

That sucks OP. I think gympunk pulled his on a flower pot at home.?.

If I remember correctly he was picking it out of the shopping cart with one arm, turned an odd direction, and then *pop*.

[rpaul11]

I had a complete detachemnt on my distal. But thats not the same as yours. If I recall it was 8 or 10 weeks before I began PT. then just slowly built up from there.

[Vaudeville]

just had my tricep reattached to the elbow on Thursday
big old stinking cast
good drugs for pain but cant stand food
tuff part is also finding a comfortable position to rest everything as the med term for my shoulder is junk
will do light assisted movement in two weeks followed with light pt for 6 more weeks than I can start to use arm again
Total rehab 6-8 months
Can start doing legs and abs in about 2-3 weeks
Keep the faith and I will see you at the finish line