Partial Tear of Distal Bicep Tendon

[USAarmpit]

So, just got my MRI back last night and it pissed me off. I have a partial distal Bicep Tendon tear and swelling and edema along the ulnar nerve. Im finally getting good gains lately and finally hit my bench max yesterday of 345. Which is pretty good for me.

Here's the question. Had this happened to any of you other guys? If so, did you work through it? Did you take time off from bi's and do everything else?

Luckily its not a total tear/rupture, So, I was hoping someone else had input on recovery time and what I can still do.

Orthopedic surgeon appointment is today at 3. Im assuming he is going to try PROLO or PRP to expedite the recovery time.

Just wanted some insight if this happened to anyone else, and what to expect.

Thanks.

[ironwill2008]

IN for the misc. doctors' diagnoses.

[keyboardworkout]

How did you tear it?

I had a friend tear his completely and it is a fear that is always lurking in the back of my head while training.

[bigtallox]

How did you tear it?

I had a friend tear his completely and it is a fear that is always lurking in the back of my head while training.

From my understanding, it's a common injury for men over 40 and it most often happens because of not being warmed up sufficiently.

I tore my bicep (muscle not tendon) about a year and a half ago at a strongman competition. There was 2 hours between events, I wasn't warmed up and was struggling with an implement and ended up being stupid and using bad technique. I'm just glad my tendon was fine, the muscle tear actually healed up pretty quick.

Good luck OP. The only advice I can give is give it time to heal, don't rush it. Maybe view it as an opportunity to improve your squat ( I could still squat with a safety squat bar while my bicep was unusable for a few weeks ).

[USAarmpit]

How did you tear it?

I had a friend tear his completely and it is a fear that is always lurking in the back of my head while training.

Im assuming doing heavy bi's, its been bothering me for about a year it seems and I continued to work through it. I had the same on my right arm for awhile and worked through it, and it eventually went away. I had tendonitis in that one.
The left, and current issue, increased in pain within the last month, I took three weeks off from bi's and tri's in hopes of reducing swelling, and any tendonitis to subside. Unfortuantely, for some reason, its gotten worse over the last couple weeks, so I decided to get the MRI.

[Gotlift]

Glad you had it checked. Not a lot of men go to the Dr. when something hurts. They go into denial and continue to work it until the real damage is done. I'd see a sports physician or do some research on sports injusry recovery techniques. NFL players come back from pretty exceptional injuries in a farely short amount of time. There has to be some decent info out there. Good luck!

[USAarmpit]

So, just got my MRI back last night and it pissed me off. I have a partial distal Bicep Tendon tear and swelling and edema along the ulnar nerve. Im finally getting good gains lately and finally hit my bench max yesterday of 345. Which is pretty good for me.

Here's the question. Had this happened to any of you other guys? If so, did you work through it? Did you take time off from bi's and do everything else?

Luckily its not a total tear/rupture, So, I was hoping someone else had input on recovery time and what I can still do.

Orthopedic surgeon appointment is today at 3. Im assuming he is going to try PROLO or PRP to expedite the recovery time.

Just wanted some insight if this happened to anyone else, and what to expect.

Thanks.

UPDATE:
So I went to a Dr today specializin in sports medicine and sports related injuries, and the prognosis was not good. He basically said this type of tear is very rare and advised I not work out anymore. Moreover, he said tendon tears do not heal, which Im having a hard time believing. He also did not want to do PRP as he was afraid he would rupture the tendon. So, I'm at a loss. Already scheduled a second opinion for Monday. I cant believe a little time off cant heal this. Stay tuned.

[pharmamarketer]

So, just got my MRI back last night and it pissed me off. I have a partial distal Bicep Tendon tear and swelling and edema along the ulnar nerve. Im finally getting good gains lately and finally hit my bench max yesterday of 345. Which is pretty good for me.

Here's the question. Had this happened to any of you other guys? If so, did you work through it? Did you take time off from bi's and do everything else?

Luckily its not a total tear/rupture, So, I was hoping someone else had input on recovery time and what I can still do.

Orthopedic surgeon appointment is today at 3. Im assuming he is going to try PROLO or PRP to expedite the recovery time.

Just wanted some insight if this happened to anyone else, and what to expect.

Thanks.

Not sure I like your username. Maybe I'm reading it wrong

[USAarmpit]

Not sure I like your username. Maybe I'm reading it wrong

Whatdya want..I live in New Jersey. AKA: Dirty Jersey, AKA: the Armpit of America.........

[flairon]

I've seen guys come back from this just fine if they just take time to heal. If you try to push you'll just extend healing time and likely cause damage.

Probably look like you have some guns from just one side dont ya

The worst tendon break i ever saw/heard was a guy that you could tell was juicing hard and was on the bench. About mid way through an extension his distal pec anchor snapped so hard it literally sounded like a broken bone or something. He cracked a couple ribs on that side when the bar came down. He had about 300 or so on the bar and I remember looking over after i heard the snap and seeing the bar his his chest and practically crease his whole side. When they reattached it they had to DIG into his pec from the armpit to locate the end.

[keyboardworkout]

My friend did recover from his complete bicep tendon tear after it was screwed back on.

I'm thinking with a partial tear you are sort of in limbo. Is there enough (or any) blood flow to the tendon for it to heal?

[USAarmpit]

My friend did recover from his complete bicep tendon tear after it was screwed back on.

I'm thinking with a partial tear you are sort of in limbo. Is there enough (or any) blood flow to the tendon for it to heal?

He Didnt say too much about the blood flow. Im not too convinced he was too well versed in this specific tear. A buddy I work with is a professional body builder and gave me his orthopedic surgeon's info. So I have an apt with him on Monday. Hopefully he will give me a more definitive answer.

[alex2363]

I had a Rotator cuff, bicep tenodesis(bicep reatachment),labram and basically shoulder reconstruction. 2 years in row, back to back.....took me 9 months before real lifting. Just make sure you go rehab and dont skip sessions.

[Raider72]

Armpit .. I to have a partial distal bicep tendon tear .. I did therapy for almost a year .. You can build up other muscle and tendon strength but the tendon does not heal itself . I have been to two ortho pods . Going back to second one for follow up as there is nerve damage due to the swelling . But first appt was not to promising . Eventually it will tear , pain and swelling has not got any better ... Strength and rom has alittle . He did not give me options as of yet . But its rare enough in men its almost nill in women ... I did mine throwing a softball .. Threw my arm right out shoulder surgery las march .... I am almost thing do another mri as its been over a year since intial injury ... Wish they could tell amount of tear if it was hanging on by a thread i would say fix it i am young enough ... Keep us updated i will do the same next week

[anonymous]

if it's a TINY partial tear and you have very high IGF1 levels and are very lucky it might heal. boosting IGF while trying to increase blood flow with massive doses of NO2 or adult stem cell are the only real options that will help. I had a small subscap tear a few years back that no longer shows on MRIs but I was in my 20's and 'proactive' with my healing regime

PRP is an expensive dice roll , I've had it a couple of times and it did jack.. my ortho no longer does the injects - the only PRP that works is the variety where they inject hgh along with the platelet soup, for obvious reasons most docs dont offer that (my guy in LA did but it was very expensive)

good luck.

[kyoun1e]

I recently got an MRI because I feared I had a distal bicep tear of some sort. The MRI revealed nothing thankfully, but my ortho indicated that even partial tears here are troublesome. For some reason, partial tears don't respond that well to PT. This is an ortho who has worked as a professional sports ortho for the Philly Eagles. In short, he indicated that somebody who expects to use their bicep with intensity will inevitably get frustrated and the only path becomes surgery.

Not saying this will be the case with you, but just another data point.

KY