Suspected forearm muscle tear

[Dietrying2009]

Hi all,

I'm new to Bodybuilding.com and I must say, this is a great website!!

Anyway, 2.5 weeks ago, I was doing my back and biceps routine. I had finished all my back exercises and was down to my 2nd last bicep exercise for the day, which was dumbbell preacher/ concentration curls. Then I switch to my left arm and was doing my 4th rep, and on the way down, i suddenly felt/ heard my left forearm with a tearing sound, just like someone would be tearing a piece of paper... And it hurts ALOT...

I went to see a doc, and he suspected the forearm muscle being partially torn as well...

Now after 2.5 weeks of rest, my arm's much better. Now here is my question...

1) How long does it take for the forearm muscle to get a full recovery?
2) Since I am feeling better now, should i start back my other routines? (skipping biceps for now) or shd i continue to take a complete break till full recovery?
3) I also noticed that when i flex my left bicep (feeling slight pain still when i flex), my muscles are soft and flabby. It is not as rock hard as before my injury... My right bicep are still rock hard though... What does this indicate? Could it be because the forearm muscle's linked to my bicep and thus i still cannot flex it properly now due to the injury?

I would really appreciate any response. Thanks!!

[victor12]

Hi all,

I'm new to Bodybuilding.com and I must say, this is a great website!!

Anyway, 2.5 weeks ago, I was doing my back and biceps routine. I had finished all my back exercises and was down to my 2nd last bicep exercise for the day, which was dumbbell preacher/ concentration curls. Then I switch to my left arm and was doing my 4th rep, and on the way down, i suddenly felt/ heard my left forearm with a tearing sound, just like someone would be tearing a piece of paper... And it hurts ALOT...

I went to see a doc, and he suspected the forearm muscle being partially torn as well...

Now after 2.5 weeks of rest, my arm's much better. Now here is my question...

1) How long does it take for the forearm muscle to get a full recovery?
2) Since I am feeling better now, should i start back my other routines? (skipping biceps for now) or shd i continue to take a complete break till full recovery?
3) I also noticed that when i flex my left bicep (feeling slight pain still when i flex), my muscles are soft and flabby. It is not as rock hard as before my injury... My right bicep are still rock hard though... What does this indicate? Could it be because the forearm muscle's linked to my bicep and thus i still cannot flex it properly now due to the injury?

I would really appreciate any response. Thanks!!

A tear like that takes 2-3 months to completely heal. I would start lifting again if it's not bothering you, just stay away from curls for now and lift light. If it starts paining again then stop but if it increases the discomfort slightly then keep going. Listen to your body.

[Tapitytaptap]

....take the time off excercise that require you to use your hands. Work legs 2-3 days a week using the machines (i.e no squats or deadlifts). Low intensity cardio on the off days.
This will help speed recovery of your upper body, prevent atrophy, and i can guarantee you if you're taxing yourself with stupid heavy leg presses, your upper body will grow.

beter take 2-3 months off now, than have to take more for a surgery if you aggravate it. If you've got public healthe care/medical insurance, get an mri done.

[Dietrying2009]

.... and i can guarantee you if you're taxing yourself with stupid heavy leg presses, your upper body will grow.

Ok, I'm being a noobie here, but why would a focus on leg presses make my upper body grow?

My forearm's feeling much better this week (3rd week since injury), although i still feel discomfort when doing light curls. Thus I decided not to train my biceps at the moment. Also is it normal that when I flex my left bicep, it simply lack the bulge it had before the injury? I know the forearm muscle is linked to the bicep, perhaps this is the main reason?

Once again, thanks for the reply guys! Really appreciate it!

[Skiboy225]

Tapitytaptap is no doubt correct. Actually heavy leg lifts (depending on how hard your hitting them) will increase the size of your Chest, Biceps, neck, and nearly every other muscle in the body. For example, heavy leg workouts will increase the size of your chest simply due to the extremely heavy breathing involved. If that doesn't make sense, then your just not doing heavy legs. Squats, leg Presses, and dead lifts also naturally increase testosterone levels when worked hard enough.
While playing football in college I sustained a torn ACL. After surgery I worked out as hard as I ever had on all upper body lifts, as it was much easier to focus on them without doing anything waist down. After nearly four months of extremely intense upper body training, I hit one plateau after another and my size and strength was well behind where I typically would have been by that time in the offseason (no, this was not due to overtraining). When I finally was given the go ahead from the team Dr's and training staff I once again incorporated my squats, dead lifts, hang cleans, etc., back into my workout regiment and before long my upper body strength and size took off and caught up to where it should have been. Great lesson...Unfortunately I made it into an extremely long story. Hope it helped, and good luck with the forearm injury.