Repair Muscle Tears?

[myophile]

I am a practicing Orthopedic Surgeon. I have had a long time interest in body building, and admire the people who are so dedicated, and work so hard, to sculpt their own bodies into the works of art that I can enjoy.
Perhaps this idea will find its way to the doctors who are treating them for the unfortunately frequent injuries along the way.
Until now, a muscle rupture has been a disaster...difficult to repair, frequently disabling, or even deforming. However, I have an idea. I have not tried this yet, but make it available to the community because I think that it might be helpful.
The main reason that we cannot fix most muscle tears is that the tissue itself is not strong, and because of muscle tone, the repaired ends are always tending to pull apart, even if we immobilize the attached joint.
My idea is simple: Botox.
What if we injected the repaired muscle with Botox to remove the tone, and thereby let the repaired muscle relax and not pull apart? The way I see it is that even career ending tears might be able to be repaired without a terrible deformity, or terrible weakness.
Please let me know of your thoughts, and of the results of anyone using this idea.
Very truly yours,
Harvey L Seigel, MD

[mommykuce]

Botox doesn't last that long, so how many times would you have to inject the site with it? Isn't that just a temporary fix? It would also depend on the patient, because if they go back to their normal regime then they are only going to damage it again. Also, how would it affect the movement of the appendage?

[Geness]

Also wouldn't it effect strength since the muscle fibers that are usually being recruited for a movement would be bascially paralyzed? And what about body mechanics? When I worked in a physical therapy clinic we would see a lot of patients that had nerve damage or paralysis due to strokes. Even those who only had minor paralysis or limited numbness had to deal with biomechanical issues ecspecially when it effected the muscles of hte lower appendages.