Bicep distal brachial tendon

[Erik A]

Well it's official. I have a partial tear in my bicep distal brachial tendon....
No rowing possibly forever. At best maybe 6 months and the possibility remains that I will tear it completely
Not in a good headspace at the moment

[JMac]

Sorry to hear that.

I tore my biceps tendon completely on 7th January this year. I had surgery to repair it on 23rd January.

Surgery and rehab went well, I have full range of motion and started rowing again (tentatively) on 2nd May.

Regarding my performance, everything is at the level (slightly better) than it was prior to my injury. I still have aches when starting to row and my strength in the gym (bicep curls, bench press etc) is still not at where it was.

I have done any true sprint work yet (1K and under), as mentally I don't think I'm ready for that level of effort.

Do you have the option of surgery to repair it?

[lindsayh]

Well it's official. I have a partial tear in my bicep distal brachial tendon....
No rowing possibly forever. At best maybe 6 months and the possibility remains that I will tear it completely
Not in a good headspace at the moment

that is tough Erik - sorry to hear - get some good advice to see what you can do to keep active
After seeing the one armed rowers at Invictus Games maybe there are options!!

[Erik A]

one of the options was surgery but he (the Surgeon) was pretty vague about it. as in yes surgery is an option but there were no guarantee that it will be a good repair and it would still be weak and possibly fully tear in the future.

so just taking it day by day and trying not to aggrevate it further.

LOL@ Lindsay I was considering that

[JMac]

See a specialist if you can, if surgery is an option take it.

It'll never be 100% again (90-95% if surgery goes well) but better than the 50% (at best) strength you'll get if you leave it.

[Erik A]

unfortunatel y that was the specialist

[Dangerscouse]

That's tough news to accept Erik. I hope you find a solution

[rr0ss0rr]

I also had a partial tear and 2 weeks later my eye glasses were falling and when I reached to grab them, Whamo, full tear. Had the surgery and coming from the point from not able to pick up a coin I can say that my arm now is stronger than ever. It was a longer process than I imagined, but don't despair (as I did).

[edinborogh]

i had a knee injury last December and was forced to sit out until May.
rowed until August and then another corrective surgery that kept me out until two days ago.

i rowed 3*1K at easy pace. its hard to sit out, but with time and healing you'l be back at it.

[lancecampeau]

Sorry to hear about that Erik... Any thoughts about trying the Bike Erg during your recovery?

[Erik A]

ive hit the streets and am walking and have just made the decision to walk home from work 2 nights a week. (15km)
got pretty dark in my head for a while and am just clawing my way out and was very tempted to just try and snap it completely and get the surgery. its been just over 2 months now since i had my last session on the erg and about 4 months since i did the partial tear and there has not been any improvement at all... still in pain .... still get occasional large sharp jolts of pain as i probably extend the tear. I expect to do a full tear at some point and the anticipation is probably what put me into the dark hole. xmas doesnt help with the overload at work and am stressed to the max with that. 4 days and i have a couple of weeks off to de stress and calm down a bit.
also really disappointed that i will be missing the masters games in feb which would have been my first indoor rowing comp and going by the results from this years comp would have had a good chance at a top 5 finish and probably higher in the 10k

so just need to keep it easy and try not to do too much more damage while it heals.

[johnlvs2run]

its been just over 2 months now since i had my last session on the erg and about 4 months since i did the partial tear and there has not been any improvement at all... still in pain .... still get occasional large sharp jolts of pain as i probably extend the tear.

Hopefully you're still doing the icing and using ice water with very slow moments, as previously mentioned.

Just resting is usually not that progressive. I hope you make a full recovery and am sure that you will. Just be patient and diligent.

[rr0ss0rr]

The recovery from a full tear and surgery was long and painful. I can relate with the "Dark" place especially since I couldn't even pick up a coin from the table. IT DOES GET BETTER. Squeezing a soft gel ball helped with the pain. Indian Clubs helped a lot .. Start by holding the pin at 12:00 and control drop to 3:00 than over to 9:00 ... Almost like a metronome. And a lot of icing.

Good luck ... Did I say it gets better?

[Ombrax]

Not sure if this is applicable to the OP or not, but it may be of interest:

https://www.strongfirst.com/simple-and- ... n-setting/

[Erik A]

Thanks Ombrax that was interesting.
as an aside i have had several pain free days with occasional twinges then more pain free days. so it was looking better. then while putting on a seat belt in my car i jerked it and it caught and i am pretty sure i re tore the tendon. i nearly screamed it hurt so much so back onto the pain meds and ice etc.
just found out today that one of the guys who have recently left us tore his off completely yesterday. so hes in for surgery soon