Distal Biceps Tendon Repair Advice?

[Guy in Shorts]

It's certainly possible years of high impact pole plants caused or contributed to the injury. In general, pole plants are a higher impact on the triceps than biceps, but when skiing fast the hand motion to move the pole forward does put some force on the biceps, obviously, especially when the tip sticks in the snow as it was on that run.

I'll start a ski school thread at some point for some summer entertainment: Bumps, Hands, Pole Length, and a Torn Biceps Tendon.

Read this post yesterday then proceeded to go out and get a headstart on this upcoming thread. Jumped into the icy chute entrance of the Ovation Headwall attempting to execute a hard 180 turn at the bottom of the chute to prevent getting shot across the slope. Hard pole plant going over the handle bars with some upper arm pain was the result. My bad shoulder that has had 3 previous dislocations stayed in place but something else gave way. Can still hold a pole but can't raise my arm sideways away from my body. Earliest ortho appointment is next Tuesday allowing another week of skiing before the damage assessment.

 

[tball]

Read this post yesterday then proceeded to go out and get a headstart on this upcoming thread. Jumped into the icy chute entrance of the Ovation Headwall attempting to execute a hard 180 turn at the bottom of the chute to prevent getting shot across the slope. Hard pole plant going over the handle bars with some upper arm pain was the result. My bad shoulder that has had 3 previous dislocations stayed in place but something else gave way. Can still hold a pole but can't raise my arm sideways away from my body. Earliest ortho appointment is next Tuesday allowing another week of skiing before the damage assessment.

Oh no! Sorry to hear that!

Is it up by your shoulder or down by your elbow? They usually recommend fixing biceps tears down by your elbow (distal) like mine. My understanding is biceps tears at the shoulder often don't need surgery. Hope that's the case for you!

Ski without poles if need be. I skied bumps without poles the rest of the day after my injury and had a blast. We need a video of you skiing bumps in shorts without poles! Good luck!

 

[François Pugh]

Oh no! Sorry to hear that!

Is it up by your shoulder or down by your elbow? They usually recommend fixing biceps tears down by your elbow (distal) like mine. My understanding is biceps tears at the shoulder often don't need surgery. Hope that's the case for you!

Ski without poles if need be. I skied bumps without poles the rest of the day after my injury and had a blast. We need a video of you skiing bumps in shorts without poles! Good luck!

While your at it, do some one ski skiing without poles and video a few non-arc-2-arc turns; Josh needs the video to complete his collection.

You should get an x-ray done; inability to lift an arm was a symptom of my broken humerus.

 

[Tim Hodgson]

My bad shoulder that has had 3 previous dislocations stayed in place but something else gave way. Can still hold a pole but can't raise my arm sideways away from my body. Earliest ortho appointment is next Tuesday allowing another week of skiing before the damage assessment.

Guy in Shorts: Us formerly relatively strong guys (and gals) seem to tear tendons as we get older. The muscles are still strong, but I guess that their attachment to bone is weaker. Two years ago, I completely tore the Supraspinatus muscle/tendon in my right shoulder.

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/s...acute-shoulder-injuries/supraspinatus-rupture

I was trying to lift an 80 lb. bag from my hip to my shoulder when I heard the rip, rip, rip tear. It had apparently been partially torn over the years from activity and retracted completely upon the final tear. For a while I could not raise a hammer in my right hand without clamping my elbow to my torso.

I was examined by four shoulder surgeons. Each one of them told me that given my active lifestyle they would not recommend surgery. That MRIs are done prior to surgery to guide the surgeon, but that there are very few if any post-surgery MRIs and, as a result, they are not sure about the actual long term effectiveness of certain shoulder surgeries. I explained to the third surgeon, that I knew that I was old and didn't expect to have a young shoulder post-op, but that I would like my right shoulder to return to being at least as good as my weaker left shoulder. His response was: "Your left shoulder is all f***ed up too!"

Every one of the four surgeons said don't do surgery. After I said that I would accept his advice, I told the last surgeon that I would do physical therapy instead and he said, he wouldn't. When I asked why, he said, "You are active, so Just do what you normally do and your shoulder will try to compensate to accommodate that activity."

I was really disappointed that there was not a surgical procedure which was appropriate for my injury. But 4 out of 4 identical opinions from well-regarded surgeons is hard to argue with.

Two years later, I don't want to say that my right shoulder has completely improved. But it is definitely getting stronger and more stable with time.

My conclusion, it seems that we old guys are dying one ligament/tendon at a time. So, going forward my approach is to TRY TO REMEMBER TO BE GENTLE ON MY BODY.

Let us know what you find out after you meet with your Dr.

I will let you all know how the stem cell knee joint injections work if, and when, I do them hopefully later this Summer.

Best Wishes.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Oh no! Sorry to hear that!

Is it up by your shoulder or down by your elbow? They usually recommend fixing biceps tears down by your elbow (distal) like mine. My understanding is biceps tears at the shoulder often don't need surgery. Hope that's the case for you!

Ski without poles if need be. I skied bumps without poles the rest of the day after my injury and had a blast. We need a video of you skiing bumps in shorts without poles! Good luck!

Had my right arm bicep reattached at the elbow three years after tearing it trying to help one of my students in a local school skiing program. Pretty sure this damage is on the outside of my arm and shoulder.

Guy in Shorts: Us formerly relatively strong guys (and gals) seem to tear tendons as we get older. The muscles are still strong, but I guess that their attachment to bone is weaker. Two years ago, I completely tore the Supraspinatus muscle/tendon in my right shoulder.

My conclusion, it seems that we old guys are dying one ligament/tendon at a time. So, going forward my approach is to TRY TO REMEMBER TO BE GENTLE ON MY BODY.

Let us know what you find out after you meet with your Dr.

I will let you all know how the stem cell knee joint injections work if, and when, I do them hopefully later this Summer.

Best Wishes.

Just guessing at this point but this damage appears to be similar to you injury. Totally true that " we old guys are dying one ligament and tendon at a time". My brain thinks that I am Superman when the snow gets soft and the bumps get big then reality sets in.

 

[tball]

"we old guys are dying one ligament and tendon at a time".

Yeah, some incidental findings from my elbow MRI:

Mild tendinosis of the common extensor tendon at its humeral attachment. There is chronic enthesopathy of the triceps tendon, but without evidence of active tendinosis or tear.​

The triceps tendon seems more consistent with skiing bumps. Hoping that hangs on for a while. Glad they just scanned my elbow. No need to worry about other failing parts.

 

[tball]

They used an endobutton device to attach the tendon to the bone making a super solid repair:

One year update after ruptured biceps tendon surgery: I'm doing great and glad I got it done. I was turning a screwdriver with what felt like full strength today. That's something I couldn't do without having the surgery.

I can't recall all the details looking back, just that it was a pain in the butt not being unable to use my arm for months. I was in a brace with increasing mobility over three months, I believe. After that, I started using the arm and was able to work my strength back very slowly.

I'm nowhere near back to full-strength but will get there. It takes a long time and I haven't worked hard enough. I'm lifting, maybe, 75% of what I was prior to the injury. Not where I want to be, but a long way from the two-pound dumbbell I bought to start.

Skiing has been great after I recovered from meniscus repair surgery in December. Too many surgeries.

 

[Ron]

Too many surgeries.

good job on the recovery. I can totally empathize with you . my goals for recovery have changed in that I tell the OS and PT, I just need to be able to Ski, bike and hike. I'll take anything else as a bonus.

 

[Big J]

Does anyone have experience with a ruptured distal biceps tendon? I'm pretty sure I've got one.

Yesterday, I was bopping along in some spring bumps, nothing out of routine. I did a pole plant and felt a pop near my right elbow then severe pain in my arm. Each right pole plant hurt like hell when I tried to ski again. I lost the poles, and I kept skiing, then drove back to Denver fine.

This morning, my arm still hurt and isn't working right. After a bit of research, it sounds like it's pretty serious. There is a "hook test" where you check for the attachment of the distal biceps tendon. I can hook the tendon on my left arm, but it's nowhere to be found on my right.

It sounds like surgery is the only option to regain full use of my arm. Any suggestions on surgeons in the Denver area? I've found a few that mention biceps tendon repairs, but it's relatively rare. Everybody seems to focus on knees and shoulders. Elbows and other body parts don't seem to get as much love.

There is a famous guy in Vail, but I'd rather not get it done there logistically and for some other reasons. There has to be someone good in Denver that can fix it? From what I've read, I need to have surgery soon, so any help is much appreciated!

It is called a Distal Tendon Rupture. I had one years ago. I did mine on a Jet boat laying on the bow to crank it off of the trailer. My surgery was at University of Washington Sports Medicine. They drilled a hole in my radius fore arm bone and re-attached the tendon with a keeper. The surgery I had was not the traditional one of being in a brace. Mine was being in a sling. My recovery was very rapid. Could do pretty much what I wanted in less than a month. I feel very fortunate that I had this type of surgery rather than the brace type as recovery is supposed to be way faster.