+ 1 Bicep tendon rupture at the shoulder
While conducting spider curls I tore my bicep long head tendon at the shoulder. There was a noticeable pop and the sensation of a bungee snapping and looking in the mirror I could see a gap below my shoulder and the upper outer bicep had bunched up a bit toward the center of my upper arm. Obviously I’m super bummed. Have any of you folks had this injury and what did you do for repair and or treat. My doctor is reluctant to do anything because it is not considered a debilitating injury. However, I have seen other folks with an untreated (repaired) long head tendon tear and in my opinion it looks horrible. The lower bicep looks ok but the outer bicep just below the shoulder is hollow for about 2 inches. It is such a shame to have put all these years of work into long full biceps just to be left with one that is deformed --
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Update: I went back to my primary care doc again and got his nurse practitioner. She took one look at my bruised bicep and said definitely a torn long head tendon. Referred me to an orthopedic surgeon and mri. Bad thing is mri is in 3 weeks…tic, tic. I’ll update.
I appreciate all the comments and they helped so much…esp with my mental health cuz I’m super bummed out.i luv Eroids for all the support from knowledge based athletes!!!!
I am still pro (not dealing with insurance). 3 weeks is a long time to wait IMO, especially considering the surgical window for this injury is 2-3 weeks. After that, tendon retracts and surgery becomes more difficult.
You should get clarification if they believe it would be corrected with surgery and find out approximate waitlist timeline, my guess is it's going to be months or never. My suggestion, again, private care. sucks but worth the credit debt IMO. Easiest would be mexico if you're in the US, Turkey if near EU, could probably get the MRI done for <$500 and surgery for around 5k.
Best of luck to you
Unfortunately mate with anything Doctor related especially when it comes to lifting weights, there is always a HUGE wait involved in them seeing you. Its always weeks away which when you are injured feels like 3 times as long. When I tore my hamstring doing deads they couldn't see me for 6 fuckin weeks at the physio LMAO By the time I went to see her the thing was half way healed and I said I didn't really need to do any rehab exercises now as its nearly okay again lol When I am out injured or ill I try to incorporate other things into my day I wouldn't normally be doing to take my mind off the injury otherwise you will go stir crazy. I end up just sitting on the sofa continually checking the injury to see if its got any better during the past 20 minutes - stretching it out and twisting it when probably bothers it even more. You can keep training your legs at the gym using machines, abs, you will probably also be able to use machines that put very little stress on your grip etc. The time will soon pass mate, it always does
I had the same injury, and I have had to train by arms differently so that I have symmetry. I never felt the need to get on stage as "all the worlds a stage". After 3 months my bicep reattached but never looked the same. Clothing hides the defect and really can only be seen if I posed. I had a friend who had his reattached 3 times. He died from fentanyl poisoning trying to get on stage again. If you can afford the surgery, then defiantly get it. If not, Peptides have changed how fast the body can recover. You have that luck on your side.
Lucky it wasn't a pec like Stallone. now that was nasty!
Appreciate the reply! All the replies have been great but this one is what I really needed to hear: “suck it up buttercup cuz a man is bigger than one bicep”…reality check! This is my plan B and likely what will happen but plan B does not seem catastrophic now that you helped me get my head on straight.
Much respect brother!
fuck man, that sucks. Sounds like your doc is working off medical necessity aka insurance.
My suggestion, find another dr who will consider it debilitating to get your insurance to cover it. But still be ready to wait months for surgery since it'll be considered low priority.
Alternative, pay for it out of pocket but not in the US (if that's where you are). I'd recommend somewhere like Turkey for this kind of work, it'll be a fraction of the cost, you can do it without going broke and you can do it quickly before the muscle atrophies and the tendons harden. If you can afford it, you can opt in for some stem cell and other things to help with repair. BPC/TB/GH should be a priority as well
Father tore his bicep similarly. He had to have surgery and they put him in a device that would clicka nd stretch his arm further every week until it was fully straightened. Took prob 4 months to heal and obviously more to get it back to shape.
Probably gonna be just like my wife’s varicose veins where they say it isn’t necessary to fix, so insurance doesn’t/wont cover it. Gotta sell that shit. Went to a new doc and had her complain about debilitating pain, which kept her up at night, (no way they can test for this) and now it’s a “necessary” procedure to fix them WITH insurance coverage. Don’t go in there just saying “I think it looks ugly, so I want it fix” because you get tossed in the elective surgery category. Gotta sell it. Blame our shitty ass insurance system…
Thank you! -- I will defo do this. I have way too much time in these arms.
For sure, have to say its affecting your life and preventing you from lifting and doing necessary things like wiping your arse!! lol
Probably would help better too if he actually doesn't wipe for a few days before going in.
Isn’t the point of using steroids to get so big you physically can’t wipe your ass anyways?
'See - Look at what I've become, You cannot let me live like this!!!!
Find a new doctor
You need to get them to operate in it , you have a 4 week window in which it's the best time to get it done I tore my right one in 2021 and my left one back end of jan , the recovery from the operation is long and frustrating but you need to push them to do it ,if you need any advice or want to talk just pm me brother
Thx man! I’m familiar with the recovery after surgery cuz I’ve ruptured both tricep tendons at different times. Definitely a year long process but the results were amazing. I was in a cast for 6 weeks but kept training the other side and my forearms hard. The forearm training help with hot fresh blood flow through the injury and I had heard that training the opposite side instinctively sends reparative blood to the injured side. This really helped reduce the atrophy and both times the ortho surgeon was like wow no pt needed keep doing what you are doing but be careful.
I have always thought that if you are willing to pay for the surgery then the Doctor will do as you ask if there is indeed a tear there, over here where it is free though I think they will only do it if it is completely detached or the tear is bad enough that it is about to completely rupture. A Good pal of mine on here may be able to offer some more insight on this as he has just had a tear on the lower area of his bicep and has recently had surgery to repair it @maximusuk
Thx! As I side note, I’ve had really bad shoulder pain for the last few years and always thought it was my rotator cuff. It was painful throughout every day. Now my shoulder has no pain at all and I now think that pain was a long head bicep tendon injury/overuse?
Mate the shoulder is made up of so many different rotator cuff tendons and muscle tendons in general, plus with the bicep insertion its like a bloody Rubix cube trying to isolate where the actual pain is coming from. The problem is that pain radiates along many area's - so its easy to interpret pain somewhere that isn't actually injured. I've been dealing with shoulder soreness and stiffness for the past 2 days after being stupid again and pushing it too hard on bench when I was still actually sore from doing back work in my shoulders - I have had soreness in the bicep insertion, the front of the shoulder, the rotator cuff and the pec insertion over the shoulder!!! Now I haven't torn anything but it just all distorts as tenderness from everywhere!! lol My worst fear is a slight labarum tear, who knows. Its healing as we speak with lots of protein and collagen peptides so I am sure it will be okay in a few days.
Unfortunately pal a lot of this is just called getting old, nothing you can do about it. As we age especially over 30 and into 40 the collagen deposits in your muscle tendon attachments get smaller and smaller, and in turn lose water content and elasticity - making them more brittle and dry and hence prone to snapping and tearing. Try adding collagen peptides 15 grams per day to your shakes or to apple cordial in water and that will make a difference to cross sectional tendon area and strength. Takes 2 to 3 months to begin working though as blood flow is so poor in tendons, hence healing is months behind actual muscle healing where amino acid delivery is much better and consistant.