Ruptured Bicep Tendon

So I managed to rupture my bicep tendon at work. Somehow I got into surgery the next day due to a physician assistant being amazing and pushing for my immediate surgery ( which is unheard of here in Canada), and now I am at home nursing myself back to recovery in immediate post-op pain. I don’t go to see the surgeon for a couple of weeks but I’ve heard the recovery to full strength is very long (8-12 months).

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Not me but I’ve had a few friends go through biceps and pec ruptures and tears. You will probably not be able to use that muscle post surgery for 3-4 months. It takes time to fully heal and you want to make sure it heals fully before you do anything with it. After that, you’d probably need to rehab and work on that muscle since it will catabolize from not being used for months. It’ll probably look smaller than your other arm for a while.

Good luck. Rest and eat well as your body needs nutrition to heal that trauma.

Consider going on the bike in the gym to get your blood flowing. In my opinion it’s good for healing to get the blood flowing and carrying healing platelets to the injured site.

At work? Worker’s comp covers you?

Man if I was looking for signs…

@Noel was questioning if he wants to work this job, indeed seems like a sign.

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Yeah, it is covered.

No kidding. I will be off for a couple of weeks for initial recovery. Then I will be at a desk job until my arm is 100% .

In relation to early retirement, I still have almost 5 years to go ( June 2024 ) before I can collect my early pension. Even with this “mandatory” time off from this injury, I still have 4 more years before it is possible.

I assume you tore the bottom tendon and your bicep rolled up?

The pain will suck for a while and it’ll look nasty for a few weeks Black and purple. Make sure you get something to help you sleep, I had a knee ligament tear and it was uncomfortable sleeping for a while.

Make sure you rehab, and get a good rehabilitation physical therapist. The gov ones might suck tbh. Consider private although it might cost more. Idk how it works in Canada. Some of the recovery is mental however. It took me almost 2 years to feel comfortable going 100% without fear on my knee.

Eat well, lots of of vitamin c which helps collagen production, food rich in collagen, calcium rich food and protein rich food. Your body can only heal with the food you feed yourself.

Take care. I don’t think with proper rehab it will take a year to get back to full strength. I think you can start light rehab around the 2nd month. But depends on your progress of course. Very possible to do within a 6-9 month period if you are keeping up with everything. Sleep is really important as well. Make sure you get lots of that. I

Thanks a lot. The tendons detached on the bottom half not the top, and the bicep rolled up. The surgery reattached it, and now it is a few weeks rest before we start making rehab plans. Luckily, the workers comp here doesn’t choose what physical therapist you go to, and I know some good ones nearby.

The surgeon said the same thing about vit C ( and protein) - so I am on it.

Thanks everyone for the support - it is much appreciated.

One thing you should also know on why rehab is so important. Your body is a connective chain. So your bicep tendon connects to your bicep muscle and that connects to the top tendon. And also the tendon you ruptured connects to the elbow and forearm. You might notice some issues with forearm numbness and and even numbness in the hand.

Each part of the chain is supposed to take a certain work load for your body to move. Now your bicep tendon is compromised and the other parts connected will have to pick up the slack and take on more work load. This leaves them very vulnerable to problems and even injuries. You might get tendonitis in the elbow if it needs to take more work load for example.

Idk if you watch basketball. But Kevin Durant tore his Achilles in the game because he went into it with a compromised and weak calf muscle. So his Achilles has to take more pressure and eventually just couldn’t take anymore.

Finally, be patient. It takes a long time to heal and it will be frustrating to wait.

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My father did that years back. He had a good doctor (sports medicine clinic at a school with a fairly successful NCAA football program) though I imagine surgery techniques have improved since then. He was pretty out of it coming out of surgery and I remember him being in pain for a few days. That summer was the worst of my life as we had a load of wood that needed to be chopped and hay that needed baled and stacked and he was unable to do any of it.

I remember him doing really simple rehab (using a dumbbell to get full ROM) though don’t believe he has any lasting impact. He’s fairly active for his age, able to lift and do manual labor types of things. I know by the second summer he was back doing things at full strength - I seem to remember recovery was ~9 months.

strange, all of the people I know who had this were football players.

The surgeon that did my father’s surgery said it was fairly rare in people who didn’t have a history of anabolic steroid use.

Make sense. Rapid muscle growth and strength gains and not letting your ligaments and tendons catch up in strength will injury them.

I’m definitely not a football player and definitely not on the juice.

As for rarity, it depends on the situation. I managed to catch a 100+kg falling/unconscious guy with my extended left arm (only), and stopped him from hitting his head on the ground. I think most people in this situation would come away with some sort of injury.

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Ouch. Are you right or left handed?

I had a friend who was a tight end in football. Didn’t hurt his bicep tendon but broke his right hand. He was right handed. Funny thing is he got very good at using his left hand. And was able to catch with only his left hand after recovering. It sort of became his thing in high school. Made a couple ridiculous catches with one hand using his left hand.

I’m right hand dominant but not massively so. In my teens I broke both my thumbs. My left hand healed faster and for a few months I actually had to write with my left hand and it worked out okay.

How’s the post op pain?

Not too bad. I’m not a huge fan of the painkillers, but they do their job. My job is just to keep ahead of the pain and make sure I take the painkillers on time, or I’ll regret it.

:whistle: