distal bicep tendon tear
(7 discussions)
I had surgery on my elbow to repair the tear on June 17th.
I was in a splint for two straight weeks totaly immobilized then I was instructed to take the splint off a few times a day just to do some range of motion stuff.
My arm feels great as I am now starting therapy.
My question is how long will it be before I can return to playing softball, the cause of the injury.
I play for a highly competative team that travels around the country, we have 3 tournaments in Sept. One in Alabama and two in Florida. Anyone out there with experience in this area know if I’ll be ready by then.
My doctor says if I work hard in rehab I should be. Everything he has told me has been right on so far, I was just seeing if anyone has any input?
7 comments
nancy
i recently caused my ex husband to tear the distal bicep. I paid for the surgery but due to the timing of the injury he no longer has insurance to cover rehab. is there anyway I can find out what kind of exercises he should be doing. right now I think he’s overdoing it and will probably reinjure his arm. any suggestions?
willie
3/4 months at the most. I had the same injury and work as a cop in a rough area and needed the full strength and flexability in the arm. It took a lot of physio but was well worth it
Tom
I tore my left bicep tendon at the elbow 3 weeks ago and had the surgery two weeks ago to the day. I hit the ball out of the park regularly and was playing in our first playoff game when the injury occurred. Bases loaded with 2 outs and everyone expected me to clean off the bases so I was swinging with everything I had. Only problem is it was about 95 degrees and really humid so my hands were sweating profusely, and I didn’t have any batting gloves on. I only got a little piece of the ball and fouled it over the backstop. There was nothing to stop the bat when my sweaty right hand slipped off. At the end of the swing, my left arm hyper extended and the tendon tore off. There are a couple of procedures for doing the repair. I chose the one that called for two incisions. One in the inside bend of my arm and another on the outside of my forearm. From the way it sounds, you had the same thing done. The other method calls for a lightning bolt type cut on the inside of the arm only, and full opening of the tissue. After two weeks I feel pretty good. I’m also in a splint, where the other method would require a cast. My doctor also told me I can take it off to wash but put it right back on. No working it at this point. But I’m using the arm to turn door knobs, tie my shoes…etc. Next Thursday I go back to the surgeon for another follow up visit and he says Ill be starting my physical therapy after that. Therapy will be 8 weeks 3 times a week. The doc stresses one MAJOR point while in the PT stage. DO NOT completely straighten your arm with weight on it for at least 6 weeks after the date of the surgery. He says it will be 3 months from surgery before I can lift heavy weight and 6 months till I’m back lifting like I was before the injury. I was watching the Olympics the other night and a gymnast was performing on the rings. The commentator said that this guy had a distal tear repair done in February, and he was whipping himself all over the place up there. I think your doctor is right. If you work hard you might be ready by next month but you will be taking a risk of undoing the surgeons work. At 39 years of age and 3 surgeries as a result of softball, I’m done. I unfortunately will never play competitive softball again. I wish you the very best and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Mark Thompson
I too had a left elbow distal tendon repiar done on 12-9-04. I have two incisions; one on the back of my forearm about 2″ long and an “S” shaped incision about 7″ total on the inside of my arm at the elbow joint. After the surgery I had a Plaster type covered splint, then at my one week follow-up my stitches were removed and a cast replaced the splint. I am now one week into my (hated) cast with three weeks left before it will be removed. I expect to be in re-hab about 12 weeks, after which I expect to be able to lift weights again. I am told that recovery time in therapy is up to me. Getting full strength back in my arm was not something my doctor promised, but they are always pessimists. Don’t push your self beyond your limits, going too quickly can ruin your corrective surgery, but going too slow can prolong healing. If you are a quick healer you may play again in soon, but if you ignore the signs your body sends you, you could be back to square one. Good Luck, I know what you are going through.Mark
kirk johnson
I saw your entry in orthoped.org, Ask the Physical Therapist website from some time ago. Your situation appeared to be somewhat similar to what I am dealing with right now. I am contemplating surgery on my right shoulder to alleviate bicep tendon problems that I have had continuously for the last couple of years. I will have my bicep tendon clipped and reattached using a bio screw into the top of my upper arm bone. I realize this is not your exact surgery but from your entry it appears to be a similar situation. If you have time to respond to me I would be interested to know if you had the bicep/ shoulder surgery and how it worked out for you. Did it alleviate your problems and are you better off now/ are you glad you had the surgery? Thanks for your consideration. My email address is:[email protected].
Kevin
I had distal bicep surgery originally back in Nov. of 2014 where as the doc had to fish the tendon up through my left arm from my wrist up back into the elbow. He drilled 2 holes (one by accident due to a dull bit) and re-attached the tendon. It never really felt much better. In Oct of 2015 the doc had to go in and remove a piece of metal filler about 1/4″wide x 6inches in length that he used during surgery to screw the screws into which held the tendon in place. That piece came loose and was floating around causing a ton of pain. Even after that the pain and lack of strength never came back.After having yet another MRI last month it was found that again the distal biceps tendon was again noted to be completely avulsed off the radial tubercle approx. 4 cm. As of today I found out now that a new doc will be preforming another surgery. Not sure what it’s called but he will be taking about 5 inches of vein from my left wrist and grafting it onto the tendon.
tyrone
I had repair done for bicep tendon tear but only had it surgicaly repaired 3 weeks after injury only to lose extensors in my fingers after op research states after 21 days the tunnel to the bicipital tuberosity please help me because something went wrong