Sitting here typing this with my left(not-dominant) hand because I tore the bicep in my right(dominant) arm today and the ER wrapped it up and essentially made the entire limb immobile. I'm not going to get into the specifics of it because "hunt and peck" with my off hand is borderline infuriating, but suffice to say THIS SUCKS!!
Might want to get it scanned, you dont want to end up with a permanent disability if it has to be treated in a different manner than simple immobilization.
The ER said that since the limb was still ambulatory that the muscle was still intact and that all they could do was ACE compression wrap and immobilizing it. If it's not any better in a week I have a referral for an orthopedic surgeon for a followup.
Today is marginally better than the last few days have been. I set up and appointment with the ortho specialist for a followup tomorrow. The receptionist gave me the 'what-for' for not calling Monday and getting an appointment.
TDA: that looks awesome! But I'm waiting for the bio-mech tech to get to the point of just moving my consciousness into an android.
Ortho dr is concerned about the tear being worse than the ER diagnosed and ordered an MRI. Just got off the phone with diagnostic imaging and scheduled the MRI for Sat. The Dr said the worse case scenario puts me in surgery and my right arm out of commission for a minimum of 3 months with physical therapy and unspecified gradual rebuild to get back to pre-tear strength and mobility. Best case puts my right arm out of commission for 3 weeks with gradual build up to pre-tear strength and mobility.
Ortho dr is concerned about the tear being worse than the ER diagnosed and ordered an MRI. Just got off the phone with diagnostic imaging and scheduled the MRI for Sat. The Dr said the worse case scenario puts me in surgery and my right arm out of commission for a minimum of 3 months with physical therapy and unspecified gradual rebuild to get back to pre-tear strength and mobility. Best case puts my right arm out of commission for 3 weeks with gradual build up to pre-tear strength and mobility.
Worst case is you dont get it fixed and its NEVER right
I also suspected it could be worse since they never did a scan.. Depending on how bad the tear is, you will never get to 100%. but you can get close
Finally had my MRI today. Ortho dr should call me with the results by Friday. I'm really nervous about the possibility of needing surgery because I just got a job offer that won't be there by the time I've healed up enough to do the job.
Best of luck. I tore a calf muscle a few years back. Took it several weeks to heal, but I can't even tell it now. (FWIW... Cipro makes your muscle fibers "brittle". Found that out the hard way.)
Best of luck. I tore a calf muscle a few years back. Took it several weeks to heal, but I can't even tell it now. (FWIW... Cipro makes your muscle fibers "brittle". Found that out the hard way.)
I've been talking to a friend that I didn't know was physical therapist and he said from feel(There's a very large knot on the inside of my forearm just below the elbow) it looks like the bicep tendon at least partially, if not completely, pulled off the bone. Supposedly, even a partial pull off the bone could mean surgery... REALLY not what I want.
Just got off the phone with the ortho dr. MRI showed a distal biceps tendon tear and he recommends surgery to fix it. Yay for another 2.6 months without a job..
[This message has been edited by Rallaster (edited 04-21-2014).]
Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday morning. Dr's office also restricted me to tylenol only painkillers until after the surgery. No NSAIDs and no blood thinners. That really sucks because NSAIDs are really the only OTC meds that even touch the migraine I'm developing right now... :/
just thought i would give an update. I got my brace off and staples out today and instead of a cast, he put me in a variable lock brace locked at 90*. I go back in 2 and a half weeks for an eval and possible brace adjustment. i have full use of my wrist and fingers, but because of how my elbow is locked, i still have to type with one hand. (hence my atrocious spelling and grammar). the doc said i should be able to go back to work in about a month, vs the original 3 months i was told, so that's good.
Update on my Dr. visit today. He gave me a LOT more extension than we had previously discussed because he says I'm healing a lot faster than he had anticipated. He told me I could set the brace range limiter to whatever I'm comfortable with and that I'm only wearing the brace to keep from forcefully extending my arm beyond that. He said I can take the brace off around the house and carefully work on stretching it on my own to improve my extension. In spite of all that, I'm strictly limited to a 3 pound lifting limit with it.
Did I skim past the part where you described how you managed to tear your bicept? Old age maybe?
Somebodies got jokes for having disappeared forever ago.
You are right though, I did miss describing the action that caused the issue in the first place.
We were moving out of our storage unit and my girlfriends stepdad was helping move the heavy stuff and we were lifting a washing machine and just as I was starting curling the machine to get it into the back of the truck and I heard what sounded like velcro across the inside of my elbow, and I dropped the washer straight to the ground.
We were moving out of our storage unit and my girlfriends stepdad was helping move the heavy stuff and we were lifting a washing machine and just as I was starting curling the machine to get it into the back of the truck and I heard what sounded like velcro across the inside of my elbow, and I dropped the washer straight to the ground.
Wow man, that sounds painful. Hope it gets better soon
Wow man, that sounds painful. Hope it gets better soon
It was painful, but only for a few minutes, and only if I didn't move my arm. LOL I went to see the ortho dr 2 days after it happened and it hurt to move, but by the 3rd day I could move it without too much pain. I still couldn't lift anything or exert any force, but I could move it. To be honest, the surgery to fix it has hurt more than the actual act of doing the damage, but it means I should regain full use of my arm, whereas I would not have had even 50% use of my arm had I not gotten it fixed.
