Biceps tendon rupture, anyone 'been there'?

[Breezy_Pete]

I seem to have done what's shown at about 4:05 in this video: 

Proximal rupture of long head tendon of the biceps.

 

Physio confirmed just now and will refer me 'into the system' but it's not really clear in my head at all what I'll do once I'm in there.

I'm not in any pain, and only mildly affected functionally; which was apparent immediately, 'cos I could carry on and finish the job.

Bit of yellow bruising around/over the 'popeye bulge', now gone, and a bit of crampy pain if I do try to lift anything heavy. 

 

An ultrasound is apparently all that's required to confirm the diagnosis, which sounds more accessible than an MRI or whatever.

 

Anyone been through this and opted for surgical reattachment?  Quite common shoulder injury, I understand.  Physio guestimated 3-4K for a private op, which made me gulp a little, but reckoned there wouldn't be any rush to get it done if I could persuade the NHS to do it.

 

The silver lining is that my very long-standing tendinopathy seems to have disappeared with the disconnection.

 

They apparently don't attempt to repair it to how it was if you get it operated on, they reattach it lower down. Cool vid of one of the options. Liking the engineering:

 

 

Edited 24 November, 2020 by Wino

[mac11irl]

nifty video. 

looks like a neat enough solution too, given the options. 

 

swmbo has a tendon partially torn away from the bone in the rear  of her shoulder. only option she was offered a few yrs ago was cortisone injections and needling... it isnt bad 95% of the time now, unless she does something unusual or drives a car with a french gearbox (the amount of clunky play in the gear change aggrevates it.)

[Breezy_Pete]

Another youtube vid of a glorified rawlplug solution! 

 

[J.R.]

You just need to keep your eye open for a cheap kit on E-bay, buy one with several rawlplugs & you could sell it on afterwards!

[J.R.]

With it reattached to the humerous is there not less holding the shoulder joint in place against dislocation?

[Breezy_Pete]

The missus already offered to do the surgery for me; but what to use for anaesthesia?...

 

Not sure what role if any that tendon has in keeping the shoulder in. I think the rotator cuff muscles do most of that?

 

Didn't even do o'level biology so I'm fairly clueless.

[Breezy_Pete]

From an insider, the medical stance is along the lines of "How vain are you? would you prefer a bulge or a scar? Cos you'll have one or the other. Function will probably be fine without surgery. Some risk of cramping if nothing is done".

 

Seeing my sports massage guy tomorrow morning, should be interesting to get his take on it.

 

@J.R. I watched one of Sam Webster's excellent anatomy vids on youtube yesterday that did mention a role for this tendon/muscle in keeping the shoulder joint 'in' but it was mentioned in passing rather than as the only thing that does that job.  Learned of the existence of the brachialis muscle which is underneath the biceps and does some of the same things, which helps to explain the relatively minor loss of function/strength. 

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Massage guy was quite pro-surgery on the basis that if the other - now more heavily used - half of the biceps were to have a tendon failure down the line I'd be needing surgery anyway, or my arm would not work well at all.  That's swayed me back towards thinking the op may be worthwhile. He also reckoned I might find it quite limiting to be without that 'cep' for my sailing hobby; it might even be a safety concern on the racecourse if something failed while on the water.

 

GP surgery have referred me now on the basis of the physio report. 

Wonder how long it'll be before I hear from a hospital.

Edited 30 November, 2020 by Wino

[Breezy_Pete]

Almost a year on and I thought I should update this in case anyone ever reads it and wonders what happened.

 

The NHS route proved to be a bit messy, eventually getting offered an ultrasound scan somewhere in north Wales and declining it on the basis that so much seemed to be stacking up in favour of just leaving it and doing nothing. Private consultations and scans were priced up but not followed up on a cost/benefit judgement.

 

Back to the gym tentatively in May when things started opening up again, and finding to my significant surprise that the right arm still worked just as well as before!

No right shoulder pain (which used to be a chronic problem) and apart from the bulginess when working hard, no pain or other obvious deficit in the right bicep. No cramping.

My sports massage guy reckons it has re-attached itself to something, possibly the other 'cep', without any active measures.

Sailboat racing has also resumed without any apparent issues, in fact I've been winning more than usual. Stronger winds in the coming months may be a tougher test though.

 

Overall I think I'm better off than before the tendon rupture. Who'dathunkit? 

[mac11irl]

so it healed itself i to a super tendon?

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Been having a bit of pain in the other shoulder lately, and had to abandon some bench-pressing mid-set on Friday as the shoulder didn't feel right at all.

 

Midway through a breezy sailing race this morning I pulled hard on a heavily loaded rope with my left hand, only to feel a 'pop' and then the sensation of someone pulling a rope through the inside of my upper arm. Not painful except for a cramping sensation when flexing the elbow.

Pretty sure I now have the same failure on this side, long head biceps tendon rupture. 

 

Will try to get my local expert to have a look in the next day or two, but not expecting there to be any treatment worth pursuing.

 

 

[mac11irl]

ah ball cox... 

 

hopefully it isnt too bad though 🤞

[Breezy_Pete]

Getting a bit blasé about long head biceps tendons now, who needs 'em?

Finished the race and the next one in even more wind...