How to lose muscle mass in three easy steps!

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Dan, have you taken any antibiotics lately?

Antibiotics? No.

But I owe you much gratitude for your advice, right here on Pelican, about reducing the tendonitis in my lower leg/foot a while back. Not sure how I could adequately repay you.

Thanks.

[hughc]

Hi Guys, I'm not selling anything but I would like to pass on something that I picked up on about 8yrs ago. It's an inexpensive book available at your local book store. It's called "Younger Next Year" It's well worth the read. You won't regret it.

[Rodsrsr]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

I've never liked working out at the gym. I've always liked plenty of outdoor activity. Living outside Seattle has been tough to keep active enough during our dreary Winter.
I'm not doing construction stuff full-time anymore, so I'm going to have to be more pro-active with the activity level. Leaving the damp Puget Sound area might be a good start!

I'm with you on the gym. Its pretty boring and probably why I only go once a week. The gym is something I do strictly to maintain muscle mass. For overall fitness I train in BJJ 5x per week. Much more physically/mentally challenging, plus the comradery with the guys I've known over the years is very cool. Its the most challenging thing I've done in my life and the learning curve is extremely slow, but once your proficient its the most fun thing I've ever done too.

[Tobra]

Dan, I have to confess I have no recollection of that at all, but you are very welcome.

Originally Posted by gsxrken

As in quinilones? My urologist suggests these for prostatitis flare ups unless one is still very active in sports or fitness activities. Tendon ruptures at a much greater incidence, evidently.

Es Verdat, what I had in mind.

Swimming is an excellent choice for maintaining muscle mass, no impact, so it is easy on bones and joints. Does nothing for bone density though. Yoga or Tai Chi are also good. Trick is to find something you like to do, and an exercise partner. You will flake on exercise yourself, but not if someone is expecting you to show up.

[Drbraunsr]

Victim of the weekend warrior Achilles tear years ago - playing indoor soccer.
Doctor's advice to old guys, slightly out of shape - the muscles lose their elasticity and need ample/extra stretching before entering the warrior "arena".
Took 6-8 months to heal without surgery with full recovery. Traded in my soccer ball for a racquet ball.

Stretch, stretch, and stretch some more....

[Noah930]

I'd recommend an MRI of the affected elbow. There are times when you can have a total distal biceps tendon rupture, but the tendon/muscle unit doesn't give you that characteristic "Popeye" deformity because the lacertus fibrosis remains intact. It comes down to having an experienced examiner feel for the biceps tendon in the antecubital fossa (and still you can be fooled sometimes by a thick edge of lacertus).

The traditional teaching is to repair all distal biceps tendon ruptures. And usually a repair should be done within the first 3 weeks or so of the injury, lest the tendon retract proximally enough that it makes the repair difficult to do (without some sort of interposition graft, like a cadaveric Achilles).

However, there are some docs who quietly admit that we may be overtreating distal biceps tendon ruptures, and that just leaving people be is OK, too. That the loss of function is fairly mild, or even negligible without a reattachment.

If you do wind up with surgery, be aware that the recovery usually takes the order of several months (like 4-6). The expectation is that you can resume normal activity, but it's a big investment in your time, that post-operative recovery phase.

Good luck.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Dan, I have to confess I have no recollection of that at all, but you are very welcome.


Es Verdat, what I had in mind.

Swimming is an excellent choice for maintaining muscle mass, no impact, so it is easy on bones and joints. Does nothing for bone density though. Yoga or Tai Chi are also good. Trick is to find something you like to do, and an exercise partner. You will flake on exercise yourself, but not if someone is expecting you to show up.

Do you agree with the old adage, never stretch a cold muscle?

I stretch after my initial warm up, but forget the post work out stretch sometimes.

I'm paying for it today, my back has been tight all weekend.

Any tips on stretching especially pertaining to prevention of injuring the Achilles tendon would be appreciated.

I have a friend which had surgery a few months ago on this, and I regard him as a fitness role model of sorts (teaches at Title Boxing). He's given me good advice on stretching and yet he got hurt, he claimed it was an old injury he could no longer ignore. He had the surgery done so he would be ready for golf season.

[Dantilla]

Thanks, Noah.

I will know more after seeing the orthopedic surgeon.
It helps to know what a long recovery it may need. I have plans to do quite a bit of work on one of the buildings I manage this Summer. I tend to do way too much by myself, so it's probably time to line up some subcontractors and come up with a plan that takes me out of the picture.

[craigster59]

I detached my bicep from the elbow about 20 years ago.

I was rebuilding my garage and installing ship lap siding. Had a warped 16' length I was nailing and got to the end. It was about 2" out of whack so I started to lift while my buddy had the nail gun. Felt a strain in my back so I extended my arms down and lifted with my legs. Heard a loud internal "pop!" and my forearm started to tweak and deform. Plunged my elbow into a cooler and headed to the ER.

Clean detach at the elbow, they installed pins and sutured the tendon to the bone. Put me in an orthosis that had an elbow hinge and surgical tubing running from mid bicep to mid forearm, Acted like it's own excercise machine, my ortho is big on immediate mobility during healing.

All is good but I can't quite twist my wrist around to see my watch, so now I wear it on my right hand.

[Tobra]

Constant passive motion machine after that sort of surgery is a good idea.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Constant passive motion machine after that sort of surgery is a good idea.

yeah, it was that thermo plastic sheet stuff molded around the bicep and forearm. The surgical tubing offered resistance so I would just move it up and down every 5-10 minutes. I think all told I wore the orthosis for 3 weeks. I was still able to work.

[Tobra]

There are some units that are motorized. Saw one that was used on the knee and it was the cat's ass. Elbow is tough because of the range of motion. You flex at the elbow, but have to pronate and supinate(flip your palm up and down) the forearm too

[ejfbmw]

Just like that, snapped this thing that I didn't even know could snap. At least I was having fun at VIR, and no I did not crash the bike. Just handling pit gear. Went for the surgery and now have a good result with the tendon being pinned to the humerus. First track day for me this year coming up, April 17. Like others have said, at 62 years I have got to spend more time stretchin!

[Dantilla]

Update:

margurkle foofa deek. ...I mean... karaquoik bora bock.

Okay apparently this is what happens when one tries to type, left-hand only, under the influence of prescribed narcotics.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

MRI showed a complete tear
Surgeon said it was about 75% torn

Arm is now in a cast & sling for a while.

Good night....

[72doug2,2S]

Pickleball