How to lose muscle mass in three easy steps!
 

Step 1: Tear the biceps tendon at the elbow

Step 2: Go to Urgent Care where they put the arm in a sling for "several weeks".

Hey! I managed to do in in only two steps! I will lose a tiny bit of strength every day for "several weeks". How about that!

Piiiiics !

How did you do step one? Something macho I hope?

My daughter sees this'll the time. Guy comes in for an emergency operation. His bicep has disappeared up inside his shoulder.

One guy was from a golf swing, another from lifting modest weights.

The common thing is it is always a 40+ guy who has gotten out of shape and then decides to become a weekend worrier again and jumps right back in not realizing how much the inactivity has taken its toll in the few years prior.


Her advice is to keep moving every day and use stuff.
Stress stuff moderately at least.

As a teenager we used to get away with spurts of activity but we lose it so quick as we get older that it becomes a constant struggle to not erode.

One guy here said someone gave him the advice not to start lifting weights until he could do 50 push ups, I think I would add light arm curls to that too.

If it s form working out, we keep getting out heads filled with this idea that we gotta go heavy to build mass. Thats untrue.

What they have found is that (unless your preparing for competition but even then) high reps build mass also. Many cyclists never do squats but look at their legs.

Constant high rep stuff, not only do you still build size, but also has the benefit of building DENSER muscles (more granular micro tears to rebuild and cause growth rather than fewer with higher weights).

So, this advice was not given for the guy who is competing in a body building competition, but for the 40+ guy

The downside of high rep stuff is the time commitment but look at gymnasts and cyclists.
constant repetitive activities do have advantages.

For the non gym guy, constant activity keeps all the of the parts strong, including the tendons and ligaments. I also think it keeps the joint lubricated, at least thats what I like to tell myself when Ive got to get out of the habit of not moving enough.

I could tell you an amazing story of adventure while climbing Mt. Everest.....

....or I could tell the truth.

Just moving some heavy/awkward stuff, twisted a bit sideways and felt/heard a tear in the elbow. Then finished up what I was doing, just being careful to do 90% with the other hand only. After a few days, it was definitely not getting any better on its own.

Thanks for the comments, wayner-
This was not uncommon activity. For that matter, pretty benign. A couple weeks ago I was manhandling 12-foot sheets of sheetrock by myself while building a wall.
I guess when hanging sheets with no help, one must plan each move prior to lifting.

Mine is just a partial tear. The bicep hasn't balled up towards the shoulder.
Doc at Urgent Care said it will most likely heal without surgery, but referred me to an orthopedic surgeon for a more thorough look. We'll see what he says in a few days.

I busted up my other hand a few years ago, and was shocked how much strength was lost after a few weeks of non-use.
-Lifting the 33" wheel/tire combo on and off the Jeep had never been a struggle before!
-First time 5-gallon buckets of paint felt heavy!

I mounted a pull-up bar in the garage to regain strength just a few pull-ups at a time. Usually just two or three whenever I walk through the garage.
Looks like it will be a while before I begin the process again....

Have you posted in the "old coots" thread yet :)? About three years ago, I'm almost certain that I fractured my Tibia right below the knee, similar to what I experienced 30 years ago playing b-ball. Excruciating pain while bending my leg, but only during a short range of the motion, and I could walk OK...but I took it easy for a few weeks while it healed. I remembered how much my leg atrophied while in a full leg cast back then, and how hard I rehabbed it, and how long it took to rebuild the muscles....that leg is more "cut", even today. 3-4 weeks later, the pain was gone (healed up fine btw). Mid-50s at the time....I shudder to think what my leg would have looked like, and what it would have taken to rebuild it at my age if in a cast again. Best of luck!

I like the Everest story :-)

Yours is s good warning though for the rest of us

Before my daughter brought it to my attention I didn't even know that it was a thing let alone a risk.

I'm constantly amazed at how quickly I lose strength as I've gotten older
I think your thread is a great warning for everyone like me who hasnt yet realized
The risk and just how common it is, which is why I added to it

Hope your on the mend soon ( make sure you do the physio. I'm a compulsive do-it-yourselfer and I know I'm suffering more now from last injuries because I cut physio short

BTDT years and years ago in a rugby match. But mine came off of the bone and required surgery. Arm in a hard cast for weeks and took a full year of rehab to get muscle back to near original strength. Then there was the broken leg...

That sucks. Gotta stay active guys. IMO if you don't lift weights you will deteriorate much sooner and at a significantly faster rate as opposed to someone who lifts. For whatever reason I started lifting weights at around 16 and never stopped, usually training 4 to 5 times per week back then. I only lift once a week now, but pretty heavy, although I would not recommend heavy weight training for someone starting out later in life. I believe starting at an early age allows the joints and connective tissues sufficient time to strengthen, relative to the weight you are lifting. The flip side is, I have extremely tight shoulders from guess what...heavy weight lifting, so there is a cost, but the benefits greatly out weigh the tightness and injuries you may experience. I would recommend no more than 3x per week with light to moderate weight for anyone over 40 who is starting out.

How do you know it is only a partial tear? MRI?

That was the diagnosis after a quick look at Urgent care. No imaging yet. She was pretty certain after watching both biceps as I moved both forearms up and down.
Injured side is painful when flexing the bicep, even lifting the empty hand. But it will lift. No big ball of muscle (not that I have big muscle anyway) near the shoulder.
I am to arrive early to the orthopedic office for x-rays. I'm sure they will show nothing since there is not a bone issue, but x-rays are usually required before an MRI.

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!

Tearing bicep...that must hurt like hell!!!
.
The closest I got to that was when working with my crew one day...lifting heavy items. I was extremely fit but I traumatized both biceps.
For a week or so I couldn't even lift a coffee pot.
My g/f at the time was a personal trainer..."Do your abs, they're muscles of endurance...your biceps will heal."
They did, but I learned my lesson to not ask so much of them.

As I type this, I'm taking this easy, waiting for two broken ribs to heal. Othr injuries that hamper function are a snapped tendon in my left shoulder, a snapped foot ligament in my left foot. I talked to MD's about both and got the "at your age" speech.

I figure that at 73, I'm pushing the actuary tables. The truth is, nobody beats father time and there isn't much future in old age.

I hear that a torn Achiles is in the race with bicep for most common.

I think that is relevant for us cars guys pushing old clunkers around

Achilles rupture is fairly common in the weekend warrior set, especially when you hit 35-40. 3 things happen as you get older, lose bone density, lose lean muscle mass and lose flexibility. For men, this is gradual, for women it is more abrupt, when they hit menopause and their estrogen levels drop.

Dan, have you taken any antibiotics lately?

I did that about a year ago, it took about ten months to heal.

Mine wasn't as bad as yours, but I dared not even try doing a push up.

As I recall I took a week or so off, then swam every day for about five months. I was swimming a hour at a time regularly, many times for 1-1/2 hours. My lats really took over my physique at that point. I slowly got back into full body exercising but it took another five months before I tried a curl.

I've been doing curls again for the past couple of months, been keeping it to a mere 15 lbs a side, 50 reps and 3-4 sets of them. I feel it working, low weight is the way to go, going to burn a lot more calories that way too.

Do not hyper-extend the muscle, and don''t watch any Youtube videos from guys calling themselves sixpack or some nonsense that are half your age, they are idiots and will get you hurt.

Come the middle of this month it will be two years of exercising six days a week. A real a transformation has taken place, but the few injuries I've experienced have been minor setbacks that I have worked around and adjusted to.

Leaning down and increasing flexibility are this summer's goals. Over the winter it was building a chest and some mass which I got a fair start on. The year before was all about getting my waist smaller, took off 5"-6".

All I can tell you is what worked for me, swimming and time worked. I was also taught some wrist/hand stretches that may have helped at first.

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.

I once broke three ribs. Far, far worse than a silly torn tendon!
Broken ribs were far worse than a shattered femur.

When the arm is wrapped and in the sling, there is no pain. There is no escaping broken ribs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Bicep Tear Long Head Tendon
 

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1491336670.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1491336670.jpg

:D

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!

:cool:

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....

Pickleball