I had a snap in my left arm and now have a bulging left arm muscle with pain. The general and orthopedic doctors have been giving me shots in the left shoulder for shoulder pain and when this happened I was referred to another orthopedic doctor who says that the pain shots may have caused the tendon to snap by weakening the tendon. He says no more pain shots and he is not skilled in the corrective surgery that might be needed.
Has anyone experienced such an injury and what was the treatment plan?
My last shoulder surgery he cut that tendon back, drilled a hole in the bone and pinned it in, it was severely chafed which if you were having trouble in the shoulder was probably the case with yours. He had seen it in mine during a previous cuff surgery but was busy fighting that fire so told me to pay attention to it. Our building inspector had his let go and they reattached it, he's doing fine as am I. Another friend had his let go and did not repair it. There was no pt needed for mine and I was back to work faster than the 2 rotator cuff surgeries. It hangs a little lower but works.
I'm convinced cortisone does eat you. The first time I got a shoulder shot I had torn one of the rotator tendons, the doc thought it was bursitis and gave me a shot to calm it down. I had another about 5 years later when it was bugging me on a big job and then about 5 years later I fell and it tore another rotator, the arm went out of socket when I would try to raise it but I figured out a little drop and raise maneuver and could still function with a lot of pain. I went in and failed the physical force test, he told me I had torn it out but another shot wouldn't hurt it between then and surgery. Well I was putting up a porch ceiling and needed to side a house so I had the shot. It ate whatever thread was left holding things together and the arm went down for good until he went in and found the 10 year shriveled muscle back near my neck and the fresh tear and got it all hooked back up. So, I'm not a fan of cortisone. I don't know if the shots ate the bicep tendon, I've obviously treated them rough but I'll never have another of those shots.
Now if I could figure out where to shoot that stuff into a transmission ...
Ron,
I've never experienced that type of injury, but I had many shots in my shoulder until I couldn't stand it anymore. I went to an Ortho guy in our area that I wish I had met years ago.
I'm saying this because he may be able to help you, if you haven't seen him already.....
I'm not sure I should name him here, but if you pm me, I'll give you his name. If he can help, good.
In any event, I wish you Godspeed in your recovery (Maybe when you get as old as me, you'll learn to take it easy once in a while....... :D).
Steve
ron it can happen with trauma, or sudden heavy weight to arm using bicep. steroids (usually limited to 2 to 4 doses a year)and some antibiotics (levaquin) can make tendon rupture more likely. not to mention being over age 40. were you doing something extreme when this happened. good luck. find a good ortho you like and see what they can do.
Had a couple lifting events. One was helping to lift my snow blower up into the back of the pickup to take it to the repair shop and the other was trying to roll over the 400 lb. bear. I think it happened with the snow blower lifting as I felt a snap then.
Blew out my bicep 3 summers ago.
Have so much wrong with me let it go and have a ball at the elbow.
It's hard to lift I try to drag lift.
I also have a torn bicep on my left and a torn rotator on my right .I manage but have to remember I'm not 25 years old any more .Perhaps in some aspects but my body reminds me not in all aspects .BTW you might be able to predict the weather for a season or so but the pain goes away eventually .
Mine seldom gives me any trouble except if I do something really dumb .Like starting a chainsaw in a tree which I did last spring .Ouch ,that got me good for about a month . :o
ron I have blown both long tendons in-my biceps.
First in 2010 and the other in 2012
Have had no surgery at the advice of my ortho.
His quote was "it is not a good surgery"
My arms still function but with diminished strength but at 82 I guess this would be the case even with no injury.
I have no pain whatsoever in my biceps, not so with other body parts.
Ron, I have not had a biceps torn but I've had quadricep tears in both knees. My first one in my right knee was called a near complete tear and I had surgery where they pulled it back and sutured it back to my kneecap. After the surgery my knee was in a brace for 3 months that restricted any bending and another 3 months of rehab to get back to near normal. The injury itself was very painful and I tried to work thru it for about 6 weeks but the pain was unrelenting. Actually the injury was not diagnosed until they did the MRI after about 5 weeks after the injury.
The second injury in the left knee was a complete tear and like you described, the tendon pulled back into a ball and was also extremely painful. After a couple of weeks I finally got into a orthopedic doc and he did a simple test to confirm what both he and I suspected. As I sat in a chair in his office, he lifted my leg and held it straight out and told me to hold it there. As soon as he let go of my heel, my lower leg dropped to the floor as I had no control at all. He sent me to the ortho surgeon and he cussed me for waiting so long as the tendon and muscle had shriveled up and was going to be difficult to pull back into place. I had the surgery and as he predicted, it was difficult to pull back into place. Even after full rehab and some years I cannot bend that knee as far back as the other one. It's like it hits a hard stop and it is limiting what I can do now.
I don't understand the bicep thing as I would think you would have no ability to lift (bend) your arm without that bicep attached. But at any rate, I would advise seeing a good ortho surgeon for advice.
As far as the shots, yes I've heard that too that cortisone can cause tendon tears. The ortho docs do tend to minimize those fears but don't dismiss the fears altogether. Yes, I did have a cortisone shot in my left knee a few months before the tear.
Gary c it is called a bicep as there are 2 tendons involved.
My guy said to be careful to not tear the other one.
I have no trouble lifting or mild curling with some weight.
Pain in my case subsided in about 3 weeks.
Have to realize it can rupture at the proximal (shoulder) end or at the elbow. Athletes and younger patients get this repaired. Many patients are treated nonoperatively. They lose elbow bending strength. The retracted muscle can ball up and give you a "Popeye" arm.
Drb I have 2 of them.
What are the nonoperative treatments?
One young ortho doctor said that I was too old for surgery and another said that he didn't have experience in such surgerys since he has only done one in his 30 years of practice. They never gave any nonoperative treatments, except the one with more experience said "no more pain shots" and some physical therapy might help.
Here is one explanation of treatments from the Cleveland Clinic.
Biceps Tendon Injuries (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/14534-biceps-tendon-injuries)
Quote from: Ron Scott on October 11, 2019, 01:21:46 PMHad a couple lifting events. One was helping to lift my snow blower up into the back of the pickup to take it to the repair shop and the other was trying to roll over the 400 lb. bear. I think it happened with the snow blower lifting as I felt a snap then.
Ron,
You stick with that theory then you can tell your wife and kids it is okay to continue hunting and fishing and any other outdoor sports you enjoy while shying away from work like blowing the snow off the drive and walks. :D
Good luck on finding and fixing the problem.
Rolling 400# of jelly ain't easy :o.
I tore my right distal bicep (elbow) in March of 2011 when a gust of wind caught me in a compromising position lifting a sheet of 3/4" treated plywood. Being age 45 at the time I chose to have surgery to repair it followed by 6 months of physical therapy to regain range of motion as well as strength. I can say it was the right choice for me at the time, however I never regained full strength in that arm and still have issues with it.
I tore my left arm bi-cep where it hooked into the elbow back in 2016 when I slipped off the skidder swung around an broke some ribs on the right side. I've started pulling our walkway apart and digging out a wider one. Monday wasn't bad cept for a blister. Yesterday I started shoveling gravel and filling in to level. by 11:00 am I couldn't hardly bend it in an out. Hearing what y'all have said I should have had it fixed.
I sat in the dentist chair today for a hour. Worse pain was my shoulder. That's just not right.
I asked him for a shot of Novocaine in it but no go.
Started Physical Therapy on the arm last Monday.