T-Nation-
I may have torn my tricep yesterday while working out. I went the ER and X-rays did not reveal any tear, but I have to wait for the swelling to go down. Has anyone had a tricep tear? What can I expect? Other than pain, what should I be experiencing now?
[quote]mmcrath wrote:
T-Nation-
I may have torn my tricep yesterday while working out. I went the ER and X-rays did not reveal any tear, but I have to wait for the swelling to go down. Has anyone had a tricep tear? What can I expect? Other than pain, what should I be experiencing now?[/quote]
I tore mine a year ago September and had to have it surgically re-attached. I had pain and swelling, followed by bruising from my armpit down to my wrist. Did you hear anything tear? Mine sounded like a six inch piece of cloth being ripped in half.
Do you have to wait for the swelling to go down to get an MRI?
I felt a popped or pinch. I do have swelling, but no brusing. I can still move my arm with limited range of motion. the doc asked me to wait for about five days for the swelling to go down and then see a sprts doc.
[quote]mmcrath wrote:
I felt a popped or pinch. I do have swelling, but no brusing. I can still move my arm with limited range of motion. the doc asked me to wait for about five days for the swelling to go down and then see a sprts doc.[/quote]
My sports doc did not think it was torn, but the MRI revealed otherwise. I did have a decent range of motion, so I am not sure that is a great indicator.
I detached my bicep, could move my arm all over no problems, had the doctor laughing that the young PA in the ER must have been wrong about the diagnosis…until he grabbed my elbow and tried to find the distal tendon attachment…gone…so I know its not the same muscle, but range of motion or pain might not always be good indicators.
Ive torn both hammies, torn the medical head of my calf in half, tore the other calf partially, tear in a bicep, quad, you name it ive torn and detached many things…sometimes you hear loud ass noises, severe immediate pain, other times for whatever reason there might not be as dramatic a response, and pain might not be as severe…if you just saw a general practicioner hell with that, if you have good insurance start asking around who are the best sports med doctors in your area and get to that office. Unless you have to due to insurance red tape, forget seeing a run of the mill MD when you are talking sports ortho type injuries. They probably dont see enough of it to be able to diagnosis it easily. Ive seen PTs and ATs who work at college athletic programs make better on the field diagnosis then an MD in his office with MRIs and X Rays etc…go to someone who has reps with athletes tearing muscles.
If its not detached but torn, you should see some serious bruising pretty soon…did they give you any protocol of ice or what not to start until they figure it out? Get on that now…and a good supplement stack if you are not already…come injury time I start seriously high dosing BCAAs, EFAs, C, etc. Others on here probably have better advice but just throwing my two cents.
Thanks, man! that was a big help. Its been three daysand so far I do not have any bruising and the swelling is going down slowly. The pain is much better too. So far, I have been taking Motrin/Curcumin 500 and Flameout. I have percocet too. I’ve been icing as well. I’ll start heat therapy today.
No probs with the insurance. I will be seing a sports doc next week hopefully. My wife is an anesthetist so I will be seeing a friend fo hers that specializes n sports injuries.
No problem…as far as the motrin, dang its been a while, but I think Ive read some conflicting stuff on using that for muscle injuries and that it might impair healing? Anyone?? If you have pain def take the percocet, as plenty of research shows that if you are feeling tons of pain that too is impeding healing, hence the more progressive hospitals and doctors having pain charts, and if your feeling it they dope you up more. Key is short term, dont be doing that long term obviously.
Best of luck my friend!
As already recommended, see a sports medicine physician/orthopedic physician regarding this, or if you have access to a PT or ATC see one of them (generally though, you need a script to see a PT). The x-ray is a good first step for imagining diagnosis, but it really won’t tell you if you tore the muscle/tendon, unless there is an avulsion of the bone. Sports medicine practitioner will be able to either diagnose it through a physical exam or will request an MRI to check if the muscle/tendon is intact.
Pretty much everybody has already given you some good advice on it. Don’t try to push through it.
Best of luck!
-LH
Agree with the other advice. If there is a detachment (torn tendon) it needs to be repaired pretty quickly (sooner the better, but within 3 weeks). Definitely get in to see a good sports orthopaedist, and get an MRI if your insurance allows. Good luck!
Yep…x-rays wont reveal anything. My arm just felt sore until I woke up the next morning and was black and blue from the wrist to the shoulder. Surgery was four days later, then three months of P/T. Best of luck!
Well guys, I got the news about about two weeks ago. It is partially torn and I have surgery this Thursday, May 6th. I am not looking forward to rehabbing a tricep during the summer! I hope this is not a long recovery. My achilles took 9 months of rehab!
Been there anddone that. Take it slow on the come back trail it was a long road back but now its as strong as ever!
Good Luck!
[quote]mmcrath wrote:
Well guys, I got the news about about two weeks ago. It is partially torn and I have surgery this Thursday, May 6th. I am not looking forward to rehabbing a tricep during the summer! I hope this is not a long recovery. My achilles took 9 months of rehab![/quote]
Hi, I have the same partial torn right arm tricep muscle. My doc suggest no surgery. Not sure what to do at this point. I wanted to ask you how did your surgery went? did it help and how its been since you had your surgery? anything you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
My MRI revealed that: My myotendinous junction of the triceps muscle is abnormally thickened with discontinuity of majority of the tendinous fibers, mild amount of edema and small amount of adjacent fluid collection, likely representing henorrhage. There is edema involving the lower muscle belly of the triceps as well. Some of the distal tendon fibers at the insertion onto th olecranon are intact.
Have an appointment with doc next week to discuss what this means. However, when he first diagnosed the problem, he said it didn’t appear to be the tendon thus no surgery is needed.
I wanted to hear from you how your surgery turned out and any detail you can share. Thank you so much.
Muscle Maker-
Your docs response is similar to mine. Your injury is almost identical. I still had approximately 15% of my tricep still attached. After about five days, I had a huge bruise and little to no pain. I had an MRI two weeks after the injury and my second doc (sports surgeon) diagnosed the tear. I am just over two months post op and things are moving pretty slow for me. According to the PT, I am progessing just fine. No one can tell me just how long this rehab process takes. When I tore my achilles I was in PT for nearly nine months!The only real problems that I have are tendonittis in my right elbow, lack of strenght in my left tri, and tenderness at the incision site.
If I had not had the surgery, there was a high probability that I would have had a complete tear and the injury and rehab would have been much worse. This might be the case with your injury. I was very fortunate that my injury occurred while sprinting on my bike and not doing a heavy bench! My personal opininion, is that you should have the surgery and not risk further injury or danger while lifting. Your doc should be able to explain the pros and cons. I have heard from others that once the tricep recovers it comes back stronger.
Good luck!
Mike
[quote]mmcrath wrote:
Muscle Maker-
Your docs response is similar to mine. Your injury is almost identical. I still had approximately 15% of my tricep still attached. After about five days, I had a huge bruise and little to no pain. I had an MRI two weeks after the injury and my second doc (sports surgeon) diagnosed the tear. I am just over two months post op and things are moving pretty slow for me. According to the PT, I am progessing just fine. No one can tell me just how long this rehab process takes. When I tore my achilles I was in PT for nearly nine months!The only real problems that I have are tendonittis in my right elbow, lack of strenght in my left tri, and tenderness at the incision site.
If I had not had the surgery, there was a high probability that I would have had a complete tear and the injury and rehab would have been much worse. This might be the case with your injury. I was very fortunate that my injury occurred while sprinting on my bike and not doing a heavy bench! My personal opininion, is that you should have the surgery and not risk further injury or danger while lifting. Your doc should be able to explain the pros and cons. I have heard from others that once the tricep recovers it comes back stronger.
Good luck!
Mike[/quote]
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. This issue doesn’t let me sleep at night because I simply don’t know what is the best possible action I should take. I’ve read pros and cons about surgery. But what bothers me most is that I’ve lost my window of opportunity for the surgery. I’ve read (quite a few times) that any surgery done for this type of injury should be done within 3 weeks from the day it happened. Its been over 2 months now. it has taken time to get authorization to see an ortho doc, then an MRI, now I am waiting to see my doc next week to discuss the MRI report. I tried getting an earlier appointment but couldn’t. I am still not sure what I have… if I have the tricep muscle tear… do I also have a partial tendon tear according to the MRI report? Not sure since it wasn’t written in terms I can understand. I want to be able to insist on surgery if this is the best option I have but I need to be more informed and I can’t find more specific info on the internet. One interesting article I read says that: Partial triceps tendon ruptures can heal without functional deficit. Surgical repair for complete ruptures generally produces good functional results and allows return to play. In my case it isn’t a complete tear. Its mostly just muscle tear… just not sure if my tendon is intact or partially torn as well. From the description of the MRI… which is it? do you know?