[tresor]

Managed to tear of my biceps muscle hold in the outer parts of the shoulder while bouldering a few days ago. Spent the last 3 days getting examed or rather mostly waiting. Seems the rest of the shoulder is still ok so the surgeon doesn't recomend surgery as it will be cosmetically only and will add recovery time and rehab.

Now a few days after I actually have no pain at all and strength wise I'm more than ok for every day life, havent been bouldering yet


Anyone with any experience with this injury or the surgery?


//Tresor

[user deactivated]

I think there's a couple of famous / well known 'older' climbers with this injury who are very strong. It can just look unsightly. I'm not sure how much initial strength loss you get from a long head of biceps rupture but I'd imagine it's less than the strength loss from the pain and hassle of surgery. Not sure what any controlled studies looking at this in athletes are but the shoulder doc website may have more info.

[user deactivated]

A link to shoulder doc info

https://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/article/725

Apparently for active people tenodesis is a good option, where the tendon is attached to the humerus surgically. So maybe a second opinion is in order 😊

Further interesting reading indicating why tenodesis may be preferable -

https://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/news/view/170

[Duma]

Didn't Jim on here do something similar a while back?

[Nibile]

I don't understand whether you got some kind of rupture/tear in the body of the muscle or if you detached one end of the tendon from the bone.
In any case, if a surgeon avised you against surgery, I'd listen to him (considering that surgeons always want to cut you).

[tresor]

I love this place . Never fails to deliver if it's injury related 

Looks exactly like on that guy on the picture in the first link. About 20% strength loss initially was what they said but will be able to recover "almost" all of max strength of the muscle.

The surgeon said tenodesis was the way to go if I choose surgery but then there has to be something stable and strong to actually screw to the bone. Reading the link it seems they prefer tenodesis because of the deformity and cramping. Right now 3 days after cramping is my only problem and that should go away after a while then the muscle stops to pull so hard in the loose end according to the surgeon.


@Nibile: One end of the tendon is detached from the bone or rather the tendon teared of completly i think. Was a long horrible sound and I could see the biceps actually curl around my arm like a snake.

//Tresor

[shark]

I think John Welford went for reattachment (his bicep was flopping round at his elbow) and Seb Grieve didnt. Both still climbing well. PM me if you want their emails

[HaeMeS]

I've had biceps tenodesis and a cuff repair half a year ago. My biceps looks a lot better then the one in the First link. Started bouldering very recently so no real info on the effect on strength, etc. Right now my shoulder and biceps look and feel pretty fine, except for a slight limitation cause of the cuff repair and other/older damage in elbow and clavicula.

On the downside: My shoulder was quite painfull after surgery. 2 months of serious pain and not much sleep. Wasn't expecting that. Thought I knew what serious pain was. Bottom line: I'm happy with the result of the tenodesis

Friend of mine went to same surgeon with 2 wrecked shoulders, had cuff repair and tenodesis on both. Good decision as he's back to his old level.

[the_dom]

I tore the long head of my right bicep pretty badly a few years ago (as in, it was flopping around my elbow etc) - I was advised, by a surgeon, to have surgery, and by a physio that the main benefit of surgery would be cosmetic.

I opted not to have surgery.

My bicep looks weird but there was no real strength reduction or increased risk of subsequent tears after taking three to four months off climbing. I would see a good physio if you can.

[Nibile]

@Nibile: One end of the tendon is detached from the bone or rather the tendon teared of completly i think. Was a long horrible sound and I could see the biceps actually curl around my arm like a snake.

//Tresor

Wow, that's a serious one then!
It seems that both ways could be good. As others have said, I'd see one good phisio before going under the knife. Especially if the surgeon isn't pushing for it.
Heal soon!

[Menon]

I seem to have torn my long head tendon some time in the past without actually noticing. I'm quite fond of it because it gives the appearance of a bicep on at least one arm, while leaving me just as weak as before. You might have already seen it, but Dave MacLeod mentions it in Make Or Break: "Long head ruptures can be treated either surgically or conservatively and no consensus exists as to which gives better results [Schloff, VR, J Harrer and T Kupper, Biceps tendon ruptures in rock climbers, Clin. J Sport Med 2006. 16(5) pp. 426-6]. Surgery is recommended for the young, but in adults I have seen several climbers who recovered quickly from the injury by undertaking a program of shoulder and upper arm strengthening exercises. Presumably, this is because the short head of biceps is still able to function."

[tresor]

Thanks for all the input.

Been at the wall twice now since the injury and it feels pretty good. Can't imagine this injury will have more negative impact on my climbing than family, work and age in general will.

So decided to skip surgery as I have a hard time to see more pros than cons. Will start to look for a good physio to help with the recovery though.


//Tresor