Torn bicep tendon!!

[Eric Cartman]

Last week a close friend of mine was bicep curling in the gym and he heard a CRACK. He was diagnosed with a torn bicep tendon, but luckily the x-rays were negative.

I curl sometimes 80 or 90 lbs, and I'm wondering how I can avoid a similar injury.

What could cause such an injury? It seems to me that curling is one of the safest exercises there is, I have no idea how this could have happened to him.

Thanks...

EC

[jed2009]

Just make sure to warm up before you start curling. Stretch your bi's out (dynamic stretch, not static). Obviously heavy loads targeting isolated areas like BB or DB curling will increase risk. Just be sure to not use too much to handle and warm up/stretch well and chances will be lowered.

[r2473]

I don't know how someone could be mis-diagnose a torn bicep tendon (distal). You can easily feel that tendon with your finger. If its gone, you'll know it. You don't need a doctor. Perhaps he has a partial tear? Partial tears are hard to see on an MRI (soft tissue would not show up on an X-ray). I partially tore mine (heard the "pop") and finished my gym workout without a problem. I fully tore it later that week (playing tennis). It was a sharp pain. Almost like an electric shock (makes sense; the tendon is stretched and then breaks like a rubber band, releasing the energy). No swelling, no bruising and just a dull pain after the event.

Anyway, I'm ~9 weeks removed from tearing my distal bicep tendon (the one in the elbow, not the ones in the shoulder). A few things about distal bicep tendon tears (I don't know about tearing the ones in the shoulder):

1) Tearing the distal bicep tendon is pretty uncommon. About 2 in 100,000. Tearing one of your bicep tendons in your shoulder is much more common

2) The cause is normally a violent straightening of the arm. It's usually a freak thing. Perhaps you attempt to lift something with a bent arm and underestimate how heavy it is. Your arm quickly / violently straightens and the tendon "pops" (disconnects from the forearm bone).

Other common things are if you are holding a load and the weight shifts, again, causing your arm to straighten violently.

3) I tore mine in two stages. First, I violently straightened my arm playing tennis, swinging hard at a ball, and missing because of the wind. That was painful. But it didn't "pop" until the next day in the gym doing back levers (I heard the pop). This was actually only a partial tear, but I fully tore it off the bone later in the week.

Basically tearing your distal bicep tendon is a "freak thing". An accident. Nothing you can plan against. Brian Shaw (worlds strongest man) tore his in March 2012 and still hopes to compete in WSM this year. He actually did a 1,000 lb.+ pull with the torn tendon (what a nut):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEvpNMdOK6I

http://drmillett.com/worlds-stronges...-vail-colorado

By the way, Shaw didn't do any further damage to the area by doing that lift. A torn tendon is torn. It can't get "more torn". And if he only had a partial tear, surgery is required anyway to reattach. The tendon can't stretch itself out and reattach to the bone.

[Eric Cartman]

I believe he tore it during the concentric phase of curling the rep upwards, not the straightening of the arm on the way down.

He was using a 40 lb dumbell in his left arm, which is somewhat heavy, but not anything different from what he usually does.

Seems like a freak accident, like you say...

What are some good dynamic stretches for the biceps?

[jed2009]

I like the simple "take a stick/light bar" and put it in a overhead squat type position. Then move it with elbows straight forward and behind you. This moreso stretches rotator cuff but does a little bit of bi's as well.

Also just grab a wall with your palm and stretch your bicep out, rotate back and forth, stretching then resting, stretching then resting, etc. This usually does it for me. You can also grab a BB or power rack, etc., anything that you can stretch your arm to full extension on.

Also, warming up with really light weight is a good way to get blood flowing in the area and warm it up.

[r2473]

Did he jerk the weight really hard? What you do is "tug" the tendon right off the bone. It really takes a rather violent event for it to happen I think.

Is he a steroid user? That is the first question the doc asked me (they will weaken the strength of the tendon and make a tear more likely).

Anyway, this has nothing to do with warming up properly. You might injure many things that are directly related to not warming up properly, but tearing your bicep tendon isn't about improper warmup.

It's a really freak thing. My doc does most of the ones in this area of over 1 million people and he said he does 10-15 a year is all. It's also far more common (for how rare it is) in men over 30 or 40. It is really, really uncommon in young men.

Now the bicep tendons in the shoulder are a whole different story. Those get torn far more often. It often happens over time in this area. It slowly wears away. I **think** John Elway tore one of his bicep tendons in the shoulder while he was playing. They didn't even fix it. You have 2 up there.

If you want to read about people's experiences with distal bicep tendon tears (or any other tendon issues), there's a forum for that too. It's interesting reading other peoples stories. Gives you ideas on the many ways you can injure yourself in "real life":

http://tendonsurgeryinfo.com/distalbiceps/index.php