Got it in my left arm - it’s been sore since September. So I finally saw the doc yesterday, and he gave me a cortizone shot and recommended some gentle stretching exercises. I really hope this is gone by spring. Anyone have any experience with this? How long does it take to go away?
My doc told me it can take
a couple of months to heal properly if I didn’t stop using my arms at work. I have been taking viox. It works good.
My injury came from lifting heavy stuff over my head. Sounds like a good excuse for me to stop doing that.
recovery
Mine took about a month to recover and rehab from there. Got it from lifting too many wood pallets. Ugh. I think maintaining and improving flexibility is key; rehabbing by doing flexibility exercises (therabands) has so far kept it from recurring.
Bicep tendonitis got me down
did you pop the question to the doc-which tendon is inflamed, the short or the long head of the biceps? but seriously, the short and long of it: perform the rotator cuff exercises, exercises for the postural muscles that surround the scapula(e), postural stretching and focus on posture. that should end the need to be treated as a dart board in future follow up visits.
You’re not the only one…
I too am hoping to have my arm ready for paddling come spring. I messed my right elbow up last fall volunteering for our local park district trying to restore a bank of a creek that was washing away. I’ve tried chiropractic care…an MRI which showed nothing…and now Vioxx but still pain and weakness in my elbow adn right arm. Things are improving…at least I can lift the stapler off my desk…but a long way to go before I’ll be ready to portage and paddle.
I hope your problem clears up! Kim
Had mine sence last July…
Have no idea whether it came from the repeated shouldering everything on the right shoulder or the repeated pounding of the 3Ks of road cycling (Bicycle)but it seemed like all of a sudden…there it was. The draw a circle thing for the rotator cuff works for the shoulder but the bicept and the elbow are a hit and miss…Everything can seem fine and I’ll lift something like pulling the tel. directory down off the fridge and…DAMN!
Same here McYak
I have no idea if it’s from shouldering my boat on that side, reaching to load it on the van, or too many arm curls over last winter.
Did you ever see…
…a person with a torn bicep?
I have one. Last year I was carrying a 100 pound plus or minus rock up a steep embankment, and started to slip and fall. I instinctively tried to heave the rock away, and as I did, I got a excrutiating pain in one arm and felt something tear. It was the bicep, and now one head has dropped down to just above where the crease in my elbow is.
It is the funniest thing that you can see. my left arm looks normal and my right looks like Pop eyes.
A month or so after it happened I was at the doctors for my bone on bone knee, and asked him to take a look at it, and he was quite surprised that I didn’t have a rotator cuff problem.
All my life I would have liked to have show off muscles, and end up getting one which looks so weird that I try to keep it hidden.
Oh well, I woke up again this morning, so that is a good sign!
Cheers,
JackL
Thanks, all
for your help and kind words. It’s now Wednesday morning and there’s almost two feet of snow in my driveway. Gotta go shovel it out, and my arm’s still sore from the shot and the tendonitis. Don’t want to set my recovery back, but life keeps intervening. I hate the way the normal course of events seems to constantly conspire to mess up my yakking schedule.
Woke Up This Morning…
Agree with JackL. If my name isn’t in the obit column it’s going to be a good day (if it winds up in the column…I stop paying my bills and go back to bed)
There’s an old miner’s greeting
…that sums it up…“Great day to be above ground!”
Here’s the straight dope…
You will need to do the stretching exercises at least twice a day for at least 6 weeks, then going to perhaps once a day. Caution, when it starts to feel fine again, don’t immediately resume the particular lifts or movements that damaged it initially. You will likely always have to take extra care to avoid damaging it further. I’m not a doctor, so you know what this advice is worth. I’m just an old basketball player than plays with young guys 3 to 4 times a week. However, I can at long last shoot 3 pointers again.