T Nation

Elbow Injury: Partial Tendon Tear

Injuries and Rehab
#1

Thanks in advance:

I partially tore my elbow tendons (work, not training) doing something resembling an explosive kroc row. This was 18 months ago. It got better, initially. Now it is alot worse; i havent changed what i’ve been doing, it is aggravated when working at a desk because there is pressure on the elbow.

What i’m after is advice, should I be trying to do light excersise on it, stretching it and try and build it up, or should i try and leave it alone for as long as physically poss? I haven’t trained since March. The Doc here (uk) advised to take Ibuprofen for 1 month, felt better after 4 days but when i come off them, got worse; think these are v. bad for stomach ulcer long term.

Any thoughts? Cheers

H

#2

if you really really have a tear. like a real tear that has been diagnosed as such, that usually requires intervention. as in surgery. so really ask your osteo, not us, who can look at what’s really going on. and back off in the meantime.

eg what place is the tear?
check this image

and here’s how a colleague (surgeon) recently explained it
“A micro tear occurs at the collagen fibrils level with exercise and daily activiteis. These normally heal. Tendonitis occurs with tears at the fascicle level. These are often symptomatic and also frequently heal with rest, therapeutic exercise, stretching, anti-inflammatories, etc. A partial thickness tear occurs at the tertiary fiber bundle which cna easily be see with the naked eye and looks like a frayed rope. These can heal with treatment similar to tendonitis, but occasionally require surgical excision of the damaged tissue and rarely augmentation with graft material or suturing.”

mc

#3

[quote]-mc- wrote:
if you really really have a tear. like a real tear that has been diagnosed as such, that usually requires intervention. as in surgery. so really ask your osteo, not us, who can look at what’s really going on. and back off in the meantime.

eg what place is the tear?
check this image

and here’s how a colleague (surgeon) recently explained it
“A micro tear occurs at the collagen fibrils level with exercise and daily activiteis. These normally heal. Tendonitis occurs with tears at the fascicle level. These are often symptomatic and also frequently heal with rest, therapeutic exercise, stretching, anti-inflammatories, etc. A partial thickness tear occurs at the tertiary fiber bundle which cna easily be see with the naked eye and looks like a frayed rope. These can heal with treatment similar to tendonitis, but occasionally require surgical excision of the damaged tissue and rarely augmentation with graft material or suturing.”

mc[/quote]

I see what you’re saying. The prognosis (general practioner) was given after a description of the injury and symptons; no examination was undertaken. It was a pretty vicious “accident”, based on what you’ve told me I think i need to go back to the docs and push this further.

Thanks

H