Saw a guy rupture his biceps tendon pulling a deadlift up not too long ago. Saw Trent Dilfer rupture his achilles while apparently pretty much standing in the pocket. Just curious if anyone out there has had injuries like these and if you experienced any warning signs prior to the tendon tearing?
Tore my biceps a couple of years ago had it surgically re-attached 10 days later-was in a slighty overtrained state(i know this now since reading mt traininmg diary) had just finished a creatine loading cycle-did heavy deadlifts in am-threw some hammer afterward and then at work while of balance-attempted to save myself from falling into oncoming traffic-because of an uneven road surface and grabbed the car door handle-the bicep tendon snapped…wasn’t one thing but combination of all the things listed above
i’ve had tricep tendonitis in the past. This year i got bicep tendonitis in the end of july, it still has not fully healed. You need to constantly monitor pain and swelling. And if there is direct pain then no direct work should be performed. Always ice down joint areas to reduce inflamation and get a prescription anti-inflamitory from the doctor. laters pk
I tore the long head bicep tendon (the one that buries itself into the shoulder joint) in mid May this year. Two weeks later I had it reattached in a very routine operation - I couldn’t stand the thought of my bicep bunched up looking like a tennis ball halfway along my upper arm! I found a surgeon who used to be on a Russian Olympic team, so he knew what sort of exercises I needed to be able to do in the gym. Yes, there was a warning sign. Three weeks before the tear I was doing negatives on a seated bicep curl machine, when I felt a pain and crunch shoot up my upper shoulder. Since that time there was a faint pain right at the shoulder joint, but which seemed to be passing. I kept training through all this, though not as much on the arms. Then the tear happened three weeks later when I was doing a set of slow eccentric chins. I felt a soft “thunk” in the shoulder joint, but no pain at all. I could still flex the arm (would have been different if the single lower tendon had torn), but I could tell the way the muscle was bunching that something wasn’t right. After the surgery I was told to be very careful with putting stress on it, but not to rest it completely, as some use and tension on it promotes healing. After 2 weeks I got enough movement back into the shoulder, such that I could hold a squat bar on my neck (a little injury like this wasn’t going to stop me…) Now, the arm is as strong as ever. The muscle shape looks a little different, but that’s coz tendons and bone have very poor nerve and blood supplies, so the healing is taking longer. So, the warning sign from this experience is to watch for an acute pain that is felt in or very close to a joint. It is a different pain to a muscle soreness, or lactic acid burn, or a joint stiffness pain. I think the tendon had been weakened by the eccentric bicep injury, and that then carrying my body weight was enough to cause it to tear off. Overtraining (ie not allowing for general healing) was a player in all this.
Kelly,
Dude, I tore part of my hamstring about 3 months ago. I know it’s not a tendon, but it was completely unexpected. I was playing football and was running a drag route across the middle of the field and all of a sudden I just felt this very painful pop in the back of my left leg. The only reason I was able to walk off the field is because my kids were watching my practice and I didn’t want them to see me get dragged off the field. It hurt so bad just to sit. It still hurts. Astro Turf will do wonders on you.
A strain is defined as a stretching or tearing of a muscle or tendon. They are the same thing.
Alex,
Thanks, I honestly did not know that a strain and a tear were the same thing.
Strains-Are when a Muscle is overstreached.
Hey just thought this might help some out there! I think there is some confusion here. To simplify it…
Strained muscles: often called pulled muscles. Is when a MUSCLE is overworked or over stretched.
Sprains: occure when a LIGAMENT is overstreached or partially torn.
Tears: are when a muscle, ligament or tendon are torn. There torn ends grossly disrupt the continuity of their structure.
I myself tore my ACL while doing Gymnastics training. I was doing a gymnastics sequence when I heard a loud pop and I did not get up again! I remember that my legs were also fatigued from training the day before and felt weak. It is never a good idea to train on overly fatigued muscles.