Distal Biceps Injury

Last year around August I injured my left distal biceps tendon. I rested it for a few weeks and after the pain did not go away, I saw an Orthopaedic Dr regarding it. He simply said it was tendonitis and gave me NSAIDS as well as RX'd PT twice a week.

The pain was localized to the anterior portion of my elbow, with pain radiating slightly into my forearm and slightly back into the meaty portion of my bicep. You can feel two pencil eraser sized lumps on the tendon right where it meets the elbow. The Dr. said this was probably scar tissue.

After a month of PT I went back to the Dr. because it was not improving. He ordered an MRI so I had that done. The MRI showed nothing out of the ordinary. The Dr. said to stay off it for a few more months.

After 3 months of taking the NSAIDS and spending 20$ a visit on PT I was pain free and felt like I could climb again. The Dr. cleared me for climbing and off I went.

I started off slow and worked my way up to where I was before the injury.

It is now Mid July and I'm back to having pain again. The pain is now more severe, and is radiating to more areas surrounding my elbow. I saw the Dr. again and he said to stay off of it again, take NSAIDS and maybe get PT.

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse on this one. After my initial injury I became a stickler about stretching and warming up, so I didn't tweak it because I didn't warm up. I gave my self rest days when I was sore and never climbed on sore muscles. I wasn't working out hard and didn't do much bouldering.

Has Anyone suffered from a similar injury? How long did it take before you were 100% again? Did the injury recur?

My Dr. is great, but I feel like its more than just tendonitis. The lumps never went away after my initial treatment, and are still there now. The Dr. said Surgery isn't an option because the MRI did not show any tearing.

I am very discouraged, I love climbing and its hard not to do something you love.

I would suggest going straight to a good PT, if direct access to PT is allowed in your state and on your insurance plan. They are the experts on neuromusculoskeletal problems. A good PT will actually find out what the problem is, instead of just following along with the often used 'tendonitis' for any pain in an extremity, though it could still be just that. Either way, a good PT is the way to go. If you live in the Denver area, I have many suggestions.

Have you considered getting a second opinion from another orthopedist?

I would agree w/ Eric's advice... it doesn't sound like the Ortho (or the PT he referred to knows what's going on).
It sounds like a functional issue w/ your arm, if something isn't doing it's job in your shoulder (or hand for that matter) it will put stress on the elbow.
You need to find someone that can make that call and check the whole functional chain of your left arm.
Sorry not to be more help, but sounds like one of those things that's not straight forward and needs some hands on time to fix.
good luck,
BA

@OP

When you say injured your distal biceps tendon, did the injury develop due to instant trauma, or was there progressive aggravation (overuse injury?)

I ruptured my biceps tendon last spring (RC.com link;page=unread#unread ) but it was pretty obvious what I had done!

Best of luck, and heal up!

Jason

Another orthopedist won't be able to offer much. You already had a negative MRI. The orthopedist's job is to operate...but there's nothing to operate on.

It certainly sounds like tendonitis to me. It went away before with rest, NSAIDs, and PT. My advice is to take time off again and let it cool off. Then when you're ready to start climbing again, consider hiring a personal trainer who can help you develop a balanced workout.

The injury wasn't really acute, however, I remember a specific climb that did it. Foster falls some 11 route. There was an undercling with no feet. I had to pull on it with my left arm to a high right hand undercling. This is what I believe initially aggravated it. I took two weeks off after this.

I was helping a friend lift an engine two weeks later and had to lift it above my chest. This really made it sore. I then had dull aching pain for 3 weeks and this is what prompted my initial Dr visit.

My Dr. Will return next week and i will speak with him regarding my new pain. Until then I'm doing the same PT regime I was doing initially. Elastic band shoulder strengthening, Bicep iso work and lots of heating and icing.

I had a partially torn medial tendon in my bicep. This article helped a LOT: Dr J Article

Check it out. The exercises helped my elbow more than anything else. If it isn't your tendon, it could be a nerve; not sure how to handle that.

Nelson Day wrote:I had a partially torn medial tendon in my bicep. This article helped a LOT: Dr J Article Check it out. The exercises helped my elbow more than anything else. If it isn't your tendon, it could be a nerve; not sure how to handle that.

Your symptoms sound similar to mine - a deep ache/soreness after lifting anything above my chest/shoulder. I was diagnosed with a posterior labral tear in my shoulder joint. Even those your MRI was negative these often don't show up on MRIs. Did you have an arthrogram (MRI with contrast) or a regular MRI? If it was the latter, its possible you could have a tear of the labrum or the biceps tendon that is not showing up on a regular MRI.