Day 6 post op

[solidassears]

Well it's 6 days since surgery to repair left arm triceps tendon rupture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJvTataLULQ

I went back to work today and feel pretty good. No real pain and even right after the surgery surprisingly little pain. Left arm in a splint to immobilize it for two weeks and then the PT starts.

Just be careful, it's so easy to cause a serious injury. And there's no do over, there is the long recovery road.

 

[TripleOvertime]

Damn. Be careful not to re injure. Keep us updated on how it goes.

 

[solidassears]

Went to the Doc today, had the splint and stitches removed. The wound was bigger than I inagined, but no real pain. I have 30 degrees of movement I need to get back as in bending my elbow toward my chest. The PT guy says no problem we'll get 10 degrees a week. No stress on anything in that arm for the next month. After that I can slowly start the rebuilding process.

 

[Derek Wilson]

!!! Care should be taken until it is perfectly okay.

 

[solidassears]

!!! Care should be taken until it is perfectly okay.

Great care being taken. I got the graduation ok from the surgeon two weeks ago, he doesn't want to see me again! He said for the next 6 weeks limit your weights to about 70% of your max lift. No problem, keeping the weight well under 70% of max, but doing 25 reps and 4 sets on each exercise working all the upper body areas since I didn't work those since last January. It's coming back much faster than I had dared to hope; trainer says it because of muscle memory.

 

[Derek Wilson]

Great care being taken. I got the graduation ok from the surgeon two weeks ago, he doesn't want to see me again! He said for the next 6 weeks limit your weights to about 70% of your max lift. No problem, keeping the weight well under 70% of max, but doing 25 reps and 4 sets on each exercise working all the upper body areas since I didn't work those since last January. It's coming back much faster than I had dared to hope; trainer says it because of muscle memory.

Congrats for the graduation!

 

[solidassears]

Congrats for the graduation!

Thanks! It feels great! First time in years no elbow pain! After this week I can start lifting heavy again! Yay!

 

[Derek Wilson]

Thanks! It feels great! First time in years no elbow pain! After this week I can start lifting heavy again! Yay!

Welcome!
Please, carry on! Thanks!

 

[REHH]

Wow that looks nasty. How did it happen?

 

[MindlessWork]

Yikes...and I myself hope never have to get an injury like that ever even at my age.

 

[solidassears]

Wow that looks nasty. How did it happen?

The whole thing is a bit long... I had a bone spur in that elbow, went to see the ortho doc and he gave me a shot of cortisone saying that sometimes that will knock the inflammation down enough that the tendon will develop scar tissue and be OK. And it also stopped the pain I'd had for years in the elbow.. So I was moving furniture thinking all was great, no pain feeling great. I pushed a big china hutch with my left arm trying to move it a few inches and POP! The tendon ruptured; hurt like a mofo! I was lucky it wasn't a complete rupture, I broke about 60-70%, but had enough left so that I had use of the arm. That was Dec 24.. surgery was Feb 26. I'm pretty well back to where I was before, this next week I'll start lifting heavy again, been doing 4 sets of 25 reps for the past month.

 

[solidassears]

Yikes...and I myself hope never have to get an injury like that ever even at my age.

You don't want that at any age! It is a bit rare for an old guy to rupture that tendon, it's usually football linemen or big time body builders etc. It is usually a very strong tendon, mine was weakened by the spur and years of trying to lift through the pain and get it to heal up.. A bad idea

 

[MindlessWork]

The whole thing is a bit long... I had a bone spur in that elbow, went to see the ortho doc and he gave me a shot of cortisone saying that sometimes that will knock the inflammation down enough that the tendon will develop scar tissue and be OK. And it also stopped the pain I'd had for years in the elbow.. So I was moving furniture thinking all was great, no pain feeling great. I pushed a big china hutch with my left arm trying to move it a few inches and POP! The tendon ruptured; hurt like a mofo! I was lucky it wasn't a complete rupture, I broke about 60-70%, but had enough left so that I had use of the arm. That was Dec 24.. surgery was Feb 26. I'm pretty well back to where I was before, this next week I'll start lifting heavy again, been doing 4 sets of 25 reps for the past month.

You must have had a shitty ortho that first time and those injections hide things and actually damage the joint more. Good thing this ortho saw the problem and fixed it so hopefully this time it will be better and give you years more pain-free.

I myself have a bone spur but in the shoulder and now I feel it more when lifting so yes it's time for me to get to an ortho to get it removed before it causes more damage.Been too proud to even consider surgery till now...even 50 years later.

Just be careful from now on.

 

[solidassears]

You must have had a shitty ortho that first time and those injections hide things and actually damage the joint more. Good thing this ortho saw the problem and fixed it so hopefully this time it will be better and give you years more pain-free.

Just be careful from now on.

It's the same ortho and he told me the cortisone would weaken the tendon some, but there was a chance I could get it to make enough scar tissue that surgery would not be needed. He also said one injection only.. it was a bit of a gamble, but I thought it was worth a chance. Turns out had to get the surgery anyway. I probably did most of the damage by refusing to stop lifting when it hurt thinking it would get better. I was doing 90 pound skull crushers and after three it would start hurting, but I'm always push for one or two more. That was my bad idea and it did more harm, so I can't blame him for that.

 

[MindlessWork]

It's the same ortho and he told me the cortisone would weaken the tendon some, but there was a chance I could get it to make enough scar tissue that surgery would not be needed. He also said one injection only.. it was a bit of a gamble, but I thought it was worth a chance. Turns out had to get the surgery anyway. I probably did most of the damage by refusing to stop lifting when it hurt thinking it would get better. I was doing 90 pound skull crushers and after three it would start hurting, but I'm always push for one or two more. That was my bad idea and it did more harm, so I can't blame him for that.

Definitely a hard lesson learned and I am wary of getting those shots myself, even with my old knees and elbows screaming.

 

[solidassears]

Definitely a hard lesson learned and I am wary of getting those shots myself, even with my old knees and elbows screaming.

Yeah, I agree the shots are not a good solution, I've had two, one many years ago in the right elbow which actually worked and I never had any trouble with the right elbow again, the left one, not such great results.

 

[TripleOvertime]

Good to hear you are getting back to normal. Now just don't go re injuring yourself sears.

 

[solidassears]

Good to hear you are getting back to normal. Now just don't go re injuring yourself sears.

No kidding, this injury crap really sucks! I'm doing all I know to do to avoid that, but shit happens sometimes..

 

[solidassears]

I'm so damn happy right now I can hardly contain myself!

I worked with my trainer today and he had me do some lifts to see how much strength I had back. I would start with a weight I knew I could handle with 12 reps, depending on how difficult or easy that was, we would increase the weight at 10 or 20 or what ever seemed right for 8 reps. Assuming that went OK, increase again for 4 reps, the keep increasing and sticking with 4 reps until I couldn't do the lift cleanly. We did bench press, shoulder press, overhead pull downs, bicep curls and triceps push downs.

The great thing is that I'm actually even with or even a little stronger now than I was just prior to the injury on Dec 24! I couldn't believe it, Mark was even shocked when I was able to push the bench press with more than I could before.

All I can say is Mark really nailed it in helping me get it all back, at first I was discouraged because he was having me lift such light weights and high reps, but I have to admit, he was right on the money in how he had me work on the recovery.

 

[Montego]

Awesome news

Ease back into the training and keep getting better!

 

[solidassears]

Awesome news

Ease back into the training and keep getting better!

I'm doing that, three days a week and I don't push too hard. Today, was to see how far I had come and I could not be happier! No pain and just feeling good!