Getting old, falling to bits. As per title, any of you had this? Did you have surgery? I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it or not - I'm put off by the long rehab period, but I'm not that keen on living with a bicep that's lost half its fixings.
I'd get that 'fixed'. I have bicep tendonitis and a major tear in my rotator cuff - spoke to doctors and physio's and apart from exercises etc, they said get it 'fixed' if it does tear - we'll worry about that then. It's been a year and it's not ruptured yet, but still causing bother.
If this injury is stopping you doing stuff, especially lifting/cycling, I'd get it sorted.
If I was 20 years younger I think I'd agree with you. But 6 months off in rehab after the op is a significant chunk of the time that I have left. So I was hoping to find someone who has had it done and can tell me if it really takes that long.
I know two lads at work who have had it and both got it fixed asap and did the rehab.
I did mine years ago; tore the tendon off the muscle. Even the consultant I saw through BUPA advised against the operation as due to my age (early 50's) it was unlikely to last. TBH, after all this time I don't really notice a difference day to day.
Decide fast - a month after the injury it won’t be a choice anymore and
had mine fixed within 7 days of injury (nhs)
its not really a waiting list effected thing as waiting is pointless - basically treated as an emergency with the surgeon working our priorities daily - called the hospital every evening at 4 to find out if I would come in the next day.
injury Saturday
minor injuries clinic sunday
Surgery on the Friday morning
about a month before I could drive comfortably 3 months for full recovery
now forgotten about
you need to do the physio (which isn’t in any way arduous) but the success of outcome depends on it
I’m 55 btw as I still got another 20 odd years work to do
Decide fast - a month after the injury it won’t be a choice anymore
Ha! Took a month get the MRI and then more than three weeks to get the result. Although looking at it now it's bloody obvious (just compare the biceps), but nobody looked 🤷♂️
I tore my bicep tendon in March 2025, and I'm still waiting to get an ultrasound on it! It looks pretty normal now, and it doesn't affect me. I waited 6 weeks before I could ride off-road, though, just so my other muscles could adapt.
Be careful reading advice on this. Distal bicep tendon ruptures (elbow end) need repairing as you have effectively lost all biceps activity unless the end reattaches on something else and can still generate some contraction (this does happen)
Long head of bicep ruptures (shoulder end) do not need repairing from a functional point of view as the short head is still intact so you lose very little in the way of biceps contraction but you will have a popeye look to the muscle. The rehab is that lengthy I'm afraid.
If it is painful then it's not the rupture causing your pain, complete tendon ruptures are painless once they settle down.
Having gone through a surgical tendon repair twice I wouldn't want to do it again in a hurry, especially for something that is really more cosmetic than anything else.
Yeah, it's shoulder end. There is some rotator cuff damage too which is where I think the pain comes from. The tendonitis I had before has completely gone, presumably because it's no longer under tension. I think I'll learn to live with it.
I've had a pain down my right bicep for the past few months. Gets worse if I lift my arm above my shoulder or reach behind me. I forget about it until I do one of these actions then it cramps badly and the pain travels up to my neck. Doesn't hurt when riding my bike, unless I have to duck down under a branch, so a similar movement to reaching above my head.
I should probably book a doctors appointment.
