Ruptured rt bicep tendon, cannot drive, how long can car sit w/out charge?

[Ken Lally]

Coming to an abrupt stop on a zip line with flexed arm, popped my tendon right off the bone- surgery on Tues, cannot drive my baby for min 30 days... do I need a trickle charger or can the battery hold up for that long w/out a charge?

Ken

 

[Steve-Indy]

Sorry...put it in "sleep mode" via instructions in owner's manual(I can't remember them)...I personally use the Deltran Battery Tender Plus, but there are others out there.

Good luck with your repair...would NOT count on the "30 days" part. With a minor tear in my shift arm's medial head of my biceps (no surgery) I could not shift a Viper (other than with my left hand) for 3 months...even then, it was difficult at first.

Be SURE that your surgeon/rehab team understand your specific needs and the loads faced before you try much.

Good luck !!!

 

[ROCKET62]

If I was just a little closer - I would have been happy to come over to drive your Viper to "charge the battery" and make sure the fuel did not age . Good luck on the rehab.

 

[fixbone]

I am an orthopaedic surgeeon and the amount of time to recover depends on where the tendon ruptured. If ruptured at the elbow you may be able to do some light driving at 4 weeks but that may be too early. It would really be about 3 months before you could do aggressive shifting and driving. You surgeon may also be putting you in a hinged brace which will make shifting and driving awkward, if not impossible, in the viper. If it is you right arm it will take longer. Shifting hurts more than steering.

If ruptured at the shoulder the recovery is quicker -- half the time. Less painful, too. If ruptured at the shoulder sometimes associated with rotator cuff tears. If that is the case, recovery is much longer.

You should be able to drive an automatic soon after surgery if you are careful.

Good luck.

 

[Ken Lally]

Fixbone-

Thank you- I am a bit freaked by all this, I have my MRI in a few hours to determine partial or full rupture, and I am very concerned about the how this will all play out down the road. Weight lifting is a very imortant part of my life, at 39 mow more a hobby than anything else, I would be very depressed to not be able to return to the gym. I am not keen on surgery, the Dr tells me there is a risk of nerve damage (up down movement of the hand)If I opted not for the surgery how much of my bicept strenght will be lost? I realize this is diff to say since you have not seen my arm... there is about 1.5 inch of "deadspace" where my muscle seems to have rolled up.... do these procedures usually tun out OK? How do I have a clue if my Dr has plenty of experience? He acts confident enough,....

Ken

 

[MoparMan]

I ripped my right triceps off the bone at the attachment lifting weights and was able to drive the Viper when I got it back from the Arrow rebuild about 7 weeks later. Problem is, I've been sick ever since the surgery and now I'm suspecting that I was infected with some sort of virus during the surgery. Fixbone - I have three porcine grafts as well as anchors and stitching. I've read that xenografts can introduce animal viruses to humans - how likely is it that the porcine grafts infected me?

 

[Ken Lally]

I ripped my right triceps off the bone at the attachment lifting weights and was able to drive the Viper when I got it back from the Arrow rebuild about 7 weeks later. Problem is, I've been sick ever since the surgery and now I'm suspecting that I was infected with some sort of virus during the surgery. Fixbone - I have three porcine grafts as well as anchors and stitching. I've read that xenografts can introduce animal viruses to humans - how likely is it that the porcine grafts infected me?

My god! That is horrible,,,I am checking this out too.... did you make it back into the gym, do you consider the injury repaired?

 

[MoparMan]

It's been 19 months since surgery. I was quite ill for the first 6 months or so but worked out anyway (also, I never had any rehab or PT prescribed by the surgeon). I had never been hurt this bad or had surgery like this in all my years of lifting so I didn't know what to expect and figured I was severely overtrained. I went back to the gym 4 days after surgery with my entire right arm in a straight-cast from fingertip to armpit. I had heard you could slow the atrophy of the injured side by exercising the opposite side of the body due to the body's desire to maintain symmetry.Anyway, I was maxing out with legs and my left arm (1 arm presses, db raises, etc) about a week after surgery but I just never felt right after the surgery. Even before going back to the gym I was easily fatigued, was getting the chills (I am never cold) and the shakes. Eventually, I ended up with abdominal pains and nausea. It's all lessened, but the symptoms (plus some others) are still with me. the weirdest thing was the dark stripes on my arm parallel to the incision area. I now suspect they were a sign of an infection. My brother had done quite alot of research on xenotransplantation and xenograft and suspects that the porcine grafts I have may have infected my body (I have a full jacket around the tendon, which was anchored to the bone using weaved stitching through the tendon and grafts - there are three or four anchors in the bone where the tendon reattaches). The fact that my white blood count has continually dropped since the surgery and the fact that my lymph system shows shotty adenopathy support the theory that I was infected with a virus.

I got back to 80% strength (I was benching 335, bent over rowing 275, curling 70 lb dbs, etc all for reps before my injury; so while I wasn't superhuman I had decent power). The repaired elbow still gets irritated easily but in all fairness so does my non-repaired elbow (which also has scarring and degeneration in the atachment). There are still movements I won't go push hard in the gym due to the repair - mostly related to triceps isolation movements. I was repping out incline dumbbell tricep extensions with 50lbs a hand when the tendon came off the bone - it was rep #8 and it took about 1 sec to tear off. BTW: 50lbs was light for me at that time as I would regularly work the 70's for 10 to 12 reps. Anyway, the most I've done with that movement since surgery is 25 lbs for reps.

You should be ok with a biceps rupture as it is a far more common injury than mine (I was told it's very rare to rupture a triceps attachment - perhaps fixbone can comment) so they should have alot more experience with your repair. Also, I don't think they'll need porcine grafts with your repair unless the tendon is heavily damaged. However, you should discuss xenografts and the risks therein with your surgeon prior to surgery. I was completely uninformed and didn't even know what sort of method was used to repair the triceps until they cut off my cast 12 days after surgery.

Sorry for the lengthiness of this. Also, fixbone, I would appreciate your take on my situation as I have an appointment with an infectious disease specialist on Monday to see if they hosed me up during surgery.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Ken, I certainly did not want to upset you, but felt obligated to dial down your expectations a little...as your question was really time related in terms of the Viper's battery.

YOU WILL BE FINE !!!! Glad "fixbone" jumped in, as this was not my personal area.

Take whatever time that is necessary to get yourself back to 100%...and, again, be sure to share ALL of your activities and expectations with your medical team ON THE FRONT END. One HATES to see a successful repair fail to meet long term expectations because of an avoidable misunderstanding concerning activities that can take place during the rehab phase.

 

[fixbone]

Not to make this forum overly medical just a few more comments. There is the possibility of disease transmission from porcine (pig) tissue. One author states:


"Since clinical trials were first proposed almost 10 years ago, the degree of risk for infection transmitted from the xenograft donor to the recipient has been extensively investigated. A number of potential viral pathogens have been identified including porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), and porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus (PLHV). Sensitive diagnostic assays have been developed for each virus."

All of those viruses can be tested for.

Ken, the chance you would need a "porcine" graft is miniscule. If it is a chronic tear we sometimes use human cadaver tissue (A whole other issue) but with your acute tear they should be able to fix it fine without having to use any other tissue from any other source. I wouldn't worry about getting a disease from the surgery. You should get it fixed, though, because ruptures at the elbow will leave you weak if left alone.

 

[MoparMan]

fixbone - thanks for the response. I'll have the infectious disease people check for each. I already knew about PERV (my wife says I'm a perv - go figure!) and PCMV (most humans are exposed to CMV by the time they're adults, but is the porcine variety different?). I hand't heard of PLHV - I'll check it out.

Is it normal to use porcine grafts for a triceps reattachment or is cadaver tissue more frequently used?

 

[cmetz]

Is it too late for me to get in on this? I'm an ortho also, specializing in only the upper extremity, so I have a lot of experience with this injury. I presume that the tendon was torn at the elbow, which requires surgery for almost everyone. If it is at the shoulder, you should NOT be having surgery. Fixbone is right pretty much about everything he's said: Don't worry about viral transmission, porcine or other grafts should never be used for an acute biceps tear, triceps tears are very, very unusual and rare and worse than biceps tears, his outline of 4 weeks light and 12 weeks full recovery are right on.

I would address your other concerns about the weightroom by saying that all or nearly all of my patients have had a 100% recovery (we never know since sometimes patients don't follow up at 6 months or beyond - but we guess that is because those patients have recovered fully), with normal strength in the operated arm. I prefer the 2 - incision technique over the 1 - incision, because nerve damage is known to be less likely. Still, the risk of permanent neve damage is miniscule. The fact that your surgeon mentioned it makes me think he is qualified and experienced at this procedure. If there is a "deadspace" just above your elbow, then there is no doubt that this is a full, complete tear and requires surgery for the best outcome. Without surgery, you'd lose approximately 40-60% of your flexion (bending, curling) strength, and 50-70% of your supination (turning the palm upward) strength.

About your surgeon's qualifications, I would HIGHLY recommend searching www.aaos.org and clicking "Find and Orthopedist" on the left column. If your doc comes up, then that means he/she is a member, and highly qualified. You may also check www.assh.org and click "Find a Hand Surgeon" at the top right. This will tell you if he/she is in the hand society, which indicates a high degree of specialization and extra training/testing in hand. Most hand surgeons who are orthopedists (some are plastics) do alot of biceps tendon surgery.

Hope it helps, and good luck with your recovery.

 

[vipernut]

Re: Ruptured rt bicep tendon, cannot drive, how long can car sit w/out char

Ken...just a quick note to let you know I empathize with you.....I fractured my left foot the day before I bought my SRT.....I was able to gently drive her home 6 weeks later....(the dealer was nice enough to hold her for me).....however...(now that she's home)...I am taking it real easy because I don't want any permanent damage to my foot.....
I want to get back to where I was before the break!! So even if this summer is somewhat of a wash......I'll have many more ahead of me!!
So my (a lay-person's) advice is take it easy! Do what's comfortable!! Don't overdo!!