Saw a man today for hyptertension follow-up, who mentioned to me in passing that he had been in the Emergency Department over the weekend. He had felt and heard a "pop" in his arm as he was lifting something heavy.
He had bruising at the base of the biceps tendon, and the telltale biceps bulge. It was feeling better, he said .. so when the ED physician told him the x-ray didn't show fracture … he was relieved .. and was expecting full recovery.
It was a good thing he was scheduled for the hypertension follow-up. A short drive the orthopaedist's office .. and fast-track MRI .. and the tendon injury will be repaired soon. While repair is optional, better results are acheived when the repair is done promptly. If it's not repaired, biceps muscle strength will be diminised by roughly 50%.
