Right bicep Injury -- Any idea what this could be?

[irvin85]

Around May 8 I injured my right bicep weight lifting. I was doing my normal back and bicep routine. The only difference is that since the pandemic, I've cancelled my gym membership and built a garage gym. So now for lat work I do pullups instead of using a cable machine. This may be important since I'm a pretty large guy. I've worked out for years and my max reps are all in the mid 400s. So I generally know my limits.

The 3 days following this workout I went to work. I noticed pain and a pulling feeling coming from my bicep. That Sunday night I decided to see what my bicep felt like when flexing. My right bicep is nearly all soft while flexing while my left still has a large, defined muscle.

I immediately scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. She thought I had partially torn my distal tendon and sent me for an MRI. They did an MRI of my right elbow. It showed no tear. She said I probably tore my muscle.

I felt like there were communication issues from the start, so I scheduled an appointment a couple hours away with a very highly reviewed Houston orthopedic specialist focusing on the arm. First appointment he said it's puzzling to him and his assistant because clinically it's presenting as a torn tendon but the hook test and MRI say otherwise. He sent me for another MRI, this time of the top portion of my bicep and the proximal tendon insertion at my shoulder.

My main symptom is essentially a deflated bicep muscle that will not tighten except for a small piece on the inside of my bicep that essentially feels like it turns straight into my distal tendon. Also severe pain in my bicep when fully extending up or down while I pronate my hand.

Just wondering if anyone may have any ideas while I wait on the second MRI results. Thank you for reading and for any thoughts you may have.

[specialmom]

Gonna say that you've done a great job explaining all of this and taking care of yourself.  You're working with doctors who are digging deeper to figure out your pain.  Are they saying 'bicep rupture'?  That's an actual condition. Years of wear and tear can cause it and it often happens to weight lifters. I do think that normally causes mishape of the area but has a bulging area too, do you have that?  Anyway, you sound to be working with quite an expert and I'll be curious what they determine from the second mri.  Microtears that are harder to see?  That could be the situation you are dealing with.  Did they tell you to do anything?  Ice, nsaids, anything?  I hope that you don't need surgery and can heal on your own but we'll see what they say.  Physical therapy can do wonders as well.  But I think you probably have a few months of working this out, unfortunately.  

[irvin85]

No, no misshapen area really. The entire right bicep is just sort of soft and mushy, it will move some when I flex but there is no hardness to the muscle.

For now I'm taking Duexis for the pain and avoiding using it. I have another appointment tomorrow morning to go over the second MRI. Thanks for the response.