Hi,

I recently underwent surgery to have my torn biceps tendon repaired, and I wanted to know if anyone else had experienced this kind of injury or similar before. How did you go about getting back on the water? Any other fitness activities to do other than watch cricket and drink beer? I want to keep the volume on my board and not on me. Any feedback would be great, really I should have waited until the end of summer but in order to irrationally justify expensive sporting purchases I need to get back to work to fund them.

Cheers in advance

Ulesys,

I had a ruptured bicep repaired about 10 years ago at age 54. It was very slow going for a couple of months and then suddenly one day it felt pretty good. Others have told me they had similar experiences. After that, normal strength returned fairly quickly. The only noticeable difference was that the affected bicep would fatigue quicker than the other, but not really a big deal.

Now 10 years later, all is well with no real problems except my penmanship is awful. I assume from mucking about in my arm and confusing the nerves a bit during surgery. No problems paddling whatsoever.

I would assume you will be just fine in fairly short order. Hope this helps.

Hi Ulesys. In the last couple of years I've had a full hip replacement (best thing ever) and a Laminectomy (Spinal Cord Fusion/Vertebrae being sculpted). Obviously, not what you've done but I can tell you that like most GP's they don't understand the benefits of the various types of SUPPING. In your case I reckon when the pain recedes you probably can flat water paddle, but use common sense. If on the first stroke it hurts stop straight away don't try and paddle through the pain it won't work. Waiting is hard but think about going through about the OP again. The Laminectomy had me out of the water for three months and very stiff for another three but is all good now. 18 months down the line I had a full hip replacement, which was a much shorter recovery time. I went for a surf in 2 footers after 4 weeks and had a ball. I got cocky and three days later I went out in 1and half times head height and got creamed. The result was that I decided to wait the extra five weeks. Unfortunately bodies heal at their own rate, but if you're fit to begin with it helps. Your body should tell you what you are capable of. Listen to it!!