Injury ?

T

Targa

New member
Last March I tore my lower tendon that connects my bicep to my lower arm. I had surgery in April and this is the first time since then that I decided to give my Ruger Super Blackhawk a go. After shooting 30 standard 240 grain .44mag rounds I had to call it a day with the Ruger and move down to 9mm, my forearm where the tendon was reattached was pretty sore.
I have never had a injury to my strong side arm and am curious if anyone has had a similiar injury and if so how long did it take before you were fully back in the saddle again or if you ever did fully recover. I am 44, workout often so hopefully that will aid in recovery but honestly, I thought I was good to go until the doctor (my Ruger) informed me otherwise...:eek:.
 
Stop shooting anything with that arm that kicks more than a 22 rimfire. Learn to shoot well one-handed with the other hand, tone your Super Blackhawk down to 44 Special strength, and stop re-injuring yourself. What did your Doctor tell you? A lot of injuries can feel better long before they are 100% healed. Good luck, and don't rush your recovery.
 
Tore my bicep when a saw kicked back. Hurts don't it? I was a while healing but I am healed. You probably need to take it easy. Good time to do the Bullseye thing with your 22 & reap the benefits.
 
Well it appears you over did it, drop down to some lighter loads or 44spl's or even a smaller caliber all together. I know when I really tore up my left ankle there was no fix or back to normal. It was severely damaged and changed my life forever, all you can do is slowly work back to your new limits and learn what they are. Hopefully you have a full recovery but don't rush it.
 
Ok, thank you all, good to know it takes a bit longer to heal up. My Dr. told me to give it six months before I started into my normal activities which I am at as of tomorrow. I will leave the big bore thumpers alone for a while as suggested.
I did enjoy the amount of time I have spent with .22's the last few months, I had forgotten how much fun they are and how quickly you burn through ammo. I think I have an excuse to buy a nice Mark IV...:D
 
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.22's are way under-rated. Getting a lot quality trigger-time with a .22 really pays off when going back to the centerfires. I consider trigger-time on a .22 as virtually mandatory to any shooting session. This is also a good opportunity to improve weak-hand competence.
 
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+1 on the .22s. A Single Six in 22lr would give you good practice for shooting your SBH in .44. Loading mild .44s would also be a good idea.
 
I really liked my friends single six. Beautiful revolver, fun to shoot, but man unloading it made me really appreciate my Rossi Plinker. Its not off the table but it's not at the front of the table right now.
 
I have a different injury from shooting Bullseye Pistol: Trigger finger https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/guide/trigger-finger#1

At one match, I talked about the injury, and out of the five shooters there, three had trigger finger!. My affected finger is the middle finger. One guy, it was his index finger, the other it was his ring finger. I think there is a pattern to this.

Talked about it with another shooter who claims permanent nerve damage to his arm. A different injury, but one he thought he could "shoot through". He did not. That ended his competitive pistol shooting career. Think about that before trying to find out how much your body can take. I would be very certain that no one here is an actual medical doctor and you know, you ought to talk to one if you plan to push it. You might end up with a permanent injury.

I am taking it easy on my shooting hand. Shooting 22lr's, just won an indoor 50 foot match this week. I won't win a 2700 because I am shooting the 22 lr in the centerfire and 45 ACP stage.
 
Age has a lot to do with it.
When I was 12 a injury would heal overnight or at least in a week.
Over 30 to 55 ... figure 12 months .
Over about 56 to 60.....it never heals , you injure something ...it just stays hurting . Some parts just stops working with no injury whatsoever !

I'm 68 , 44 magnum days are over, you learn to appreciate the 38 Special, 22 LR and loading with cast bullets to make light recoiling "special" loads in my S&W Model 58 41 Magnum.
Gary
 
I have had trigger finger on two of the fingers in my right hand, and neither one is my actual trigger finger. The injury is from 44 years of using a shears for cutting fabrics, vinyls, and mostly leather which is really tough on the hand. I also have some nerve damage in my right hand and have tennis elbow in my right arm, and finally tore my right bicep throwing around a roll of heavy carpet by myself. So, I pretty much restrict my handgun shooting to .38 sp and 9mm, with the occasional .357. But the heavy loads in my .41 mag have gotten to be too much so I mostly just shoot them in my Henry.
 
Time-wise, go easy for the next six to nine months. At about 6 months,
go lightly, and give it another try. Be very careful to not overdo it.
 
I would talk to the doctor, and perhaps to a physical therapist. Tendons have somewhat limited blood supply, and healing can be slow. (I actually did some primary research on healing of tendon injuries a few decades ago, and have seen results from test animals under the microscope. The pattern of the blood vessels is segmental, in arcs, and the vessels themselves very often are disrupted by the injury.) Some of the pain may be from a need for reconditioning and/or from minute adhesions between the tendon and its sheath. These are things that may be able to be addressed through PT, part of which may be a graduated approach to your prior shooting habits and abilities.
 
Surprisingly and honestly to my extreme delight, my surgeon didn't recommend PT as being necessary due to what he deemed to be impressive progress on my part in healing and for his part in the excellent surgery itself (cocky...:D). Me being me and a very poor patient, I am all onboard with the absence of PT.
Things have certainly been going well for me in this recovery, I have over done it a time or two in the gym, one time to the point I thought I re-tore the thing but thankfully I did not.
My arm feels much much better today and a light bicep workout went well this morning. Thank you all for your input, I am certainly going to be a bit more cautious on my activities through the rest of the year and then revisit the magnum rounds..:D
 
Targa said:
Ok, thank you all, good to know it takes a bit longer to heal up. My Dr. told me to give it six months before I started into my normal activities which I am at as of tomorrow. I will leave the big bore thumpers alone for a while as suggested.

I did enjoy the amount of time I have spent with .22's the last few months, I had forgotten how much fun they are and how quickly you burn through ammo. I think I have an excuse to buy a nice Mark IV...:D
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I was going to say at least 6 months. There is a lot of edema in the tendon, as well as the Bone. Then the scar has to heal. Since it’s always moving/used it takes longer.

I’m a Radiologist.


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I damaged my left arm leg in a 2008 bicycle accident, My strong arm (right) is OK. I can still shoot my Glock 17, M1911A1 .45s, and my S&W 629.
 
15 years ago I had a bi-femoral bypass performed. Had an incision from my sternum to my pelvis and an incision about 7" long inside groin on each leg.

That took 3 months before I was allowed to return to work with light duty. In all honesty it took the better part of a year before I felt I was back to full strength and didn't hurt.

Now in April I had an open heart bypass. After 3 months the surgeons and my cardiologist said I could start to resume normal activities. Trust me I was very apprehensive the 1st time I went back to the range and was prepared to go home early if I needed to..

I too agree, take your time and heal completely before going back to the Big Guns. The force and shock can re-damage the injury.
 
I am a decade older than you and I have been injured plenty. I can tell you that I realize a long time ago that they are some activities which are necessary to living life and there are those that are not. I would be hard pressed to accept that shooting a 44 mag recreationally is something I "need" to be doing. If it were me, I would focus my efforts on a platform which is more conducive to my current abilities and not risk delaying my recovery. I "want" to play baseball but its not what I "need" to be doing considering the numerous shoulder injuries that I have suffered. Its life and I accept it
 
I have been practicing martial arts my whole life.. Honestly, I don't know if I would do that again cause I now live my life in so much physical pain. Instead I would take up tennis or basketball

Here is the laundry list of injuries I have: multiple fingers with arthritis both right and left hands. right pinky fractured beyond repair almost unmovable. right wrist tendonitis 3 times. left shoulder torn once. nose broken twice - actually, recently broke it the 2nd time, I've got deviated septum surgery next month. left ribs have been bruised 3 times as well. right knee mcl torn twice. back/spine multiple unknown just general problems.

A ligament torn bad enough to require surgery never really heals to be what it was. A tendon fares much better - 6 months if you rehab it correctly.

I am not giving you exercise advice. If I tore these distal tendons, I would be doing pushups maybe, "girl style," for 90 days/3 sets of 12, I would also do bicep curls with 4 - 8 pound weights.. about 50 reps. A protein shake every day.

I am not giving exercise advice. I am telling you what I would do to rehab the tendons. Go see your doctor, and possibly get physical therapy.
 
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