Today I spent some time at the library with my friend while we were waiting for our bus. I didn’t have any work to do, so I walked around the shelves and took out books at random. Some of them were very old, and most were very boring. However, I did find this book that looked like it had come straight from a doctor’s office because it was filled with numerous medical images. I turned to a random page and began reading about the different injuries and procedures that can occur to your arms.
The one that made an impression on me was this procedure called a distal biceps tendon repair. This is the procedure you get after the tendon at your elbow ruptures as a result of an extremely strong contraction of the biceps muscle. It sounds a little bit intense. However, this sort of thing generally occurs in men over the age of 35, and people who are bodybuilders or doing some sort of really physical manual labour job.
The weird thing about this sort of tendon tear is that you have to get it seen to within about three weeks, otherwise it can make surgery really difficult, or sometimes impossible. I learned that’s why it’s so important not to ignore arm pain or just hope it will go away with things like ice packs and rest.
While reading the book, I also learned about an elbow arthroscopy, which is a procedure that surgeons can use to look inside a joint and diagnose problems. The surgeon inserts a small camera into the joint and the images appear on a television screen. These images are then used by the surgeon to guide the medical instruments through the joint. The whole thing sounds pretty intense, if I’m being honest. However, I’m sure it is a necessary procedure and it would be made much more bearable with a friendly and professional surgeon. There are many of these in Melbourne, all highly trained and happy to help their patients with their joints.