Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Anatomy 101

The biceps muscle of the arm (the hamstring is also a biceps) is called this because it has two muscle bellies. At the shoulder there are two places that the biceps inserts into the scapula. The two bellies merge and form one attachment below the elbow. This makes the biceps a "two-joint" muscle. As we all know, it flexes the forearm, but it also helps in flexing the arm at the shoulder (raising the arm in front of you). The tendon that Farve had released was likely the long tendon that attaches at the front of the shoulder. He will still be able to raise his arm becuase he still has his deltoid and the 4 rotator cuff muscles to help with this. His other tendon at the shoulder is also probably intact, and the insertion below the elbow (the one primarily responsible for showing your guns) is definitely intact, otherwise Mr. Favre would not be throwing a ball any time soon.

Basically, his throwing motion should not be greatly impacted, nor should the power behind his throws, which comes primarily from his legs and core. Releasing that tendon will serve to relieve the pain he felt in his shoulder that limited the amount of torque he could apply with each throw. The risk to him is that his shoulder will be less stable without that attachment and could and likely will eventually lead to rotator cuff problems.

As for hoping that Stan Van Gundy would out coach Phil Jackson...one listen to his pep-talks during time-outs should clue you in to his coaching deficiencies.

I agree with the Kobe-face moratorium. However, I like to think of it as the "Angry Wallace Face", (referencing Wallace and Gromit).



4 comments:

Mr.Man said...

So, long term, his arm is slightly less firmly attached to his shoulder, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem, because he has another tendon that attaches the muscle to the shoulder (in addition to all the shoulder muscles that attach to the arm). Any thoughts on ball security? Will his biceps be any weaker overall?

Also, if the other upper tendon was also completely torn, how would that affect him? Would his biceps muscle roll up like a snapped rubber band?

Anyhow, thanks Papa Sal, M.D.

Papa Sal said...

He will lose some strength in his bicep, but not too much. I would guess he should still be able to tuck the ball as that is more of the forearm flexion. If his other upper tendon were to rupture it would probably roll up, but not to the extreme as when the lower attachment ruptures. (This happened to Pudge Rodriguez a number of years ago.)

Papa Sal said...

http://www.itendonitis.com/images/bicepanatomy.jpg

Mr.Man said...

Thanks again. Interestingly, I found this quote, which pleases me, on the web page I put down below---
"For many people, pain from a long head of biceps tendon tear resolves over time. Mild arm weakness or arm deformity may not bother some patients, such as older and less active people."
From--- http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00031

Is it wrong to be hoping that the best player in Packer history suffers from "mild arm weakness or arm deformity"? It feels so right...