bmcollier

It was a beautiful weekend here in Houston, so I completed my door hanger project and promptly took off the doors to try it out. The first three went fine, but as I was carrying my last door from my driveway to my garage I heard three loud pops coming from the general direction of my right elbow, followed by a sharp pain to confirm it. I kept my priorities straight and carried the door over the the soft grass nearby, probably doing further damage to my arm, but at least the door was uninjured.

I went to the doc yesterday and he confirmed what google had already told me, that I had a rupture of the distal bicep tendon, esentially my bicep disconnected from my elbow, and now I am likely looking at surgury to repair, and I will probably only retain 60% of my original strength in that arm. So, as a warning to others, those doors may only be 50 pounds or so, but they are awkward, so be careful.

Keith615

OUCH!!! That hurts just reading about it.

I wish you a quick recovery. Did the doctors say if there was or should of been any other indications other than the weight of the door was too much?

davebloomer

to everyone taking doors off...

When removing drivers side roll the window down grab inside door handle with right hand grab under the mirror with left hand and lift. then your shoulder is in a perfect position to rest most of the weight of the door on it. reverse for passenger. ask for help if you think you may need it. and don't have anything on you that will scratch it up.

this is for full doors.. half doors you're on your own.

im very sorry to hear about this. i hope everything turns out ok and you regain full strength.

atomicmecha

ouch! hope you get all patched up and healed. but yeah, the doors are a little akward to carry. i was thinking of getting a set of those suction handles they use on glass to carry my doors.

defkon

Wow, that really stinks. Hope you feel better soon.
Everyone should learn from this and becareful when taking off the doors.

tx-skydiver

Do you think there may have been prior damage and this just was the final straw? I can't imagine that carrying these doors can do that much damage. Wow. I'm sorry to hear it...especially the 60% thing. Get well soon.

myklt8

It is a torque thing, the weight is not so much an issue, as the twisting. My wife had something simular happen with her thumb when a computer she was carrying shifted a little.
Sorry to hear about your injury, hope it heals better than the Doc is predicting

bmcollier

I don't think so...I've never had a related injury that I noticed, and i work out twice a week with free weights, and have never had a problem taking the doors off before. I think it was just that this was the first time i did it this season, and i was over-confident in my ability to manhandle them.
davebloomers advice to use your shoulder is spot-on, and is usually exactly how I do it. This time however, I was anticipating having to lift the door in the air to hang it from my new brackets, instead of just leaning them against the wall like I had before, so I carried the door in front of me, instead of using a shoulder carry, to avoid the extra step of having to readjust for the lift to the bracket. In fact, that is how I carried them to put the doors back on the Jeep.

bmcollier

I'm an optimist, I think he is just being conservitive with his prognosis, as doctor's are inclined to do these days for fear of litigation if things don't go as planned. Besides as we all know, damage is really just an opportunity for an upgrade!

2K1TJ

Can't believe nobody said....






Seriously, this is a painful and serious injury that I wouldn't wish on anybody. A friend had this happen in high school and his arm looked like it had been pounded with a sledge hammer with all the bruising.

Hope yours isn't that bad and I hope the surgery goes well.