Chronic Tendonopathy as a Unique Cause of Non Traumatic Triceps Tendon Rupture in a (Risk Factors Free) Bodybuilder:...

Distal triceps tendon rupture is an uncommon lesion rarely due to a non-traumatic mechanism. In these cases, the majority of patients show predisposing factors for tendon degeneration: underlying medical co-morbidities, previous systemic and locally injected corticosteroids and systemic anabolic steroids. A clear evidence for an etiopathogeneticroleforchronictendonopathy in triceps tendon rupture is sti 11 lacking.

We report the case of a rare non-traumatic complete rupture of the triceps tendon, at the olecranon insertion, occurring in a healthy male middle-aged non-professional bodybuilder. He presented to our attention with a five days history of weakness, swelling and pain at the left elbow, started after a snapping sound during a single arm triceps extension exercise. He was a healthy sportsman, no smoker and no drinker. He had suffered, in the two months before, of mild bilateral exercise-related elbow discomfort, never limiting his sport and daily activities. The man was treated by an early surgical repair. Histological analysis was conducted on intraoperative samples. The treatment allowed complete remission and return to sport practice without functional deficit.

An overload-related chronic tendonopathy was identified as the unique factor with causal role in the determinism of the above described lesion. This case highlights, for the first time in literature, that just a chronic tendonopathy, in absence of any other predisposing condition, can lead to a non-traumatic complete triceps tendon rupture.