advice needed

I am a 60 year old man, a hunter and used to physical work.
 
 I was setting a (115 Lb) 2-man deer stand in place December 29, 2008 and tore the Distal Tendon in my left arm as well as causing some damage to the muscles of the left forearm. The tendon was not a complete tear, but was severe.  My doctor ordered 4-6 months of very limited use of the arm. I am now trying to regain the lost strength in my arm. I am not a body builder or fond of exercise but, I have always worked with tools such as hammers, wrenches...etc. I have built hot rods, worked on my farm and worked my arms enough to maintain good arm strength.  
 
I need some advice on exercises to recover my lost strength. I have been using a 5 lb dumbell for bicep curls (3-5 sets of 30-50 reps daily) for about 2 weeks.  Can someone suggest weights, reps, sets...etc to get my arm back in condition and help prevent future danage to the biceps tendons? 
 
I offer my thanks in advance for all responders.
 
Bob

You'll need to go a bit heavier, once you get to the point of higher rep movements like 30-50 reps you're training slow twitch fibers and anaerobic threshold is a something you'd be considering. Anyway, I'd recommend about 3 sets of 12 with about 20lbs and letting your body rest, muscle cannot grow without rest, training curls everyday is easily going to affect recuperation.

As far as arms go, the biceps make up 1/3 of the upper arm. The biceps are the elbow flexors and in order to have balance at the joint that separates them you'd need to work the triceps too and probably even harder. Triceps are responsible for elbow extensions and any type of movement that requires a push force seeing in order to push against gravity and go away from the body resulting in elbow extension, so working both aspects of pushing and pulling to balance the joint makes sense.

I'd recommend every other day doing about 3 X 12 with 15 or 20lb dumbell curls and overhead triceps extensions.

Personal Trainer/Nutrition Consultant

To add a little more info to MVP's good advice...

[link=http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/shoulder/biceps_tendon_infl/rehabilitation.php]http://www.sportsinjury..._infl/rehabilitation.php[/link]

http://www.itendonitis.com/bicep-tendonitis.html

Bicep has two parts: long and short heads. They are both used in elbow flexion and forearm supination (resulting in the palm moving up or anteriorly). Both bicep heads attach to the elbow by the same distal tendon. So you could strengthen this tendon with your bicep curls plus rotating your wrists. See these two:
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Forearm.html#anchor837441

The inner head is also involved somewhat in shoulder flexion and so frontal shoulder raises and dumbbell flies will also work the bicep but less on the distal and more the proximal tendon. Never the less, its all good.

How is your range of motion as far as turning your palm up or down with elbows at the side? You may find that arm and hand fatigues faster when turning a screwdriver and such.

Having had a partial tear of the distal bicep tendon myself, and electing to have surgery to repair it, I feel your pain. Once my 6 months was over, I could work with light weights. It was at least a full year before I was supposed to go back to any heavy lifting. In the mean time, I knew that higher rep work would help to build the tendons. I chose a weight that I could have done for 20 reps, and did several sets of 15. I did these 2 times a week. I would raise and lower  the weight counting off 2 seconds for each phase of the lift. I would perform them very strict and would keep my elbows at my side and just slightly back. As I gained strength, I could add weight in very small amounts. maybe 1 to 2 pound jumps per week. I did that for 4 weeks. I was then in my  7th month of recovery. I then moved the weight up some and did 10 reps per set with about 80% of the effort I could have used. Once I got into my 9th month, I started using more effort, thus more weight but kept reps to 10 per set. I also did direct forearm work as well. Wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. It was not untill after I had been a year post surgery that I really started lifting more normally again. 

You will need to take care as not to tear it again. Always use strict form and dont get carried away.