Biceps Tendinitis

Training
1

Has anyone ever dealt with biceps tendinitis? The pic below sums up where I’m feeling pain.

biceps%20tendonitis

I seem to get this under two circumstances:

  1. High rep overhead presses.
  2. Squatting. This is a weird one, but I think I’m having shoulder mobility issues to the point it’s causing a lot of torque on my shoulder, thus a lot of torque on my elbow, just to get under the bar.

I do think a lot of this pain is coming from mobility issues. One thing to point out is the fact that I’ve been slowly packing on mass. When I was floating around 195lbs, I was fine squatting. Now that I’m around 205, no can do. Is there some sort of build up of something that’s causing my terrible mobility? I was fine squatting back in June, but literally can’t even do empty bar without this insane pain.

Any suggestions on what I can do here? Would love to squat again. :frowning:

2

Two options
Lay off the arm for a while, let it heal, and work on mobility/the strength of the muscles there. Maybe get a small thing of collagen.

Try front bar squats, see if that is an option.

2 Likes
3

Do you have experience or anecdotal opinions on using collagen?

4

I recall hearing/seeing studies showing that it helped with joints, so I threw it in as a suggestion.

I have used UC-II and it seems to help, but it looks like plain collagen would be a better deal.

1 Like
5

I think i’m going to go with both options.

I do love me some front squats, but I’d certainly love to back squat again. Perhaps i’ll do some good leg focus + mobility work the rest of the week. I found a couple good YouTube tutorials to watch on how to stretch out/fix the biceps tendon pain area, so looks like that will be the plan for the rest of the week.

6

Safety bar squats perhaps?

7

How I wish my gym had a SSB. You’re right, that’d probably work too.

1 Like
8

If you’ve got the money or quality health insurance, see a physical therapist for impingement syndrome.

9

Yes, I dealt with bicep tendonitis real bad this year. Mine flaired up doing biceps and back work. It was my left bicep. It was the distal tendon by the elbow not up by the shoulder. I took time off, it eased the pain but when I went back to the gym and started lifting again, it started to flair up. I went to my orthopedic doctor and he said a cortisone shot was not an option because it could actually make it worse and cause the tendon to burst. So I was put on physical therapy on it.
Along with physical therapy for 8 weeks, I did the following:

Injected site with BP157 peptide.
Ice baths for 5 minutes directly on the area twice a day.
And real light curls for awhile.

This helped quite a bit. It’s probably 90% better. Every now and then it will ache a little bit but no more pain and it doesn’t stop me from lifting. I hope this helps.

10

I wish I had money or quality insurance lol. I will keep impingement syndrome in mind though if I ever find that my insurance would cover a PT visit/treatment.

My left bicep as well. I do think the distal tendon by my elbow is hurting a little bit I noticed today, but definitely majority at my shoulder. I think at the least, I will stay away from overhead presses (or just limit range of motion), and definitely no more squats since an empty bar left me in shooting pain yesterday.

I’ve seen people say good things about BP157. I’ll have to look into that. I do appreciate your thoughts, Brawn! I hope it heals up even better for you soon enough. I’d be happy with 90%. I usually get back to, what I think, is 100%, but it doesn’t take much for it to act up again. Honestly it seems squats are the worst, while high rep barbell OHP’s are a close second for creating this pain.

11

Might be worth calling them and checking if they’d cover it if you got a referral from your PCP, that’s usually the rule that greedier insurances have.

If so, tell your primary care that you have a PT friend who is pretty sure you have impingement syndrome and wants you to see a PT for it, they should refer you no issues.

1 Like
12

Thanks for the tips! Still learning how to adult properly so these tips are more than welcome. I like the sound of this plan. I’d love to get an official diagnosis because this pain does come and go often enough where it’s like “okay, why does this keep happening?”.

Especially since I literally haven’t squatted, because I can’t, since around the end of June. I have been keeping up with front squats, goblet squats, and of course other leg movements in the meantime at least.

13

Also, I had an MRI done on my left arm area and it confirmed my tendonitis. So my Ortho doctor prescribed Physical Therapy for 8 weeks.
The ice baths are great. It kind of hurts at first but then the skin goes numb and you dont feel the ice anymore. Only go for 5 minutes though, anymore and you could risk damaging the skin.

Its easy to do, get some dixie cups, fill about 3/4 full of water, freeze it, then peel back the top part of the cup exposing about a half inch to inch of ice and then rub on the affected area. The remainder of the cup makes it easy to hold without freezing your hand… It’s reusable numerous times.

1 Like
14

Ouch! Yes, unfortunately, I did. I even had to go into surgery because it was a bit more complicated. But, it took me around five months to fully heal, so I’m glad I’m back on track now. I know there are many tips online that you could follow. Still, I think you should see an orthopaedic specialist or a therapist instead.