Bicep tendon pain

[jbreyes777]

I wanted to pick people’s brain’s on what they do when they have tendon pain, specifically the bicep tendon.

I’ve been getting a nagging pain in my right bicep tendon over the past 2-3 weeks that’s been slowly getting worse. I like to program a lot of pull ups into my upper body work, and I’ve noticed it flaring up during these sessions. Though last week it was really bugging me when I ended some standing curls with hammer curls. Oddly, it bothered me more on hammer curls, and it bothers me more when I do neutral grip pull ups, so there’s something about that forearm position that my tendon isn’t happy about.

Given that it’s my tendon and not muscle soreness, I’m trying to gauge how to go about this. I’m going to remove hammer curls and neutral grip pull ups for now, but I wanted to see what others did to still train upper body when they had this issue, or if they just had to rest it for a while.

EDIT: Thank you for all the feedback all! I wanted to update with some additional info others have asked for:

Routine: I’m doing 5 strength days a week, 2 chest and back focused, 2 leg days, one day that hits arms and then some physical therapy exercises that I need (I’m an actor and did stunts for a while so I have all sorts of issues, though ironically never bicep related.)

My two chest and back days are:

Chest/Back Day 1: Push up and pull ups. I superset push ups and pull ups, so pull up, push up, pull up, push up rest. Basically just stole the challenge from P90x3. I do 4 rounds, so 8 sets of push ups and pull ups.

I do everything with slow 3 second eccentrics. Full ROM. Push-ups on stands for a deep stretch. I’ll end the day with lat prayers with a band or single arm lat pulls to failure.

Chest/Back Day 2:

Superset x2: Weighted Push ups, Pull ups (typically do more pull ups on this day.)

Superset x2: Incline DB bench, DB lat pull over.

2 sets of DB shoulder press

3 Sets dips

2 sets of band lat prayers

Since I do everything with slow 3-4 second eccentrics, there’s a lot of time under tension.

Added to this, I did put on some weight from Halloween through NYE. I’m 5’8, typically around 180-185. Now I’m sitting at 190-195ish.

I have put on muscle mass during this for sure but some extra fat as well, and I’m wondering if my tendons just aren’t keeping up to the extra strain being put on them, at least not so quickly.

Lastly, I haven’t talked to my physical therapist yet because it started to bother me fairly recently, but I plan to soon.

 

[eighty]

@jbreyes777 rest and light weight high reps, only do motions that don’t hurt

 

[mackman55]

@eighty That’s basically what I did for mine. Focused on exercises that didn’t aggravate it and did super high-rep hammer curls with 5lbs to get blood flowing at the end of every session.

 

[jbreyes777]

@eighty I’m going to start moving to this. I reduced my pull up volume today and replaced about half my pull up sets with banded lat prayers, but my arm was still tweaking at the end, so I’ll probably have to reduce the pull-ups even more or cut them out for the time being.

 

[aatif]

@jbreyes777 Tendon rehab I'd all about load management. Enough load to stimulate recovery but not too much loading to cause damage.

 

[dawi]

@jbreyes777 I've had a similar problem with biceps tendonitis in one arm and triceps tendonitis in the other arm that have gotten better with high-volume, very-low weight resistance band training (see Alex Leonidas youtube videos for elbow pain). Have also been taking MSM/turmeric. Also trying to avoid heavy weight isolations that make the pain worse (e.g. hammer curls in your case). YMMV

 

[sherahephraim]

@jbreyes777 I’ve struggled with elbow tendinitis for years and it finally has started to get almost back to pre-injury status.
What worked for me was:
1. Doing tons of very light resistance band work (curls, extensions, rotations and inverse rotations)
2. Versa Gripps for all pulling movements
3. Not doing any type of pull ups
4. … but instead doing 1 arm vertical pulling (on a machine) with my body slightly rotated. Idk why, but that doesn’t provoke my tendons.

I’ve done (1) religiously for a while and am finally able to do pull ups again after 18 months where I couldn’t do a single rep without pain. Take this seriously and don’t rush.

 

[dymesgirl]

@jbreyes777 Judicious use of Versa Gripps has helped a LOT with this issue for me, along with close focus on keeping wrists aligned with forearm.

 

[jbreyes777]

@dymesgirl I haven’t used versa grips yet. I’ve used the wraps around the forearms to help with tennis/golfers elbow, but not versa grips

 

[dymesgirl]

@jbreyes777 I dealt with serious bicep tendinitis on and off for several years in my forties, and had to cut out straight-bar curls and a few other exercises because I was just getting hammered with recurring pain. Since I started using Versa Gripps when going heavy on potential troublemaker exercises, I have been tendinitis-free. They are expensive, but for the amount I use them, they have paid off many times over. Might be worth checking out! I still use straps when deadlifting for low rep work, and I only use the Gripps when I'm going heavy, but they have been a real boon to my training.

One other thought I had- I also found that I had to reassess my grip on heavy squats, because my wrists were inevitably taking a lot of strain when going low bar. The trick of not curling the pinky around the bar but letting it float helped a ton there, too. Wrists flopping back, from squats to preacher curls, always led to tendinitis in my experience.

I guess my main point would be that biceps tendinitis is solvable, and you're not condemned to deal with it from here on out!

 

[ojpalosa]

@jbreyes777 Try 100 light (and I mean that) resistance band curls. Once everyday for a month.

I tried that for my triceps tendon and it got definitely better. Now it doesn't hurt at all even when doing all time heavy exercises.

 

[notsure17]

@jbreyes777 What have your doctor or physical therapist said and recommended?

 

[zaphod1983]

@jbreyes777 Take a break don't do deload just a break
And when you come back lower your volume
Since you clearly aren't recovering from the volume you have
Maybe try a new program
What's your program like rn ?

 

[jbreyes777]

@zaphod1983 Just updated my initial post to include some program details.

 

[hopehad]

@jbreyes777 Go see a sports physiotherapist who can help you determine where exactly the pain is coming from.

They'll probably give you a low load high rep theraband exercise with focus on negatives and/or rest, but only a propper physio should tell you what to do regarding persistant pain, not reddit.

Good luck.

 

[blessedbeverly614]

@jbreyes777 I went to PT for something similar, advice was:

The bicep crosses over the elbow, stretch forearm with arm/hand supinated, hand pointed down. Stretch pec by putting palm flat against the wall, arm extended straight out, and open up the chest

Nagging pain for 2-3 months cleared up quickly, less than 2 weeks.

Edit: this worked for me for my biceps tendinitis, after reading the mod my advice would be go to PT, as others have recommended

 

[ladycherise63]

@jbreyes777 Everything that has been said is great, I would just like to add some thought. If you tear your bicep it’s extremely likely that they won’t even repair it since other muscles do the same action. If they do repair it, outlook isn’t amazing and you’ll likely never be 100% again.

My advice? Tread lightly and rest it. Apply heat to it to increase bloodflow. Light weight and higher reps. Tendonitis takes time to heal and you’re making it worse by continuing your routine. This situation gets a whole lot worse for you if you tear it.

 

[mystifiedk]

@jbreyes777 Possibly a partial tear.

I had the same kind of pain and went to a doctor who said it’s nothing to worry about.

Same week I put it under strain and totally tore the bicep off the bone. Be careful.

 

[tonyangiano]

@jbreyes777 Lots of resistance band work at home from physical therapists on YouTube. Bands are cheap and YouTube is free. Try them all. I also use a twisty stick (15$ or so). I did every video I could find from PTs for all my minor aches and pains using resistance bands.

 

[sugarcookies]

@jbreyes777 Rule 7. See a doctor or physiotherapist.