Bicipital Tendonitis back or is it something else?

[BeauJangles]

Hey guys, about two months ago I had a bad bout of bicipital tendonitis (or at least that's what the trainers believed it to be). I basically had moderate ache-y pain on the inside of my elbow joint at the base of my bicep. After a little rest and some ice it went away. Yesterday I was deadlifting and I kinda felt it again, just a dull ache. Today, while I was practicing some light power cleans it flared up again. This time the pain was a little more intense. I stopped lifting immediately. Anyway, I came home and it's still bothering me a little bit but the pain is subsiding. I'm going to throw some ice (20 on 40 off) and treat it like tendonitis, but I'm not 100% sure it is.

In short:

Pain is a mild to moderate ache at the base of my bicep on the interior of my elbow. The area does not appear red or swollen, nor is it particularly painful to the touch. It flared up today while practicing cleans and hurt the other day during deadlifts. The pain is subsiding as time goes on however at it's peak it was enough for a slight grimace.

Thanks

 

[SociallyChallenged]

It clearly sounds like some sort of tendinitis. The thing with tendinitis is that you (often times) can't just rest a bit and go back 100% into your previous activities. What you need to do is a little bit of rehab. That means doing some light work on the arm-bike (10ish minutes at a relaxed speed and ROM that causes no pain), some bicep, tricep, and forearm exercises as well (do them super light with minimal pain and slower increase). You should do that and other exercises that don't aggravate the bicep - mainly squat, cardio, maybe the presses. Ice it after activity every time (15 on, 15 off, 15 on, 15 off) and take some ibuprofen before you sleep to keep inflammation down and speed healing. If you do this, it may take as little as 2 weeks to subside a bit. However, if you continue with activity, it's just gonna get worse and worse. That's why tendinitis is a bummer. If it just doesn't get better, go see a doctor and get physical therapy. They'll fix it for sure. Best of luck.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
It clearly sounds like some sort of tendinitis. The thing with tendinitis is that you (often times) can't just rest a bit and go back 100% into your previous activities. What you need to do is a little bit of rehab. That means doing some light work on the arm-bike (10ish minutes at a relaxed speed and ROM that causes no pain), some bicep, tricep, and forearm exercises as well (do them super light with minimal pain and slower increase). You should do that and other exercises that don't aggravate the bicep - mainly squat, cardio, maybe the presses. Ice it after activity every time (15 on, 15 off, 15 on, 15 off) and take some ibuprofen before you sleep to keep inflammation down and speed healing. If you do this, it may take as little as 2 weeks to subside a bit. However, if you continue with activity, it's just gonna get worse and worse. That's why tendinitis is a bummer. If it just doesn't get better, go see a doctor and get physical therapy. They'll fix it for sure. Best of luck.

Thanks man, that's what I thought but I wanted to make sure! Rest ice rehab time.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
It clearly sounds like some sort of tendinitis. The thing with tendinitis is that you (often times) can't just rest a bit and go back 100% into your previous activities. What you need to do is a little bit of rehab. That means doing some light work on the arm-bike (10ish minutes at a relaxed speed and ROM that causes no pain), some bicep, tricep, and forearm exercises as well (do them super light with minimal pain and slower increase). You should do that and other exercises that don't aggravate the bicep - mainly squat, cardio, maybe the presses. Ice it after activity every time (15 on, 15 off, 15 on, 15 off) and take some ibuprofen before you sleep to keep inflammation down and speed healing. If you do this, it may take as little as 2 weeks to subside a bit. However, if you continue with activity, it's just gonna get worse and worse. That's why tendinitis is a bummer. If it just doesn't get better, go see a doctor and get physical therapy. They'll fix it for sure. Best of luck.

Thanks man, that's what I thought but I wanted to make sure! Rest ice rehab time.

Not a prob. And in my experience, taking the ibuprofen at night has really helped. A lot of the healing processes take place while sleeping and reducing that inflammation during that critical period can really help a lot.

 

[StageLeft]

Agree about the rehab. Also be careful not to let a tendinitis hang around for too long or else it can turn into something much worse and then you will really be pissed.

Not a prob. And in my experience, taking the ibuprofen at night has really helped. A lot of the healing processes take place while sleeping and reducing that inflammation during that critical period can really help a lot.

I've read some stuff though that says that ibuprofen in fact inhibits recovery in tendon issues and that conventional wisdom was to jack up on it but perhaps it was not accurate...

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Agree about the rehab. Also be careful not to let a tendinitis hang around for too long or else it can turn into something much worse and then you will really be pissed.

Not a prob. And in my experience, taking the ibuprofen at night has really helped. A lot of the healing processes take place while sleeping and reducing that inflammation during that critical period can really help a lot.

I've read some stuff though that says that ibuprofen in fact inhibits recovery in tendon issues and that conventional wisdom was to jack up on it but perhaps it was not accurate...

Well, I've never been one to go overboard with pills, so I'll probably take 2 before bed and see how my recovery proceeds. Tendinitis is an evil, evil thing because until it gets really bad you can keep working through the discomfort. It's only later that you wind up paying for it. I had it in my knee at one point a few years ago and it was one of the most aggravating injuries I've ever had.

Let's hope this one clears up in a few weeks.

 

[StageLeft]

I had it in my knee at one point a few years ago and it was one of the most aggravating injuries I've ever had.

How'd you fix it? I'm now going on four years with mine (now tendinosis). Woot!

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

I had it in my knee at one point a few years ago and it was one of the most aggravating injuries I've ever had.

How'd you fix it? I'm now going on four years with mine (now tendinosis). Woot!

For me it was lots and lots and lots of rest. It got painfully bad in October and I don't think I started anything physical again until January or February of the following year. I avoided biking, climbing stairs, everything. I iced it regularly and any time I felt the slightest discomfort I stopped whatever I was doing. It was one of the most miserable periods of my life because most days I felt like I could go out and do anything but I knew that the pain would flare up.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles

Originally posted by: Skoorb

I had it in my knee at one point a few years ago and it was one of the most aggravating injuries I've ever had.

How'd you fix it? I'm now going on four years with mine (now tendinosis). Woot!

For me it was lots and lots and lots of rest. It got painfully bad in October and I don't think I started anything physical again until January or February of the following year. I avoided biking, climbing stairs, everything. I iced it regularly and any time I felt the slightest discomfort I stopped whatever I was doing. It was one of the most miserable periods of my life because most days I felt like I could go out and do anything but I knew that the pain would flare up.

Yeah, I tried that, too, for several months, but ultimately it only helped, didn't solve it. The best results I've had have been with specific therapeutic exercises for my knee (namely, eccentric one-legged squats!).

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Agree about the rehab. Also be careful not to let a tendinitis hang around for too long or else it can turn into something much worse and then you will really be pissed.

Not a prob. And in my experience, taking the ibuprofen at night has really helped. A lot of the healing processes take place while sleeping and reducing that inflammation during that critical period can really help a lot.

I've read some stuff though that says that ibuprofen in fact inhibits recovery in tendon issues and that conventional wisdom was to jack up on it but perhaps it was not accurate...

"The researchers found that COX-2 inhibitors appeared to interfere with patellar tendon healing. This was demonstrated by the following incidence of tendon repair suture failures: control (0 failures out of 23 specimens), acetaminophen (0/24), celecoxib (6/22), ibuprofen (0/23), naproxen (3/24), piroxicam (4/24) and valdecoxib (10/24)."

From this link which is quoting a researcher. Ibuprofen caused no incidence of tendon weakness. With my personal experience, I would definitely continue to take it at night for healing. Some were very bad while some like ibuprofen didn't have any affect. Just make sure you're taking ibuprofen.

Oh, also found this quote:

"Ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not appear to inhibit healing strength."

It's interesting that some do effect tendon strength though. Thanks for mentioning that, Skoorb. Haven't heard of that before.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Agree about the rehab. Also be careful not to let a tendinitis hang around for too long or else it can turn into something much worse and then you will really be pissed.

Not a prob. And in my experience, taking the ibuprofen at night has really helped. A lot of the healing processes take place while sleeping and reducing that inflammation during that critical period can really help a lot.

I've read some stuff though that says that ibuprofen in fact inhibits recovery in tendon issues and that conventional wisdom was to jack up on it but perhaps it was not accurate...

"The researchers found that COX-2 inhibitors appeared to interfere with patellar tendon healing. This was demonstrated by the following incidence of tendon repair suture failures: control (0 failures out of 23 specimens), acetaminophen (0/24), celecoxib (6/22), ibuprofen (0/23), naproxen (3/24), piroxicam (4/24) and valdecoxib (10/24)."

From this link which is quoting a researcher. Ibuprofen caused no incidence of tendon weakness. With my personal experience, I would definitely continue to take it at night for healing. Some were very bad while some like ibuprofen didn't have any affect. Just make sure you're taking ibuprofen.

Oh, also found this quote:

"Ibuprofen and acetaminophen did not appear to inhibit healing strength."

It's interesting that some do effect tendon strength though. Thanks for mentioning that, Skoorb. Haven't heard of that before.

Well, for what it's worth the doctors I spoke to always recommended a fairly heavy dose of it while trying to get over my issue. I suppose I picked up something on some forum somewhere, just not quite 100% accurate, since it's drug-specific 🙂