Busted Bicep

[supersize77]

I been lifting heavy 4-6 reps for the past 6 moths and my left bicep has become extremely sore. Its progressed from a slight twinge to a deep ache. I have tried to work around the pain but now it even hurts to flex it. It hurts the worst when hoisting DBells up to do shoulder presses or Inclines (I was using 100 & 120's respectively (I feel a stabbing pain along the biceps and directly below in the bend). As far as curls, forgetaboutit, I can still do 70 on DBells but man the pain. My question: should I just take a few weeks off completely?; or just do exercises that dont hurt the biceps including machines and raise the reps to lighten the stress to my joints while not training bis directly at all. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This really sucks because lifting weights is my outlet for stress.

 

[scotty2]

See a Dr regardless. Is it a dull ache or a sharp pain. A deep ache would signify tendonitis probably. Sharp pain may represent a tear or something worse. If strength is still there, probably not a tear. Ice it, take anti-inflammatories, see the Dr.

 

[supersize77]

See a Dr regardless. Is it a dull ache or a sharp pain. A deep ache would signify tendonitis probably. Sharp pain may represent a tear or something worse. If strength is still there, probably not a tear. Ice it, take anti-inflammatories, see the Dr.

The pain is a dull ache acompanied by a sharp pain when I move certain ways. Its weird I can deadlift 500 with no pain in my bi but if I rotate my forearm to a supinated position I get a stabbing pain in my biceps and upper forearm. Strength is still there even with the pain present, and although it has gotten progessively more painful my bicep strenght has actually increased. I DON'T want this thing to turn into a full blown rupture. Do you really think a walk in doc will do me any good, or will he just give me the runaround?

 

[scotty2]

See an orthopedic or a sports trainer. It is, most likely tendonitis. I get it every winter when bulking. The pain is almost debilitating.

 

[msclbldrguy]

sounds like tendinitis...i'd get a doc or sports trainer to check it out as well. good luck...been the tendinitis route..and it does hurt. hampers the workout too...

 

[supersize77]

Thanks for the responses, I'll try to talk to a sports trainer but I'm expecting the ol' RICE response. I will probably take about 2 weeks off completely to let it heal (thats gonig to suck) and concentrate on cardio and eating clean. I just dont see any other way to let it heal besides a layoff-do you?

 

[locoangmo]

I am dealing with similar pains in my left arm now. It isn't a good time in my schedule to take time off, so I work around the pain. Light or no curls with injured arm and then use a limited ROM to stay away from the pain. No chins, light pulldowns. Have someone help to get dumbbells in place for shoulder press. The pain has subsided some.
Dr. and rest is your best bet but if you can't you might try my approach to keep you on your summer cut cycle or whatever your immediate goal may be.
Good Luck, LOCO

 

[supersize77]

I am dealing with similar pains in my left arm now. It isn't a good time in my schedule to take time off, so I work around the pain. Light or no curls with injured arm and then use a limited ROM to stay away from the pain. No chins, light pulldowns. Have someone help to get dumbbells in place for shoulder press. The pain has subsided some.
Dr. and rest is your best bet but if you can't you might try my approach to keep you on your summer cut cycle or whatever your immediate goal may be.
Good Luck, LOCO

Besides pulldowns, what other back exercises are you using to "work around" the pain-hammerstrength rows, bbell rows? Supinated back exercises actully irritate my biceps less that pronated ones.

 

[scotty2]

I work through the pain. I KNOW it's tendonitis and that no further injury will result. Get checked out first.

 

[supersize77]

I work through the pain. I KNOW it's tendonitis and that no further injury will result. Get checked out first.

I feel you on that bro, If I knew no fruther injury would result I would definitely work through the pain. This has been getting progessively worse although strenght has improved, the last thing I want to do is sustain a serious tear because I went with my feelings and pushed through the pain, without getting it checked.

 

[locoangmo]

Besides pulldowns, what other back exercises are you using to "work around" the pain-hammerstrength rows, bbell rows? Supinated back exercises actully irritate my biceps less that pronated ones.

DB rows, T-bar rows (palms toward me), single arm cable rows (palm neutral), single arm pull down using cross over cable. All with heavy weights (6-8 reps failure) and light pulldowns (palms forward) with wider than my normal grip. Pain interferes with chins no matter which grip I take so I don't do em. I still get a good work out with minor pain and I am actually slowly healing.
LOCO

 

[supersize77]

DB rows, T-bar rows (palms toward me), single arm cable rows (palm neutral), single arm pull down using cross over cable. All with heavy weights (6-8 reps failure) and light pulldowns (palms forward) with wider than my normal grip. Pain interferes with chins no matter which grip I take so I don't do em. I still get a good work out with minor pain and I am actually slowly healing.
LOCO

Cool, I'm glad you can still train heavy on most exercises-for me heavy is the only way to train. I do back tonight, and I'll try some of your suggestions and see how it feels.

 

[LunaHotel]

Some advice : Buy some Devil's Claw Root. In little glass vials. It's a natural anti-inflammatory without side-effects. Take 2-3 vials the first day, then 2 every day for a few. If it helps, then it's an inflammation and the doc will most likely prescribe anti-inflammatories that can have severe side-effects.

He can also offer to shoot your elbow with some cortisone, which will heal it, but WEAKEN the whole area, meaning ligaments, bone, muscle will all be negatively impacted.

So my suggestion is : try the natural way, if it helps good. Doesn't mean not to go see the Doc, but if he says it's tendonitis, you MAY want to treat it with such a thing. It's cheap, and you can take it all the time even when the pain is gone as a preventive measure.

Oh, and one last thing : it is difficult to HEAL tendonitis. Taking a 2-week layoff sounds nice, but it will probably do very little for it. You'll train with no pain once or twice after, then it will quickly come back, in all likelyhood. Devil's claw root, dude. ;-)

 

[supersize77]

Some advice : Buy some Devil's Claw Root. In little glass vials. It's a natural anti-inflammatory without side-effects. Take 2-3 vials the first day, then 2 every day for a few. If it helps, then it's an inflammation and the doc will most likely prescribe anti-inflammatories that can have severe side-effects.

He can also offer to shoot your elbow with some cortisone, which will heal it, but WEAKEN the whole area, meaning ligaments, bone, muscle will all be negatively impacted.

So my suggestion is : try the natural way, if it helps good. Doesn't mean not to go see the Doc, but if he says it's tendonitis, you MAY want to treat it with such a thing. It's cheap, and you can take it all the time even when the pain is gone as a preventive measure.

Oh, and one last thing : it is difficult to HEAL tendonitis. Taking a 2-week layoff sounds nice, but it will probably do very little for it. You'll train with no pain once or twice after, then it will quickly come back, in all likelyhood. Devil's claw root, dude. ;-)

Very interesting. Where can I get the vials of this stuff(I think I've seen the pills sold at GNC a while back, but not vials)-I'm pretty much desperate at this point so I'll give it a try, and thanks for the advice. I work all the time so I probably wont get to the doc for a least a week or so but plan on taking one week off, iceing, using Biofreeze before I train, starting back slowly and carefully (picking exercises that dont irritate it as much) and trying some Devils claw root.
I think your're absolutely right about taking 2 weeks off having limited benifits. I took a week off in January while I was on my honeymoon and was having the same problem with biceps pain (though not as bad). The first 2-3 workouts after the layoff were virtually pain free but obviously that did not last which brings me to my present predicament. This also leads me to believe its tendonitis. One more thing, asuming I'm wise in my decision making, and very careful, can I train with this tendonitis in my bicep for years to come or does the pain sometimes eventually become unbearable? Also am I at increased risk for further injury with tendonitis (assuming thats what it is-which is what I believe at this point) such as tears strains-in other words could this pain be a warning sign of something bad in my future?

 

[supersize77]

Cool, I'm glad you can still train heavy on most exercises-for me heavy is the only way to train. I do back tonight, and I'll try some of your suggestions and see how it feels.

I did back today (instead of last night) and the pain was bad but not unbearable. I tried some pronated chins and just couldnt do them (I did do 50 supinated with no weight and supinated grip). This seems strange since supinated grip brings more biceps into the movement but its the only way I can presently train my back. Couldn't do T-bars as "24 hour" doesnt have one so I did supinated grip Bbell rows (hurts to much pronated-very strange) and finished off with deadlifts. Lower Bicep felt strained when doing 400 lbs on DL but did them anyway. Oh well, at least I can still train (for now).

 

[LunaHotel]

I live in Montreal, Canada, about as far apart as we can be and still be in "North America"... So I can't tell you where you can get the stuff, unless you want to buy them here ;-)

Seriously though, the vials are much stronger and better. If you can't find them, then buy the pills and swallow 15 at a time or so. I've done that. Here in MTL the Devil's Claw Root in vials is available where they sell biological and natural foods and suchlikes... Not GNC but much more "nature" store-types.

You need to take care of that injury, man. Otherwise, yes, the pain will probably become unbearable. You might end up barely being able to bend your elbow for weeks, and other injuries, such as worn-out cartilage and even tendon tears CAN be had, in truly extreme cases.

 

[supersize77]

I live in Montreal, Canada, about as far apart as we can be and still be in "North America"... So I can't tell you where you can get the stuff, unless you want to buy them here ;-)

Seriously though, the vials are much stronger and better. If you can't find them, then buy the pills and swallow 15 at a time or so. I've done that. Here in MTL the Devil's Claw Root in vials is available where they sell biological and natural foods and suchlikes... Not GNC but much more "nature" store-types.

You need to take care of that injury, man. Otherwise, yes, the pain will probably become unbearable. You might end up barely being able to bend your elbow for weeks, and other injuries, such as worn-out cartilage and even tendon tears CAN be had, in truly extreme cases.

I looked for Devils claw in a sup store today. They didnt have it but directed me to a place that might have it right down the st. from my house, so I'll check it out beginning of next week. I want to take care of this injury, but I still want to workout. I wouldnt say its extreme yet but it could be if I'm not careful. Still going to take a week or more off and start back slow, as well as ice and plenty of warmups. Other than that, I don't know what to do.

 

[LunaHotel]

Sounds good, dude. Keep us posted!

 

[supersize77]

Sounds good, dude. Keep us posted!

I will, and thanks for the info.

 

[LunaHotel]

So what's up dude? It's been 6 days... Has the Devil's Claw Root helped at least a little? I'm betting you're just tooooo busy back in the gym to keep us informed huh?

Let us know how you're doing!

 

[supersize77]

So what's up dude? It's been 6 days... Has the Devil's Claw Root helped at least a little? I'm betting you're just tooooo busy back in the gym to keep us informed huh?

Let us know how you're doing!

Thanks for asking. You know What man?! As I'm sitting here typing this the pain in my bicep is not quite as bad! I have been taking the Devils claw root in pill form (about 10 at a time) because I'couldn't find the liquid-Bro, you may be on to something with this stuff, I can't say for sure as I have taken a week of and only worked out once since then (Sat.), but all I know is the pain is getting better so I'm going to stick with DCR for a while and see if I continue to improve. I switched to a 2 day a week rountine (off of AST website) to give myself plenty of recovery time between workouts, and I'm going to keep the reps on biceps exercises at 15 to minumize trama to the tissue and mayby rehap the area a bit (same rep sceme for back exercises), still squat bench and DL heavy to keep my strenght. Again, DCR may be something special and I thank you again for your advice. One more thing, I'm not sure if it will help but I've ordered some Now Glucosamine / Chondroitin to see if it will assist in healing the area, not sure about this stuff although I've heard good things-I'll try anything to train injury free.

 

[scotty2]

Also, forgot to mention, DO NOT do barbell curls. This exercise has plagued me everytime I've done them.

 

[supersize77]

Also, forgot to mention, DO NOT do barbell curls. This exercise has plagued me everytime I've done them.

Thanks. I'm assuming you do d-bell curls for bis. Got anything else for injury prevention or rehab? How about cables or light concentration curls?

 

[scotty2]

I use the cambered bar for b-bell curls, haven't had any pain.

 

[LunaHotel]

That's good to know, supersize77. Glad to do my little bit About chondroïtin / glucosamine : this will heal cartilage. Since we don't know if your cartilage is affected or not, it's a good idea to take it.

I actually discovered DCR because I was taking glucosamine for my knee, which had excessive cartilage wear. The glucosamine seemed to make SOME difference, but when I added the DCR it was just SO much better... So both together are definitely a good combo IMO.

Straight-bar BB curls? Yikes! Done that a few times and all it does is give me PAIN. I just can't understand how some guys can do heavy BB curls... Prolly just the way I'm built... And scotty2

Cheers bros

 

[Blacksmith]

I have Bicep tendonitis in my right arm from pitching. I'm playing hardball for the first time in 20 yrs and got a good case of tendonitis from not warming up enough. The eccentric motion (lengthening of the bicep) as one releases the ball and the muscle trying to slow down gave me this problem. It doesn't help that I also lift heavy. Anyway what is helping for me is wrapping the area with a thermacare heat rap. About an our before working out or throwing. I use an elastic sleeve on top of the heat rap to hold it in place. Once the area is warmed up I stretch it out several different ways for 20 minutes. This really seems to help.

Also I am supplementing with Glucosamin-Chondrotin(Movefree by Shiff)

MSM, Bromelain (on empty stomach), Ruta, Arncia, and DMSO(we know where to get that).

I'll add the Devil's Claw Root. Probably can find it at Vitamin Shoppe.

Anyway that's my current experience.

BTW ....DO NOT DO CORTISONE !!!

Hope that helps.

 

[LunaHotel]

Blacksmith I see that you use heat... Do you use ice AFTER the workout/pitching?

OH, and BTW : Devil's Claw Root isn't like the anti-inflammatories the doc will prescribe, which will have a strong effect right away. DCR is milder, but it has the benefit that you can take it all the time, and as a preventive measure. So, when you start taking it, keep going for a couple weeks : you will CERTAINLY feel a difference... It kinda builds up...

 

[Blacksmith]

Originally posted by LunaHotel
Blacksmith I see that you use heat... Do you use ice AFTER the workout/pitching?

 

Usually I don't need to. BUt if it's after a game I will.

Thanks for the additional DCR info

 

[supersize77]

I did back and bis yesterday and the pain in my left bicep forearm was just as bad as before my layoff, almost like it was only lying dormant during my time off. The pump felt good anyway and I pushed through with exercises that agrivated it the least as well as a slight increase in reps (decreased weight) and attention to good form. I'm currently in the process of setting up an appointment with a chiripractor who does ART, because I think that only hands on treatment (hopefully not surgery-probably not) is the answer for this as it has been going on several months with no real relief. Still going to take DCR (which may be helping slightly) and adding Glucosamine/Chondroitin to it. BTW I always ice after I workout (injured area) and use Biofreeze before hand to warm the area up-both of these remedies seem to help some, but like I said its time to take my treatment to the next level. The guy I'm looking to go see about ART is located in Noth Hollywood. I hope he knows his stuff.

 

[supersize77]

OK, good news. Ihavent started ART therapy yet but the combination of working out only twice a week careful exercise selection plus supplementing with Devils claw root and Glucosamine and iceing seems to be improveing the pain in my bicep. Definately not pain free (especially on Bbell curls-ouch!) but a signifigant improvment nonetheless. Thanks for the tips guys.