Bicep Tendonitis

BurnUp78

So long story short I've been suffering with tendonitis for at least a year and a half now, i didn't get it diagnosed but the pain is where the top of the bicep connects with the shoulder when i do any overhead movements like shoulder press or bench press and pushing pulling movements like pull ups/push ups. Even though i knew i was injured in some way i just couldn't stop lifting and i thought i could just "fight through the pain" and it would eventually go away.

Nope. It has progressively gotten worse and fast forward a year and a half later i made the decision sometime in November to stop lifting altogether as the pain and discomfort was becoming too much i couldn't even do bicep curls without feeling this burning pain in my shoulders which wasn't the case a year ago. Even carrying the shopping home was torture, id have to stop half way up the road to let my shoulders rest!
So after a few weeks of no lifting i decided at the start of December to try some concentration curls with 5kg dumbbells to see if i noticed any pain. Hooray! No pain and over the past week or so I've tried concentration curls with 10kg dumbbells, 40kg deadlift and 20kg dumbbell squats and with no noticeable discomfort in the bicep tendons.

Just being able to these exercises has lifted my mood as no lifting was really killing me but im Still afraid of trying any overhead movements like the bench or shoulder press over fear of aggravating anything, but im hoping someone on here has been through similar and has some advice on how i can give my chest and delts a workout without aggravating the tendons? like is there ways to modify these lifts that take the strain off the tendons.. Any advice would be great.

KellyXX

BurnUp78 wrote: »

So long story short I've been suffering with tendonitis for at least a year and a half now, i didn't get it diagnosed but the pain is where the top of the bicep connects with the shoulder when i do any overhead movements like shoulder press or bench press and pushing pulling movements like pull ups/push ups. Even though i knew i was injured in some way i just couldn't stop lifting and i thought i could just "fight through the pain" and it would eventually go away.

Nope. It has progressively gotten worse and fast forward a year and a half later i made the decision sometime in November to stop lifting altogether as the pain and discomfort was becoming too much i couldn't even do bicep curls without feeling this burning pain in my shoulders which wasn't the case a year ago. Even carrying the shopping home was torture, id have to stop half way up the road to let my shoulders rest!
So after a few weeks of no lifting i decided at the start of December to try some concentration curls with 5kg dumbbells to see if i noticed any pain. Hooray! No pain and over the past week or so I've tried concentration curls with 10kg dumbbells, 40kg deadlift and 20kg dumbbell squats and with no noticeable discomfort in the bicep tendons.

Just being able to these exercises has lifted my mood as no lifting was really killing me but im Still afraid of trying any overhead movements like the bench or shoulder press over fear of aggravating anything, but im hoping someone on here has been through similar and has some advice on how i can give my chest and delts a workout without aggravating the tendons? like is there ways to modify these lifts that take the strain off the tendons.. Any advice would be great.

You sound like have what I have.
I have tendonosis in the shoulder, not tendonitis.
Best to get it checked out.
I've had it for about 5 years and it's gets better a little and then goes back downhill and gets worse again.

fatbhoy

I've had it twice in recent years. Last year I had it in my left shoulder, trained through it for about a year till the pain was too much, went to consultant, got MRI scan, cortisol (?) injections. He repeated what I told him: rest for a few months. I rested (did no upper body weights at all, only legs) for 5 months. Shoulder was a bit stiff, but pain gone. Resumed training, like a madman. Came back stronger, but too soon. Result was my other shoulder got it, and right arm tennis elbow (from doing weighted pull-ups I think). Cue me thinking this wouldn't have happened in my 20s or 30s, fcuking aging. So I rested again for another 5 months or so, just doing legs. Started back a couple of weeks ago. Taking it easy getting back now. So far so good. I'm 49. Rang a mate whose a hardcore bodybuilder since his teens (same age as me), he says at our age we get injured "in our sleep" (i.e. easily).

TL;DR: rest for a good while, depending on your age (healing/recovery takes longer as you get older). It took me 5 months of complete rest.