Bicep Tendonitis

janky

janky

Rookie
Hi. I've search the forum and found a few old threads on this subject but starting a new one in case anyone else is going through this injury now or recently.

I played a match April 6 and got home and my shoulder was sore and the next day it was insanely sore. Went to the ortho and was diagnosed with bicep tendonitis. After reading horror stories of folks trying to play through this injury I decided to stop playing the last month and a half and I started PT a few weeks ago. It was going really well and I even got clearance to hit ground strokes but still no serves. But then, this week for what seemed like no reason the pain just came back really strong a few days ago. I rested and didn't do any PT exercises yesterday and took some Aleve (two yesterday) and went back to my PT routine this morning. I'm seeing the PT about twice a week too so I will have to tell her what happened but I'm curious what others have gone through w/ this injury:

1. How long did it take for you to get back to playing 100%?

2. Did you have similar periods where recovery looked like it was going really well and you were doing everything your PT told you to do and you still had a setback or two?

3. I'm icing as much as I can (20 minutes on) and doing all my PT exercises but curious if there's anything else you have found that has helped you recovery faster?

Thanks for any tips/advice/info. It's painful sitting out the entire 18+ USTA league season :(
 
SystemicAnomaly

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Both upper (long head and short head) tendons?

Has there been a thread on the upper biceps tendons previously? I recall a thread or two on the distal biceps tendon but not the upper tendons. Very minor issue with the distal tendon myself. Short rest & the problem went away.

Not using heat at all?
 
janky

janky

Rookie
Upper tendon where it connects to shoulder. Both doctor and PT have only said ice. No heat suggested.

Also, has anyone done self massage? I watched a video on that and tried it yesterday and it really helped. Painful to massage the first 10 seconds but then feels great. Gonna ask PT why she isn’t using massage on Tuesday.
 
SystemicAnomaly

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
janky said:
Upper tendon where it connects to shoulder. Both doctor and PT have only said ice. No heat suggested.

Also, has anyone done self massage? I watched a video on that and tried it yesterday and it really helped. Painful to massage the first 10 seconds but then feels great. Gonna ask PT why she isn’t using massage on Tuesday.
Click to expand...

There are actually two tendons that attach to the shoulder = long head and short head tendons.

Friction massage might help. You might ask your PT if ultrasound treatment or stim+ice might be beneficial. @RogueFLIP, any sage professional advice on this?

https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/bicep-tendonitis-exercises
a00031f01_epi.jpg
 
janky

janky

Rookie
Ah right. Sorry. Long head. PT did ultra sound and electro + ice twice. Nothing since. Gotta talk to her!
 
SystemicAnomaly

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
janky said:
Ah right. Sorry. Long head. PT did ultra sound and electro + ice twice. Nothing since. Gotta talk to her!
Click to expand...
I think that ultrasound has something of a warming effect whereas ice+stim might be more anti-inflammatory. Dont know if either have therapeutic value beyond pain relief.
 
TimeToPlaySets

TimeToPlaySets

Legend
Based on my TE googling, tendinosis take 6-12 months to heal.
Not sure about T-itis

Dumbest thing is to play thru it.
Best thing I ever did was to stop and take 4-5 months off.

You took 1.5 months off.
Smart, but now you know it was not enough.

If it were me, I would take 3 months off.
Focus on fitness and finding the silver lining.
 
R

RogueFLIP

Professional
SystemicAnomaly said:
@RogueFLIP

Any benefit for this or for MFR therapy, in general, with HyperVolt or percussion massage therapy guns? Are they worth the $200 to $500 price tag?
Click to expand...

One tenet of John Barnes' MFR is to look globally, so while you might feel pain in the biceps region, there might be soft tissue restrictions elsewhere in the shld, neck, etc that can contribute to pressure in pain sensitive areas.
Posture deviations such as Forward Head Posture, or an internally rotated humerus due to a tight pec can cause somewhat of an small impingement of the area.....

Some people swear by those HyperVolt guns.....I can get just as good if not better results with a soft ball (not softball!) using MFR principles than those things. BUT if psychologically it makes you feel better because you bought the most $$ tool out there, then by all means it can work.
 
R

RogueFLIP

Professional
janky said:
2. Did you have similar periods where recovery looked like it was going really well and you were doing everything your PT told you to do and you still had a setback or two?
Click to expand...

Just remember that healing isnt an event, it's a journey. That journey will have ups and downs, plateaus and setbacks. Hang in there.


janky said:
3. I'm icing as much as I can (20 minutes on) and doing all my PT exercises but curious if there's anything else you have found that has helped you recovery faster?
Click to expand...

Always an advocate of soft tissue work. Helps to break up knots and restrictions of the tissue. Doesn't always have to be rigorous or hard or hurt.

Always look at posture. It's a good indication of restrictions of the body. As I explained in my post above, postural deviations can contribute to compression/impingement issues in the area.

I'm not saying that strengthening exercises are wrong, quite the contrary, just sometimes when you try to strengthen a dysfunction you wind up strengthening the dysfunction, if that makes sense.

Hopefully your PT can offer some suggestions to help you.

Good luck.
 
janky

janky

Rookie
Agree on taking time off. Heard horror stories of people trying to play through Bicep Tendonitis and rupturing. I had Achilles tendinitis 6+ years ago and took off almost 6 months. Tennis is for life so 6 months is a blip.

PT strengthening is going well and I have a lot of appointments lined up plus twice a day on my own exercises.

I’m just looking to hear from others that have had BT too.

TimeToPlaySets said:
Based on my TE googling, tendinosis take 6-12 months to heal.
Not sure about T-itis

Dumbest thing is to play thru it.
Best thing I ever did was to stop and take 4-5 months off.

You took 1.5 months off.
Smart, but now you know it was not enough.

If it were me, I would take 3 months off.
Focus on fitness and finding the silver lining.
Click to expand...
 
janky

janky

Rookie
This is really good feedback. PT instructed me to get a lacrosse ball as my pec muscles were very tight and knotted. Posture is definitely off like you mentioned. Both ortho and PT recognized this immediately. Everything is super tight around the neck and shoulders. Using the lacrosse ball on my pecs but also on my traps and all over my shoulder has been amazing.

Lots of the focus with my exercises has been focusing on my traps to ensure they are getting worked to fix my posture. PT has upped the exercises and the strength on my stretchy bands and I'm having a lot of progress so I"m happy. Can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet but that's ok.

RogueFLIP said:
Just remember that healing isnt an event, it's a journey. That journey will have ups and downs, plateaus and setbacks. Hang in there.




Always an advocate of soft tissue work. Helps to break up knots and restrictions of the tissue. Doesn't always have to be rigorous or hard or hurt.

Always look at posture. It's a good indication of restrictions of the body. As I explained in my post above, postural deviations can contribute to compression/impingement issues in the area.

I'm not saying that strengthening exercises are wrong, quite the contrary, just sometimes when you try to strengthen a dysfunction you wind up strengthening the dysfunction, if that makes sense.

Hopefully your PT can offer some suggestions to help you.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
 
janky

janky

Rookie
OK. At two months so far and physical therapy is going well but still not 100% pain free. I can feel tightness on some of the recent exercises that the PT introduced especially wall angels and the commensurate exercise done on the foam roller. So, not out of the woods yet. PT wants me to hit once a week without serves nor overheads but I couldn't get on the court last week so will try this week. 30 minutes only of hitting.
 
janky

janky

Rookie
Updating this thread in case anyone wants to know the journey...

5 months later and I'm finally 100% back on the court. PT allowed me to hit for a few months now but serving was something I had to introduce slowly. I've been serving for 6 weeks now but the PT really started me slow. First week it was 10 serves. Second week it was 25 serves and so forth. Even then, I had some setbacks. It would be sore and I'd just rest a week and then try again. I never wanted to rush it and declined playing the combo USTA league season a few weeks ago (after I sat out the 18+ USTA league) this summer. I'm going to wait until January to get back into playing USTA leagues and keep practicing with friends while keeping up the exercise routine.

The #1 things that worked for me:

1. Do all the exercises and never skip them. PT had me doing so many and I'd often have to spend 45 minutes, twice a day doing them. I'm now down to 3-4 times a week for 45 minutes but using a lot of weights instead of bands. Man, there were so many exercises. My wife got used to seeing me do exercises while watching TV w/ her.

2. Ice, ice and lots of ice. Every time I worked out (i.e. doing my PT exercises) or if it felt sore I would ice. Eventually I bought an icing pack off Amazon that has a strap so you can just throw it in the freezer and take it out when you need it. Even in the last month, every time I play tennis I ice the shoulder.

3. Stretch Stretch Stretch. Some of the exercises included stretches but I would do the stretches whenever I could (at work, etc)

4. I recently bought a posture correction brace from Amazon too that is really helping. The major reason I have the tendonitis is bad posture through 20+ years of being on the laptop at work so the posture brace really helps. I wear it in the car or at home and at work (if I can wear a jacket so folks won't see it).

5. Lacrosse ball has been heaven. I use that thing on my neck, pec and lower traps. @RogueFLIP you were right.

Hope this helps other folks out there. Keep at it, you will get back on the court....will update again in some time...
 
Last edited:
janky

janky

Rookie
It was almost 100% posture for me. You were right.

RogueFLIP said:
One tenet of John Barnes' MFR is to look globally, so while you might feel pain in the biceps region, there might be soft tissue restrictions elsewhere in the shld, neck, etc that can contribute to pressure in pain sensitive areas.
Posture deviations such as Forward Head Posture, or an internally rotated humerus due to a tight pec can cause somewhat of an small impingement of the area.....

Some people swear by those HyperVolt guns.....I can get just as good if not better results with a soft ball (not softball!) using MFR principles than those things. BUT if psychologically it makes you feel better because you bought the most $$ tool out there, then by all means it can work.
Click to expand...
 
janky

janky

Rookie
Absolutely. Impingement. All my muscles were pulling forward from bad posture and impinging on the bicep tendon. I was shocked when I came down with the injury in April. Took me awhile to really digest the injury stems from bad posture mainly from the laptop.

TimeToPlaySets said:
Wait, bad posture can lead to bicep issues?
Click to expand...
 
megamind

megamind

Legend
janky said:
Updating this thread in case anyone wants to know the journey...

5 months later and I'm finally 100% back on the court. PT allowed me to hit for a few months now but serving was something I had to introduce slowly. I've been serving for 6 weeks now but the PT really started me slow. First week it was 10 serves. Second week it was 25 serves and so forth. Even then, I had some setbacks. It would be sore and I'd just rest a week and then try again. I never wanted to rush it and declined playing the combo USTA league season a few weeks ago (after I sat out the 18+ USTA league) this summer. I'm going to wait until January to get back into playing USTA leagues and keep practicing with friends while keeping up the exercise routine.

The #1 things that worked for me:

1. Do all the exercises and never skip them. PT had me doing so many and I'd often have to spend 45 minutes, twice a day doing them. I'm now down to 3-4 times a week for 45 minutes but using a lot of weights instead of bands. Man, there were so many exercises. My wife got used to seeing me do exercises while watching TV w/ her.

2. Ice, ice and lots of ice. Every time I worked out (i.e. doing my PT exercises) or if it felt sore I would ice. Eventually I bought an icing pack off Amazon that has a strap so you can just throw it in the freezer and take it out when you need it. Even in the last month, every time I play tennis I ice the shoulder.

3. Stretch Stretch Stretch. Some of the exercises included stretches but I would do the stretches whenever I could (at work, etc)

4. I recently bought a posture correction brace from Amazon too that is really helping. The major reason I have the tendonitis is bad posture through 20+ years of being on the laptop at work so the posture brace really helps. I wear it in the car or at home and at work (if I can wear a jacket so folks won't see it).

5. Lacrosse ball has been heaven. I use that thing on my neck, pec and lower traps. @RogueFLIP you were right.

Hope this helps other folks out there. Keep at it, you will get back on the court....will update again in some time...
Click to expand...


I have this too

but i been slackign

i need to get my **** together tbh

mind messaging me the link to the posture correction brace
 
R

RogueFLIP

Professional
TimeToPlaySets said:
Wait, bad posture can lead to bicep issues?
Click to expand...

ollinger said:
If you have a hammer, everything in the world looks like a nail. Rogue tends to see spine allignement and posture as factors in nearly everything.
Click to expand...

As the good doctor points out, poor posture may not lead to biceps issues, but can be a FACTOR in how they develop.

It's not about being right, it's about bringing people's awareness to other factors that can be causing pain and other issues.

On that note, Ollinger forgot to mention my other even more important "hammer"; soft tissue restrictions, IE fascial restrictions. That's an even more important aspect to identify and address. Honestly if you look back at my posts, I rarely if ever use the phrase "spine alignment".

Soft tissue restrictions and posture....those are my "hammers".
 
Rosstour

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
I'm pretty sure that this is what happened to me. I played a crazy match and then this happened. I didn't play for a long time after that, as in years.

Part of that was being busy and not having people to play with. But the injury really kept me sidelined for a long time. Just rest it and ice it.

The good news is that it hasn't bothered me since and I'm playing at a much higher level than I was back then. I was like 31 when it happened, 38 now.
 
janky

janky

Rookie
Final update. It's Jan 15, 2020. A full 8 months since I experience the sharp pain after playing a league match. I'm happy to say I'm fully on the court with no pain. I still wear the brace when I can (and remember, especially longer drives in the car) but I definitely keep up my PT routine. PT exercises, posture brace, PT stretches and foam rolling the bicep are the keys to my success. I don't have to do the exercises daily either. Finally starting to play league tennis again, woo!
 
Raul_SJ

Raul_SJ

G.O.A.T.
janky said:
Final update. It's Jan 15, 2020. A full 8 months since I experience the sharp pain after playing a league match. I'm happy to say I'm fully on the court with no pain. I still wear the brace when I can (and remember, especially longer drives in the car) but I definitely keep up my PT routine. PT exercises, posture brace, PT stretches and foam rolling the bicep are the keys to my success. I don't have to do the exercises daily either. Finally starting to play league tennis again, woo!
Click to expand...

Did you ever experience any pain in biceps/upper arm area when fully straightening out your arm?
:unsure:
 
megamind

megamind

Legend
janky said:
Final update. It's Jan 15, 2020. A full 8 months since I experience the sharp pain after playing a league match. I'm happy to say I'm fully on the court with no pain. I still wear the brace when I can (and remember, especially longer drives in the car) but I definitely keep up my PT routine. PT exercises, posture brace, PT stretches and foam rolling the bicep are the keys to my success. I don't have to do the exercises daily either. Finally starting to play league tennis again, woo!
Click to expand...

I'm 4 months in.. and itching to get back onto the tennis court, but im just not there yet. You give me hope :love:
Hope I can recover too, and make 2020 a great year
 
janky

janky

Rookie
If you're doing PT, don't skip the routine. Don't give up. It's frustrating and I went through some serious lapses where I felt like I was going backwards but it all paid off.

megamind said:
I'm 4 months in.. and itching to get back onto the tennis court, but im just not there yet. You give me hope :love:
Hope I can recover too, and make 2020 a great year
Click to expand...
 
janky

janky

Rookie
I had a MRI. But it wasn't overly revealing. The ortho I saw (and who ordered the MRI) made the diagnosis after doing a bunch of tests on me (like pulling my arm this way and raising my arms, etc).

When I walked into PT for the first visit. They told me my posture was completely off. They knew right away.

Raul_SJ said:
If you had an MRI, did the biceps tendonitis show up on that?
Click to expand...
 
Raul_SJ

Raul_SJ

G.O.A.T.
janky said:
2. Ice, ice and lots of ice. Every time I worked out (i.e. doing my PT exercises) or if it felt sore I would ice. Eventually I bought an icing pack off Amazon that has a strap so you can just throw it in the freezer and take it out when you need it. Even in the last month, every time I play tennis I ice the shoulder.
Click to expand...

I need to ice more. Too lazy...

Did you have pain at night when sleeping?
:unsure:
 
janky

janky

Rookie
I had pain sleeping on the arm where I had bicep tendonitis. I really couldn't sleep on that side in the beginning. I also iced A LOT during my PT recovery. I plan on icing after league matches.
 
M

massimo.tommei

Rookie
What racquet do you use? Maybe look for a flexible racquet - the Wilson Clash Tour was great for the arm and shoulder - also look at your strings

I just changed over from the Clash Tour to the RF97A and I have some shoulder pain - not much but some. Never had anything with the Clash....

I just restrung my RF97A with Gut and Luxilon smart strings so I’ll test them tomorrow the Luxilon smart is supposed to be very arm friendly - apparently extremely close to how Gut feels like (was going to use Luxilon Alu Rough) so I’ll let you know how it went....

I also installed some home made power pads make from car tire tubes - which wasn’t perfect as I didn’t factor the point load of the strings so the tire tube was taking stain under the tension. But comparing this racquet to my spare RF97A it’s a lot better in terms of vibration....

I’ll test both properly tomorrow... before I restring the spare with Gut and Luxilon smart strings - just want to make sure of the tension before I do....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
janky

janky

Rookie
I thought it was my racquet/string setup but it wasn't. I've been using Head Graphene Touch Extreme MP with Lux ALU and natural gut hybrid. Been using that setup before diagnosis of the bicep tendonitis and now after. Bad posture from years of working on a laptop and sitting incorrectly was the main culprit.

My 13 year old son uses Luxilon smart. He loves that string and it's great because it actually breaks. He uses a full bed at 44 pounds.
 
M

massimo.tommei

Rookie
janky said:
I thought it was my racquet/string setup but it wasn't. I've been using Head Graphene Touch Extreme MP with Lux ALU and natural gut hybrid. Been using that setup before diagnosis of the bicep tendonitis and now after. Bad posture from years of working on a laptop and sitting incorrectly was the main culprit.

My 13 year old son uses Luxilon smart. He loves that string and it's great because it actually breaks. He uses a full bed at 44 pounds.
Click to expand...

Well that’s great with regards to the smart string... I have been lucky in my life I had the Prince Graphite 2 (Michael Chang racquet) and are some point my elbow was starting to hurt then I stopped playing for 10 years and then decided that playing cricket for the whole day wasn’t my thing and decided to get back to tennis - 2 knee ops later I have been injury free with my elbow playing about 10-12 hours a week

Changing to the RF97A has made me more aware of my arm maybe because my friend from school has bad arm issues has played on my mind... so maybe physiological


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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