Biceps Tendinopathy / Tendinitis | Anterior Shoulder Pain Rehab (Education & Exercises)

Do you have pain in the front of your shoulder when lifting weights or reaching your arm in certain directions?

In this video, I’m going to show you how to manage this issue, which is often referred to as biceps tendinitis or biceps tendinopathy.

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0:00 Intro
0:14 Anatomy & Function
1:14 Biceps Tendinopathy
3:15 Load Management & Activity Modifications (Recommended)
6:55 Shoulder Exercises (Optional)
8:24Biceps Exercises (Optional)

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Disclaimer: The information presented is not intended as medical advice or to be a substitute for medical counseling but is intended for entertainment purposes only. If you are experiencing pain, please seek the appropriate healthcare professional.

[MilkyWilkyMilky]

I can not believe I randomly found this video on the front page of my suggestions.

I have had this shoulder pain for over a year and have been in physical therapy for 4 months. My shoulder got better to an extent, but had plateau. My PT was alluding to something being wrong with my bicep tendon after a few months of one on one work.

This video describes exactly what I am going through. I will be sending this video to her as well.

Thank you so much for this video.

[philip]

Ive had this for 7 years. Working on shoulder stability the last 6 months has helped alot, but i still feel it every workout.

[VIRTUSK]

Weird YouTube recommended this. Exactly what i have. When I think it’s gone it comes right back, suffering most with dumbbell bench press

[mrb]

I had chronic bicep tendinitis. Had loads of physiotherapy on it with different physiotherapists over a ten year period. And once given time to recover and then starting to rehab back. They all recommended shoulder external rotation exercises. And every time this flared up the tendinitis back worse than ever! In the end it was a case of a case of trail and error. I have my body a long period of time off the gym. Then when I came back I gradually introduced exercises into my regime one at a time and lower volume and weight. If something hurt I stopped immediately and tried something else. It probably took a few years in totally but I eventually got to the point I could train for an hour again with no pain and now it's pretty much gone completely. There's certain exercises I keep away from full stop though as I know if I started doing them it would be a matter of time before it all flared up again. Probably the biggest tip I'd give people is to try complete body routines and drop training different body parts on different days. A simple 4 sets on biceps, triceps, chest, back, shoulders and squats with 48 hours recovery worked really well for me.

[nosgaslaugher]

THE BEST ADVICE ON THE TUBE! I did all the research on this subject, took me three months to get a FEW answers, any where from rotator cuff tears to a impingement, very few of their suggestions worked for me, took me three years to figure what this guy is saying on my own! As for how you get this condition? I learned, TOO MUCH BENCH AND CURL OVERLOADING! PERIOD! To much bad form and sloppy rep, my last resort to reduce pain was just as this guy says! I thought my BB days were over at 63, but I actually started to look better with a lot more of muscle definition, not size but looked and felt bigger, now, after three years, pain free!

[grahamn]

Great advise here.
I've been subconsciously incorporating these into my workouts over the past year or so, with great results, namely slowed motions, building progression over time, and wider grips for squats/ closer grips for bench press. Seeing gains can be frustrating, as typically it takes longer, and more focused work (at least in my case), but the end result of minimal/no pain during and after exercises is well worth the wait. Thanks!

[robertlynch]

I’ve dealt with this for years. Thought it had to be a SLAP tear with how painful it was. But doctor confirmed biceps tendinitis. In terms of therapy though, this video is right. Posterior shoulder strengthening helps A LOT. Crossover symmetry works really well.

[defragsbin]

I've had something like this forever -- I caused the problem by continuing to low bar squat when my shoulder was beaten up -- stupid move. At its worst, I couldn't do push-ups, push a heavy door or do pull-ups.

Physios were stumped. Gym trainers tried some things and nothing really worked.


Then I stumbled upon a page talking about biceps tendinopathy, and it had an exercise that worked really well for me (caveat: for me, singular). The exercise was ... supinated front dumbbell raises. 3 sets of 15 with low weights (progressively heavier dumbbells of 5kg, 6kg, 7kg over the weeks).

I do this routine before _every_ gym session as a warmup and it allows me to do most movements pain-free. When I do this routine daily for a few weeks, my pain almost completely vanishes. I still can't flat bench, but that's about the only limitation. Worth a try if anyone's struggling.

[vv-gdet]

So far the best video available in YouTube

[Bjorn_R]

I have had this issue for almost a year. What worked for me rotator work and doing neutral grip pull downs and db press and it has worked wonders. I have slowly been adding weight and hope to be completely pain free next year.

[piotrwalewicz]

Oh man... This is exactly what I needed to hear and exactly what I didn't want to hear. Thanks!

[firstylasty]

I am 62 working out for 40 years. Out of no where, it began to hurt bad to raise side laterally, and to do movements like tuck in my shirt behind my back, arcing movements and seated triceps dips (and hurt at night bad sometimes - used a lot of heat pads on it). Pain mainly in center/mid-to-top side of shoulder but seemed to phantom out into upper shoulder/trap are . Doctor took X-ray. Shows slight arthritis and he said I likely had bursitis at first. Then after awhile, my right should was snapping painfully. After 3 months, it has subsided. Finally got an MRI. It shows no evidence of rotator cuff tear. It stated: "There is an abnormal signal along the distal supraspinatus tendon consistent with tendinosis. Laterally downsloping acromion with narrowing of the subacromial space.". Now Doctor says I have tendinosis. Does this fall into that Tendinopathy. I layed off the gym for 2 months but I was still using the shoulder as I was doing a remodel for 3 months. Doctor had me scheduled for a ultra sound cortisone shot but it got delayed due to scheduling for 2.5 months. When time came to get shot, I was feeling 85% better so I declined. Now back at gym doing slowly working shoulders again after about 6 months of being careful with it. Doing some external rotation exercises to warm up.

[showze]

very comprehensive and spot on. i had pain, and was worried, rested a few weeks, then started back like this, healed

[johnyoung]

Describes what I have dealt with on 2 different occasions. I’m 67, was working out 5 days a week, about 45 minutes a day targeting different muscle groups. Both times I started incorporating push ups after my morning stretches every day besides my workouts which I did in the evening. Both times it came on suddenly and I had to stop working out for about a month. I’m glad I came across this video. Explains a lot. I thought it was a shoulder thing. But the pain was where that part of the bicep attaches. Thanks

[thephysiobot]

This is such a frustrating injury, some good steps to work on here to get you started, nice work 💪

[kathyrie]

I was hoping for a more detailed guide, similar to the approach you presented in another video about patellar tendinopathy - You gave a very detailed explanation. Talking about how different stages are involved when rehabbing an injured tendon and what kind of exercises need to be done in each of the stages. I think that kind of information is critical when it comes to tendon rehab because you have to be careful about not doing too little or too much when loading the injured tendon. I've been seeing a physical therapist for this bicep injury, and yet I always leave with the feeling of still not knowing exactly how to go about my rehabilitation in the right way. It would be amazing if you could provide some extensive detail on the steps needed to create the stimulus needed for the tendon to heal in the right way, similar to what you explained with patellar tendinopathy. :)

[rDigitalA]

This is the real deal. No hype, just a constant firehose of info. Take your time. Rewatch this a few times. Rebuild those shoulders : )

[officialkirin]

I hope this helps.
I stopped training Upper Body for 6 Months and it's still not gone.
Started 2 weeks ago again and already did most of what is in this video but now I can add some more things that might help.

[biggideal]

Oh my god this video is perfect. I wish you made it years ago! It took me 1.5 years, and the funny thing is that I naturally made all the exact modifications you mentioned! So I’m glad I’m on the right path.

I knew you hit it spot on because you mentioned the pain during back squats. An alternative for me was switching to front squats, they work well for me

Another piece of advise for others, rehabbing this takes a looong time, so take it real slow. If you rush, it WILL flare up again and you’ll be out for another few weeks. So gradual increase in volume and load is required.

Thanks again !

[MsFender]

Cristal clear explanation of the injury in simple terms and corresponding recovery exercises make such a huge difference. Thank you so much!