Chest Exercises with Bicep Tendonitis

I am seeing a physical therapist, had an mri, I have bicep tendonitis in my right arm. I could take for hours on this, bottom line, it sucks balls and really pisses me off. Regardless, im not in some numbers seeking frenzy, so I have stopped lifting heavy completely and modified my program, but I am seeking some extra help from you guys. What chest exercises do you guys think would be safe for someone with this. Once I get through this injury and it heals, I want to get into amateur boxing, so I just want to stay in good shape and be strong and fast. Im thinking about incorporating push ups, but what ideas do you guys have to hit the chest/shoulder area when you have bicep tendonitis?

[QUOTE=ironrat42;650422563]I am seeing a physical therapist, had an mri, I have bicep tendonitis in my right arm. I could take for hours on this, bottom line, it sucks balls and really pisses me off. Regardless, im not in some numbers seeking frenzy, so I have stopped lifting heavy completely and modified my program, but I am seeking some extra help from you guys. What chest exercises do you guys think would be safe for someone with this. Once I get through this injury and it heals, I want to get into amateur boxing, so I just want to stay in good shape and be strong and fast. Im thinking about incorporating push ups, but what ideas do you guys have to hit the chest/shoulder area when you have bicep tendonitis?[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear about the tendonitis. It seems it gets most of us at some point. You might try eliminating bar work and stick with DB. You might be able to find both an angle and ROM that reduces or eliminates pain during the lift.

[QUOTE=mslman71;650463763]Sorry to hear about the tendonitis. It seems it gets most of us at some point. You might try eliminating bar work and stick with DB. You might be able to find both an angle and ROM that reduces or eliminates pain during the lift.[/QUOTE]

Yup, I have completely eliminated bar work, its not an option at this point, only DB and much lighter weights, how long does tendonitis take to heal usually?

[QUOTE=ironrat42;650513863]Yup, I have completely eliminated bar work, its not an option at this point, only DB and much lighter weights, how long does tendonitis take to heal usually?[/QUOTE]

Depends on what's causing it. Ibuprofen 800mg three times a day and icing for one week with minimal lifting has worked well for me to get out in front of it (assuming you have no issues with ibuprofen). If you do go the hard NSAIDs route don't stop taking them when the pain abates, follow through for the whole week. After that I would focus on doing a lot of gentle stretching & massaging the area. If you have a predisposition to bicipital tendonitis, due to impingement syndrome for example, you may have to push your doctor on more aggressive treatments (e.g., surgery).

Without seeing you move, this diagnosis of "isis" doesn't help too much. that just really refers to inflammation around the tendon. and if you've had this for more than a month, that inflammation has likely moved along.

here's something else:
the site of pain is not the source of pain. so treating the tendon doesn't answer the question: why did this tendon get inflammed in the first place?

You may find that to help your biceps, you need to rebalance some other muscles - like your brachioradialis or wrist extensors.

If you want to box, that's great - that means end range of motion work in odd angles. Check out an old book by Bob Gadja called Total Body Fitness i think - lots of odd angle band work at end range of motion.

So if we were working together, i'd be looking at your movement, how well your muscles are firing as a whole in your arm, how to bring what might be lapsed back on board, and get you doing a lot of band work to restore function, power and speed.

Then look at loading as and when, starting with body weight with something like cross core's war machine - some of the ufc types i work with love this. eg
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nilSvH3yNbY[/url]

[youtube]nilSvH3yNbY[/youtube]

mc

[QUOTE=mc-;650873893]Without seeing you move, this diagnosis of "isis" doesn't help too much. that just really refers to inflammation around the tendon. and if you've had this for more than a month, that inflammation has likely moved along.

here's something else:
the site of pain is not the source of pain. so treating the tendon doesn't answer the question: why did this tendon get inflammed in the first place?

You may find that to help your biceps, you need to rebalance some other muscles - like your brachioradialis or wrist extensors.

If you want to box, that's great - that means end range of motion work in odd angles. Check out an old book by Bob Gadja called Total Body Fitness i think - lots of odd angle band work at end range of motion.

So if we were working together, i'd be looking at your movement, how well your muscles are firing as a whole in your arm, how to bring what might be lapsed back on board, and get you doing a lot of band work to restore function, power and speed.

mc[/QUOTE]

I have bicep tendonitis. It could have gotten inflammed from a variety of factors. I would say weakness in the rotator cuff along with tightness in that area put the shoulder ( specifically the bicep tendon in my case) in a vulnerable position for injury, and thus I have sustained my current injury.

So far chest exercises, my physical therapist recommended pressing with dumbells but with elbows at my sides instead of flared (the normal position). He also said not to go down all the way. So I am going to do flat and decline then.

Also, what do you guys think of doing low bar back squats with this injury, you think it is ok on my arm/shoulder?

[QUOTE=ironrat42;653399833]I have bicep tendonitis. It could have gotten inflammed from a variety of factors. I would say weakness in the rotator cuff along with tightness in that area put the shoulder ( specifically the bicep tendon in my case) in a vulnerable position for injury, and thus I have sustained my current injury.

So far chest exercises, my physical therapist recommended pressing with dumbells but with elbows at my sides instead of flared (the normal position). He also said not to go down all the way. So I am going to do flat and decline then.

Also, what do you guys think of doing low bar back squats with this injury, you think it is ok on my arm/shoulder?[/QUOTE]

as long as there's no pain you can do anything you want
if there's pain reduce load, speed, range of motion till there's no pain and work back up from there

best
mc

I know EXACTLY how you feel bro. it's been 7.5 weeks and I'm still pretty much out. The 3 weeks that preceded the injury i was doing alot of bicep work, like 3 times a week with low weight, and some bench. It wasn't even really an injury, I just knew the day after that I had to take at least a week off. Now it's been almost 8!

At first I thought I strained my front delt doing some bench, then that pain went away after a week or so. After that it's just been sporadic pain in my upper armpit, lower inside bicep near elbow, or right below the front delt where it meets the upper arm.
This has me wondering if I partially tore my bicep tendon last summer doing a bunch of burpies. I remember having a popping sound below my front delt, but there was never any pain. Then just before the injury I noticed I was feeling most of my isolation curls in my right forearm.

Either way it's annoying. Did some research, could be tendonesis. My trainer says i just have to use low weight. ****ing pissed.

Thinking about getting some T maybe it will help it heal faster.

[QUOTE=mc-;653425583]as long as there's no pain you can do anything you want
if there's pain reduce load, speed, range of motion till there's no pain and work back up from there

best
mc[/QUOTE]

sometimes I find that it is difficult to even tell which exercises give you pain. For example, when doing squats I found that there isn't really pain while doing them, but then afterwords my shoulder feels a bit painful, so I am going to order a mantaray so that I dont have to reach around as much on squats (I always have been doing low bar back squats).

As far as healing the injury goes, what sort of treatments are the best, ultrasounds, ice, heat, etc.? And what sort of stretches would one recommend for this injury.

[QUOTE=ironrat42;655094513]sometimes I find that it is difficult to even tell which exercises give you pain. For example, when doing squats I found that there isn't really pain while doing them, but then afterwords my shoulder feels a bit painful, so I am going to order a mantaray so that I dont have to reach around as much on squats (I always have been doing low bar back squats).

As far as healing the injury goes, what sort of treatments are the best, ultrasounds, ice, heat, etc.? And what sort of stretches would one recommend for this injury.[/QUOTE]


1) if you hurt afterwards - how long afterwards - could just be doms.

2) i don't recommend any stretches ever at all per se: they do not get at underlying causes for why something may ever feel like it needs to be stretched.

3) your biceps may be where you have some issues but what in your form is causing that.
could be the muscles in your wrist extensors aren't firing as well as they could be and that's what needs to be addressed and your biceps will take care of themselves - get your PT to muscle test your firing in your brachioradialis and extensors.

4) get some bands and focus on doing end range of motion work with them. If you haven't looked at bob Gadga's work on "terminal flicks" in isometric contractions (use bands) do.

5) do not move into pain - if it's not causing pain while it's happening that's important. as said, "afterwards" is often doms. In the meantime, experiment with doing a few less reps, less load, whatever and see if you still get sore.

6) check your squat form with a pro. If you haven't mastered your front squat, now might be the time. Find a great coach to get the form locked in.

7) consider a movement assessment. Injuries often happen because something's just enough out of line somewhere that we compensate for it somewhere else.
[url]http://www.begin2dig.com/2010/11/whats-movement-assessment-for-petes.html[/url]

hope that helps.

mc