HOW i recovered from my bicep/forearm tendonitis.

[Aliion]

I have now dealt with this for 3-4 days.

It is now almost gone.


Here was my solution:

ICE AND HEAT 6 times a day.
Rest, LOTS OF rest, STOP working out. No matter how painful it is NOT to work out, or how much it gets to you, you have to stop.
Fish pills, TWICE a day.
And more rest.

This will get rid of it most of the time, good luck.

[SmartLift]

So I have had this issue since I was about 19 years old. I injured both arms from armwrestling with my pride. My pains come from the lower bicep region of each arm. Exercises that flare them up are usually curls and presses of all sorts, as well as some heavy back lifts since the synergistic muscles are the biceps. My pain had gone away for years until my Brother decided to introduce me to an exercise that very similarly simulated an armwrestle. This has flared the tendons back up and they were roaring with pain more than they ever have.

I was lifting in the gym and was introducted to a gentleman that knew exactly what I was going through and he was a Physical therapist that recieved his degree from Vanderbilt University. I am not a Dr and neither is he. This is just advice that he had given me to help me recover from my injury. I will also explain why your tendons hurt and why they will never recover CORRECTLY unless you take action. I was upset to not have found this post sooner b/c once I read the original poster's comment, I realized that my friend was exactly right on how to fix this. If what I say sounds incorrect then DO NOT listen to me. But, I have completely recovered from my injury and I am lift heavier than before. I have not done research, I have just taken his advice on the whim. Typically b/c I have tried everything and nothing seemed to have worked.

Here is the advice and the reasoning behind it.

Up until recently it was understood that there was no way to FULLY recover from tendonitis in general. And when I say fully recover, I mean as if the injury never occured. Most of us already know that tendonitis occurs from overtraining or from extreme strain. In my case it was from straining it armwrestling. Now I had previously stated that I injured it armwrestling when I was 19. I'm 31 now. I recovered from the injury however, I did not recover correctly, meaning I didn't take action(b/c I was ignorant as to what do to) and execute the theraputic exercises that help your tendons recover correctly. I am an ISSA certified PT so I understood what he was talking about when he explain it to me but, not when it came down to the cellular level of my tendons. When the tendon is injured it creates microscopic tears. This is what is causing your pain when lifting and/or dropping the weight when you are done with a set. After you stop lifting the tendon starts to heal itself (VERY SLOWLY). However it is repairing itself with the wrong type of collagen. Collogen in short is the proetin that makes up the tendons in your body. Why it heals incorrectly? I don't know. I didn't ask. However, here is the exercise and the stretches that you will need to do for recovery.

The idea behind recovering correctly is that you must in a strange way re-injur your tendons and refill the microscopic collogen tears with the correct collogen. HOW you say? ONE word.. NEGATIVES. Most of you probably injured your arm through concentric motions. Well, we will be using eccentric motions to "Reheal" them. The original poster said to take a month off from the gym. The physical therapist did not say to. But he did say stay away from the movements that hurt. So, in a round about way he did say take time off. He said after about a month of doing these exercises, the pain should dramatically decrease(As it did like clockwork).

Take a dumbbell (VERY LIGHT) no more than 20 lbs or LESS (I used 15lbs dumbbells). Pick the weight up with your injured arm. DO NOT CURL THE WEIGHT. Take your opposite arm and help the weight up. Now perform a negative curl while counting 5 seconds until you reach the bottom of the movement. Then help the weight back up with your other arm. I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT CURL THE WEIGHT. Repeat this step for 5 sets. That's a TOTAL of 25 seconds. resting for 30 seconds between each set. Now, while you are resting you will perfom a tendon stretch for 5 seconds. To do this you will hold your arm out in front of you with your palm out(as if you were waving goodbye to someone)Now rotate counterclockwise until your fingers pointing at the floor. Now with your other arm grip the injured arm's hand and pull back towards the body to create a good stretch. Stretch this for no more than 5 seconds between sets. You will need to perform this exercise in the morning and at night before you go to bed until you feel FULLY recovered. It is also important to ice your arms as well at night as this will keep the inflammation down.

Listen, If you feel like this has confused you please do not hesitate to ask me questions. I am horrible at grammar also. So, please no comments from the peanut gallery! Remember this is only helpful information for bicep tendonitis. Not for your forearm, or tennis elbow. If you do have forearm tendonitis he did give me one exercise for that. You get it from your grip. So if you wan to heal it you must do in reverse what you do to injur it right? Position your hand as if it was in a sock puppet. Now Take some semi strong rubberbands and put them around all of your fingers where it forms a semi-tight snug fit. Now expand your fingers outward. The resistance should bring your fingers back together again after they have expanded. I do not know how many times this should be done. I did however, think it was a very unique way of helping reheal the forearm tendonitis. So, you may want to do some more research on that before you just start walking around expanding your fingers with rubberbands. ;p

I really hopes this helps anyone with bicep tendonitis. I have completely recovered from my injury that was made over a decade ago. Take care guys and lift smart!

[cghmid]

I am currently dealing with this very issue. My problem with recovery, however, is patience.

It happened when I was doing dumbbell curls standing behind an inclined bench. On the last rep of the set I heard three pops (yes, heard. The sound almost made me throw up) and the weight immediately fell from my hand. I have a good friend who is a chiropractor, massage therapist and personal trainder and he said it appears that I only minorly tore or strained the tendon. My bicep did not retract toward my shoulder and I could at least get somewhat of a flex. I've been (not consistently) alternating ice and heat right at the bend of my arm where the pain is and taking NSAIDs and Glucosamine/Chondroitin. Some days are better than others. I'm afraid my lack of patience has kept me still in the gym trying to "work through" it and that has been detrimental to the recovery. I have, however, been taping right below my elbow and right above my wrist which has given me some good support during workouts. Night before last I was feeling some relief (after three weeks) and decided it would be ok to work my back and triceps.....big mistake. I did some very light weight curls (20lbs) and a complete back workout and by the time I was done the pain had flaired up to the point that I could not even turn my arm to look at my watch.

I have come to the conclusion that I need to put the pride aside, give the weights a 30 day reprieve (maybe time to concentrate on the cardio I so hate?) and let my body heal.

@ RyanGrob, the iciing did hurt at first until it numbed. I followed with heat and a patch called Salonpas (sp??) and some NSAIDs. I do have mornings where I wake up and have clearly slept on it wrong so it hurts for a good part of the morning. Some stretching of the forearm seems to help.

[Foreigner]

I had this issue for 2 years. I have routine popping / catching when flexing. Sometimes it's relatively painless other times the bicep / forearm area and the rest of my forearm almost down to my hand will be sore or have a weakening sensation. I've tried taking time off, rest, ice, heat, etc. NSAID's are useless. They do not heal, they actually inhibit healing by blocking the bodies inflammatory response. As soon as the NSAID's wear off, you are back to square one. Look into Platlet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections, and, or Prolotherpay. I plan on having both. The PRP directly into the tendon and Prolo around it to heal any other possibly tissues / ligaments that are degenerated.

When you begin to have chronic pain its usually too late. The tendon has always degenerated. That is why it is important to deload and get routine deep tissue work to prevent degeneration of tendons. It's like rotating your tires. If you don't do it you will get areas of increased wear and tear eventually leading to blow out.

[GazzaCavalera]

Hey fellow lifters.

This is my first post and I want say thanks to this thread I have healed from forearm tendonitis. Heres what I did and I hope it can help others too. I've been lifting for around 4 years now. After about 2 years in i started developing forearm problems. My forearm was aggrevated when doing ...

Curls (especially straight barbell), deadlifts, lat-pulldown, most rowing actions, benchpress and funny enough even when i would push out squats near my 1RM it would hurt probably cus i was squeezing the hell out of the bar unknowingly. The pain was always a dull pain which made me try to just work through it. Sometimes it would be unbearable and i would take a few days offs, the problem was the pain would subside after an hour or so after the gym and only come back when i started lifting the following day or so. The pain was on and off for 2 years, i found by using lifting straps to aid back days especially helped but didnt fix the problem.

HERES HOW I FIXED IT!
It got quite bad around 2 months ago so I decided I had to take a break for the first time since I can remember. I took 2 full weeks off while i had that time off I would ice my arm twice a day for around 20 minutes. After 2 full weeks I spent a week doing core and working on squat form and also did some light shoulder work. So all in all I took 3 weeks off. the following week I lifted high reps between 12-20 reps and I also purchased a forearm strap (cost me about $15 from a sports store) the brand was McDavid but im sure any brand would work as well as iceing forearm after workouts. Also do not forget to warmup your forearm EVERY time you workout, just spend 5 minutes with a light dumbell doing wrist curls etc.

I think the key was the initial 2 weeks of ACTUAL NO LIFTING RESTING, ice and the forearm strap was the key for me. Some ppl may have their own opinions on using straps and braces I dont care about the science behind so much but I think that just having the strap on ur forearm u can feel when are using excesive grip (it puts pressure on your arm like when getting a blood test) and can adjust.

I hope this can help some of you out their struggling with forearm tendonitis. peace

[Foreigner]

A tendon would not be able to heal in 2 weeks with just ice and rest. It usually takes 8 weeks at a minimum for a tendon to start healing.

[leonardnj]

Hiya, Thanks for the post (BRINGMETHEMOSH) LEGEND! but im really intrigued by (SMARTLIFTS) type of recovery. Ive got bicep tendonitis that leads up towards the frontal section of my shoulder. Im really not sure how I got this injury but have been suffering with it for about 8 months now. Im pretty sure its from straining trying to lift to much on a flat DB chest press. Ive got popping and clicking also with shoulder/bicep ache. Both sides. My shoulder (Front delt) is always really sore after doing chest and seemed to get more sore after each workout. I improved my form and was fine for a few months then did my good shoulder in now back to square one. Any chest workout inflames the tendon. I am out of the gym now, been so for 1 and a half weeks. 2 and half left to go and also on glucosamine, condroitin and msm. I iced for the first week but i have barely any ache anymore. I suppose im waiting for the popping and clicking to go first which is unlikely lol. Anyways i understand the process of doing eccentric motions such as negatives for biceps but how do i repair the tendons surrounding my shoulder when benching? No matter what chest excercise i do the front delt always gets sore. Ive seen several physios including doctors and latest one seems to think Its bicep related thats causing the problem with my shoulder (front). Is it possible to perform a nagative on chest?
****ting myself because bringmethemosh says dont do excercises that hurt but every chest excercise causes soreness! However lifting does not really effect life outside of the gym apart from soreness and ache.
Hope you guys can help.
Cheers for this ausome thread!!!
Nick.

[KGB81]

I found that physio with accupuncture and ILS techniques drastically helped my tendonitis in my bicep and forearm. give it a shot!

[Genii333]

I was wondering if you lost any muscle while you nursed it back to health. I am going through the same thing and I am disheartened at the thought of losing any of the muscle I have worked so hard to build.

[Btyndall]

This is my first post on this site and I just wanted to say thank you for this thread. I see it goes back to 2007 which just shows how useful the information is. I first aggravated my right shoulder about six years ago when I spent about eight hours in the ocean surfing one day. When I laid down to sleep that night, my shoulder was on fire. It took years for me to get back to almost 100%, because I never did the right things to let it heal. A week ago I did some standing fly exercises plus pull-ups, really pushing myself, and I aggravated my shoulder again. This time it has traveled down my right arm, and my bicep & tricep have been throbbing and twitching in pain. A week later and I am still in pain.

I've been really devoted to eating healthy and working out, and I've been making some good gains this year. It is disappointing to know that the only way I'm going to fix this is by not lifting. It sucks, but as a 41 year old dude that's been weight lifting since I was a teen, a month or two off from lifting is so worth it to let your body heal properly. Just like adding muscle doesn't happen overnight, losing the muscle mass isn't going to happen overnight either. You aren't going to turn into a twig because you don't lift for a month. If you're reading this thread because you've got this pain, do yourself a favor and listen to the advice here & listen to your body. Let yourself heal. Time will fly by and you'll be back lifting the irons before you know it.

Thanks again to everyone for the info and input here. I know what I have to do now.

[shimon58]

i have been lifting weights for almost 7 years now. this past couple of years is when i really got serious about it. everything was going great until this last year i got bad tendonitis at the bottom of my bicep into my forearm. it progressively got worse and worse to the point where it hurt like hell to simply lift a pile of clothes from the laundry room. i thought i had done permanent damage and would be stuck with this injury for life, it was very depressing.

after lots of reading and researching, i came to the conclusion that i got this injury from doing certain exercises (hammer curls, reverse-grip curls, etc) that would always hurt while i was doing them, but i thought i just had to push through the pain to get growth. i finally stopped all lifting of bicep and back exercises. it still did not get better, so i made some appointments with the doctor and completely stopped lifting weights all together until my appointment (one full month.)

at first, the doctor told me to take a bunch of anti-inflammatory medicine for a week straight (aleve, aspirin, etc). i tried it, it did not work. he also told me to get back into lifting, just take it slow on bicep/back exercises.

i started lifting again, and i stayed very light on bicep exercises (were talking, curling 10lb dumbbells). it still did not improve. i lifted light for about 5 weeks, the most i was ever curling was 20lb dumbbells. pain still was throbbing.

as of now, my tendonitis is completely healed. i feel absolutely no pain at all, no matter what lifts im doing or what daily activities im doing. i am back to lifting as heavy as i can on bicep and back exercises. i blast the hell out of my biceps until i can barely bend my arms, with no pain.

here is how i recovered 100%....

taking the month off of lifting was key to the healing. all of my muscles needed time to recover, especially my tendons (all of them). i started doing negative bicep exercises (if you dont know what negatives are, google it.) i stayed very light still on the weight of curls. i iced my tendonitis everyday, twice a day. this was the BIGGEST thing in recovery. tendonitis is inflammation, icing it calms the inflamed tendons. i started taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin twice a day. i started eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. getting nutrients from these foods was essential i believe. i took fish oil 3 times a day. i was patient. every time i was lifting bicep/back i wanted to push my limits and see if i could get my weight up faster but i had to resist this. i curled 15lb dumbbells in the gym for weeks (and it was very embarassing for a guy who shoulder presses 90lb dumbbells with ease). i stopped doing exercises that hurt. no more reverse-grip curls, no more hammer curls. my motto now is if an exercise hurts or doesnt feel quite right, i stop doing it immediately. no matter how much someone is yacking in your ear how its "THE BEST EXERCISE FOR MASS$@&*(!" its not worth injury.

i truly thought that i was stuck with this injury for the rest of my life and thought that it would impair my weightlifting forever. i spent a lot of time trying to find out how to recover from this injury, so i hope this can help people out there that are suffering from the same injury.

if i can answer any additional questions, feel free to reply to this thread.

Hi,

I suffer from the same problem. Let me understand you stopped any activity for month, and than you started to train with light weight.
When you started after month did you still have pains?
Could you tell what are negative bicep exercises, I prefer to know excatky what you have done.

Yes I fill like you very depressed and appreciate any answer.
BR.
S.

[shimon58]

So I have had this issue since I was about 19 years old. I injured both arms from armwrestling with my pride. My pains come from the lower bicep region of each arm. Exercises that flare them up are usually curls and presses of all sorts, as well as some heavy back lifts since the synergistic muscles are the biceps. My pain had gone away for years until my Brother decided to introduce me to an exercise that very similarly simulated an armwrestle. This has flared the tendons back up and they were roaring with pain more than they ever have.

I was lifting in the gym and was introducted to a gentleman that knew exactly what I was going through and he was a Physical therapist that recieved his degree from Vanderbilt University. I am not a Dr and neither is he. This is just advice that he had given me to help me recover from my injury. I will also explain why your tendons hurt and why they will never recover CORRECTLY unless you take action. I was upset to not have found this post sooner b/c once I read the original poster's comment, I realized that my friend was exactly right on how to fix this. If what I say sounds incorrect then DO NOT listen to me. But, I have completely recovered from my injury and I am lift heavier than before. I have not done research, I have just taken his advice on the whim. Typically b/c I have tried everything and nothing seemed to have worked.

Here is the advice and the reasoning behind it.

Up until recently it was understood that there was no way to FULLY recover from tendonitis in general. And when I say fully recover, I mean as if the injury never occured. Most of us already know that tendonitis occurs from overtraining or from extreme strain. In my case it was from straining it armwrestling. Now I had previously stated that I injured it armwrestling when I was 19. I'm 31 now. I recovered from the injury however, I did not recover correctly, meaning I didn't take action(b/c I was ignorant as to what do to) and execute the theraputic exercises that help your tendons recover correctly. I am an ISSA certified PT so I understood what he was talking about when he explain it to me but, not when it came down to the cellular level of my tendons. When the tendon is injured it creates microscopic tears. This is what is causing your pain when lifting and/or dropping the weight when you are done with a set. After you stop lifting the tendon starts to heal itself (VERY SLOWLY). However it is repairing itself with the wrong type of collagen. Collogen in short is the proetin that makes up the tendons in your body. Why it heals incorrectly? I don't know. I didn't ask. However, here is the exercise and the stretches that you will need to do for recovery.

The idea behind recovering correctly is that you must in a strange way re-injur your tendons and refill the microscopic collogen tears with the correct collogen. HOW you say? ONE word.. NEGATIVES. Most of you probably injured your arm through concentric motions. Well, we will be using eccentric motions to "Reheal" them. The original poster said to take a month off from the gym. The physical therapist did not say to. But he did say stay away from the movements that hurt. So, in a round about way he did say take time off. He said after about a month of doing these exercises, the pain should dramatically decrease(As it did like clockwork).

Take a dumbbell (VERY LIGHT) no more than 20 lbs or LESS (I used 15lbs dumbbells). Pick the weight up with your injured arm. DO NOT CURL THE WEIGHT. Take your opposite arm and help the weight up. Now perform a negative curl while counting 5 seconds until you reach the bottom of the movement. Then help the weight back up with your other arm. I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT CURL THE WEIGHT. Repeat this step for 5 sets. That's a TOTAL of 25 seconds. resting for 30 seconds between each set. Now, while you are resting you will perfom a tendon stretch for 5 seconds. To do this you will hold your arm out in front of you with your palm out(as if you were waving goodbye to someone)Now rotate counterclockwise until your fingers pointing at the floor. Now with your other arm grip the injured arm's hand and pull back towards the body to create a good stretch. Stretch this for no more than 5 seconds between sets. You will need to perform this exercise in the morning and at night before you go to bed until you feel FULLY recovered. It is also important to ice your arms as well at night as this will keep the inflammation down.

Listen, If you feel like this has confused you please do not hesitate to ask me questions. I am horrible at grammar also. So, please no comments from the peanut gallery! Remember this is only helpful information for bicep tendonitis. Not for your forearm, or tennis elbow. If you do have forearm tendonitis he did give me one exercise for that. You get it from your grip. So if you wan to heal it you must do in reverse what you do to injur it right? Position your hand as if it was in a sock puppet. Now Take some semi strong rubberbands and put them around all of your fingers where it forms a semi-tight snug fit. Now expand your fingers outward. The resistance should bring your fingers back together again after they have expanded. I do not know how many times this should be done. I did however, think it was a very unique way of helping reheal the forearm tendonitis. So, you may want to do some more research on that before you just start walking around expanding your fingers with rubberbands. ;p

I really hopes this helps anyone with bicep tendonitis. I have completely recovered from my injury that was made over a decade ago. Take care guys and lift smart!

Hi,

I've bicep tendinits and I would to ask before going to the eccentric excercises you have described, would it be wise to rest completely like the other guy did?

BR.
S.

[MBK1795]

i have been lifting weights for almost 7 years now. this past couple of years is when i really got serious about it. everything was going great until this last year i got bad tendonitis at the bottom of my bicep into my forearm. it progressively got worse and worse to the point where it hurt like hell to simply lift a pile of clothes from the laundry room. i thought i had done permanent damage and would be stuck with this injury for life, it was very depressing.

after lots of reading and researching, i came to the conclusion that i got this injury from doing certain exercises (hammer curls, reverse-grip curls, etc) that would always hurt while i was doing them, but i thought i just had to push through the pain to get growth. i finally stopped all lifting of bicep and back exercises. it still did not get better, so i made some appointments with the doctor and completely stopped lifting weights all together until my appointment (one full month.)

at first, the doctor told me to take a bunch of anti-inflammatory medicine for a week straight (aleve, aspirin, etc). i tried it, it did not work. he also told me to get back into lifting, just take it slow on bicep/back exercises.

i started lifting again, and i stayed very light on bicep exercises (were talking, curling 10lb dumbbells). it still did not improve. i lifted light for about 5 weeks, the most i was ever curling was 20lb dumbbells. pain still was throbbing.

as of now, my tendonitis is completely healed. i feel absolutely no pain at all, no matter what lifts im doing or what daily activities im doing. i am back to lifting as heavy as i can on bicep and back exercises. i blast the hell out of my biceps until i can barely bend my arms, with no pain.

here is how i recovered 100%....

taking the month off of lifting was key to the healing. all of my muscles needed time to recover, especially my tendons (all of them). i started doing negative bicep exercises (if you dont know what negatives are, google it.) i stayed very light still on the weight of curls. i iced my tendonitis everyday, twice a day. this was the BIGGEST thing in recovery. tendonitis is inflammation, icing it calms the inflamed tendons. i started taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin twice a day. i started eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. getting nutrients from these foods was essential i believe. i took fish oil 3 times a day. i was patient. every time i was lifting bicep/back i wanted to push my limits and see if i could get my weight up faster but i had to resist this. i curled 15lb dumbbells in the gym for weeks (and it was very embarassing for a guy who shoulder presses 90lb dumbbells with ease). i stopped doing exercises that hurt. no more reverse-grip curls, no more hammer curls. my motto now is if an exercise hurts or doesnt feel quite right, i stop doing it immediately. no matter how much someone is yacking in your ear how its "THE BEST EXERCISE FOR MASS$@&*(!" its not worth injury.

i truly thought that i was stuck with this injury for the rest of my life and thought that it would impair my weightlifting forever. i spent a lot of time trying to find out how to recover from this injury, so i hope this can help people out there that are suffering from the same injury.

if i can answer any additional questions, feel free to reply to this thread.

Hi! I have shoulder tendonitis and wrist tendonitis in both my arms. How much fish oil and glucosamine pills can one take a day?

Manon Kaufman

[Solidhead]

It might come as a surprise, but I've quit taking creatine and started to see improvements within a week......

I've been on Kalei's intermediate everyday routine for 1+ year.

[renkma]

bring_the_mosh

I know this is a super old thread but I wanted to thank you for putting it out there. I started doing a popular EXTREME home fitness program back in 08, and have had mild shoulder, bicep and wrist problems all along ... but two weeks ago (now doing the same type of program .3) I pushed myself too hard and blasted out my entire right arm. The worst of it is the bicep tendonitis. The pain (which I've had for years off and on) is now off the charts. I can't even pick up my cup to drink without the bicep, inner elbow, forearm, wrist, finger, and even shoulder pain.
I've done all the things Dr.s have told me over the years -- pretty much exactly what you said you were told -- and the problem not only persisted, but escalated.
In researching to see if there was something I could do to help it actually heal, I found your post. It was refreshing to see someone actually say "stop - rest - eat right - ice it - only do what you can". I've been feeling so depressed that I can't work out or touch a weight, but you made me feel like it's OK to take a bit of time to heal.

I'm a middle aged female BTW - 105 lbs and extremely proud of being as fit as I am - and did this to myself by curling 20 lbs in an arm that probably weighs half that at best, and doing reverse grip chin ups without aid (and wishing to the powers that be that I didn't and stuck with the resistance bands instead).

I'm done trying to be some crazed Wonder Woman beast and am now settling on being just a very fit and healthy little woman. No, I won't be impressing anyone by curling my silly little 5lb and 10lb dumbells, but I guess I'd rather someone see me and say "hey, look at that awesome little old lady keeping fit" instead of "whoa, look at that freakishly muscular old broad screaming in tendonitis pain as she tries to lift her water bottle".

So thanks for being real, advising natural healing, and slapping me across the face to wake me up. I do NOT have to push through the pain!!

[chineseboxer78]

I have a similar injury... But after seeing the doctor and having him confirm it was just inflammation of the biceps tendon (pain in the shoulder of the tendon) I have laid off most lifts and am keeping it light. I am of the same mind that if you feel pain from a lift that isn't normal kind of muscle pain (burn) then stop. Anyway I will try the ice part as I have just been using a NSAID with some topical anti-inflammatories also which have been helping but still sometimes feel pain but it has been subsiding more and more as the weeks pass by. For anyone who has injuries remember the RICE method and NSAIDs don't hurt either especially with inflammation problems. Thanks for the thread as it has been helpful

[5FoldMan]

i have been lifting weights for almost 7 years now. this past couple of years is when i really got serious about it. everything was going great until this last year i got bad tendonitis at the bottom of my bicep into my forearm. it progressively got worse and worse to the point where it hurt like hell to simply lift a pile of clothes from the laundry room. i thought i had done permanent damage and would be stuck with this injury for life, it was very depressing.

after lots of reading and researching, i came to the conclusion that i got this injury from doing certain exercises (hammer curls, reverse-grip curls, etc) that would always hurt while i was doing them, but i thought i just had to push through the pain to get growth. i finally stopped all lifting of bicep and back exercises. it still did not get better, so i made some appointments with the doctor and completely stopped lifting weights all together until my appointment (one full month.)

at first, the doctor told me to take a bunch of anti-inflammatory medicine for a week straight (aleve, aspirin, etc). i tried it, it did not work. he also told me to get back into lifting, just take it slow on bicep/back exercises.

i started lifting again, and i stayed very light on bicep exercises (were talking, curling 10lb dumbbells). it still did not improve. i lifted light for about 5 weeks, the most i was ever curling was 20lb dumbbells. pain still was throbbing.

as of now, my tendonitis is completely healed. i feel absolutely no pain at all, no matter what lifts im doing or what daily activities im doing. i am back to lifting as heavy as i can on bicep and back exercises. i blast the hell out of my biceps until i can barely bend my arms, with no pain.

here is how i recovered 100%....

taking the month off of lifting was key to the healing. all of my muscles needed time to recover, especially my tendons (all of them). i started doing negative bicep exercises (if you dont know what negatives are, google it.) i stayed very light still on the weight of curls. i iced my tendonitis everyday, twice a day. this was the BIGGEST thing in recovery. tendonitis is inflammation, icing it calms the inflamed tendons. i started taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin twice a day. i started eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. getting nutrients from these foods was essential i believe. i took fish oil 3 times a day. i was patient. every time i was lifting bicep/back i wanted to push my limits and see if i could get my weight up faster but i had to resist this. i curled 15lb dumbbells in the gym for weeks (and it was very embarassing for a guy who shoulder presses 90lb dumbbells with ease). i stopped doing exercises that hurt. no more reverse-grip curls, no more hammer curls. my motto now is if an exercise hurts or doesnt feel quite right, i stop doing it immediately. no matter how much someone is yacking in your ear how its "THE BEST EXERCISE FOR MASS$@&*(!" its not worth injury.

i truly thought that i was stuck with this injury for the rest of my life and thought that it would impair my weightlifting forever. i spent a lot of time trying to find out how to recover from this injury, so i hope this can help people out there that are suffering from the same injury.

if i can answer any additional questions, feel free to reply to this thread.

How long did it take? I am dealing with forearm tendonitis.

[hoodhulk]

I agree to the glucosamine thing and ice. seeing my similar condition, my Dr told me that my nutrition intake might be weaker than my training...I.e. in training more and eating less.....by less i mean protein!
check if you're taking the required amount of protein otherwise your body will get exhausted and start breaking at weak points....like tendons.

[highestheights]

Thanks for the advice! I've also had forearm/bicep pain and not known what to do about it.

[highestheights]

In this case, is there a difference between pushing through actual pain and pushing through an uncomfortable tightness/stretching in the injured arm? I'm not sure whether to keep going or stop when I feel this tightness in one arm when the weight gets heavier during farmer walks and pullups.

[chanakya88]

i have been lifting weights for almost 7 years now. this past couple of years is when i really got serious about it. everything was going great until this last year i got bad tendonitis at the bottom of my bicep into my forearm. it progressively got worse and worse to the point where it hurt like hell to simply lift a pile of clothes from the laundry room. i thought i had done permanent damage and would be stuck with this injury for life, it was very depressing.

after lots of reading and researching, i came to the conclusion that i got this injury from doing certain exercises (hammer curls, reverse-grip curls, etc) that would always hurt while i was doing them, but i thought i just had to push through the pain to get growth. i finally stopped all lifting of bicep and back exercises. it still did not get better, so i made some appointments with the doctor and completely stopped lifting weights all together until my appointment (one full month.)

at first, the doctor told me to take a bunch of anti-inflammatory medicine for a week straight (aleve, aspirin, etc). i tried it, it did not work. he also told me to get back into lifting, just take it slow on bicep/back exercises.

i started lifting again, and i stayed very light on bicep exercises (were talking, curling 10lb dumbbells). it still did not improve. i lifted light for about 5 weeks, the most i was ever curling was 20lb dumbbells. pain still was throbbing.

as of now, my tendonitis is completely healed. i feel absolutely no pain at all, no matter what lifts im doing or what daily activities im doing. i am back to lifting as heavy as i can on bicep and back exercises. i blast the hell out of my biceps until i can barely bend my arms, with no pain.

here is how i recovered 100%....

taking the month off of lifting was key to the healing. all of my muscles needed time to recover, especially my tendons (all of them). i started doing negative bicep exercises (if you dont know what negatives are, google it.) i stayed very light still on the weight of curls. i iced my tendonitis everyday, twice a day. this was the BIGGEST thing in recovery. tendonitis is inflammation, icing it calms the inflamed tendons. i started taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin twice a day. i started eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. getting nutrients from these foods was essential i believe. i took fish oil 3 times a day. i was patient. every time i was lifting bicep/back i wanted to push my limits and see if i could get my weight up faster but i had to resist this. i curled 15lb dumbbells in the gym for weeks (and it was very embarassing for a guy who shoulder presses 90lb dumbbells with ease). i stopped doing exercises that hurt. no more reverse-grip curls, no more hammer curls. my motto now is if an exercise hurts or doesnt feel quite right, i stop doing it immediately. no matter how much someone is yacking in your ear how its "THE BEST EXERCISE FOR MASS$@&*(!" its not worth injury.

i truly thought that i was stuck with this injury for the rest of my life and thought that it would impair my weightlifting forever. i spent a lot of time trying to find out how to recover from this injury, so i hope this can help people out there that are suffering from the same injury.

if i can answer any additional questions, feel free to reply to this thread.

I am suffering from elbow pain from past 5 years(from 2011). Elbow pain comes into existence only when I start going gym lift weights OR when I lean on my elbows. I met a Orthopedic doctor (in 2012) he did all the tests and x-ray and said nothing wrong with your elbow. When he pressing around my elbow I told him that I dint have elbow pain right now, it only comes when I start lifting weights, so he gave me some medicines I had followed for 6 months again visited him and said dint recovered so he said you are suffering from tendonitis told not to eat cabbage and chicken liver and prescribed some medicines, after 6 months I visited him again he said to come for physiotherapy daily, since it was very far away to visit daily. I had dropped the idea to visit him again. Again in 2014, I had visited physiotherapy dept in our university only. The doctor said that i am suffering from student elbow. I had visited 2-3 days she told to do some exercises also. Due to hectic schedule in college I haven't visited again. Now in May 2016 when I visited the physio dept again there is a new doctor she said its tennis elbow. From past ten days I am visiting daily physio dept daily and taking 1. hot wax bath, 2. mobilization, 3. TENS 4. Lazer. But there's no improvement. Unable to diagnose what disease it is. (I used to sleep on stomach with my hands folded 180 degrees beneath the pillow for some 6 years). I was regular to gym for 8 years till 2010. I had joined a new job in 2010 after two years of college education at age of 30 years where i need to used laptop intermittently. After a year gap in again I started gym in 2011. After 28 days of gym workout the elbow started hurting. I had stopped gym and visited a general physician. Temporarily it was ok as I stoped going Gym and elbow dint hurted. Now I want to be back into form, want to start body building again. But lost hope that I will recuperate from elbow pain.

[Berkush]

Just want to throw my 2 cents in since I have almost fully recovered from severe patellar tendinitis (after lots of trial and error):

Tendinitis may be a result of overcompensation for an accessory muscle, so don't neglect those muscles. For example, patellar tendinitis may be due to an inflexible ankle that causes the mechanics to put excessive stress on the patellar tendon. The same goes with bicep tendinitis.

Make sure you are working muscle groups evenly and more importantly when you are stretching and massaging (which you should do 2-3x per day) work those neglected parts of your body.

[Mjaesthetics]

This is muscle sore Ness rest your hand on a pillow on your lap then with the index and middle finger rub on pain point side to side, not up and down

[KJohnT]

Hi all,

I didn't get a chance to read through this entirely but wanted to provide my own experience -

I suffered from very painful bicep tendonitis a few years back, both arms. This was primarily a result of weighted dips (max sets were +90 pounds). During the negative part of each rep, my tendons couldn't support the weight. I tried a few things but eventually quit doing dips altogether. My tricep strength is not quite the same as it once was (all pressing movements went down a bit), but I am completely pain-free.

If you do weighted dips, you might remove them from your routine for a bit and see if it helps.