Bicep tendonitis is a very common injury seen in my practice. The aches and pains of bicep tendonitis can seriously interfere with your daily activities. Most people don’t realize how much they use their bicep muscles throughout the day until an injury like this occurs.

Let’s talk some anatomy. The bicep muscle is actually two different muscles and it crosses over two joints, the shoulder and the elbow. Therefore it has many functions besides curling weights. The bicep muscles flex the elbow, raise the shoulder and even helps to supinate the forearm, which is the act of turning your palm up towards the sky.

Most of the time an injury like this is caused by either overuse of the arm and shoulder like a weightlifter or pitcher in baseball. Or it can be injured because of the shoulder being over-extended. A common mechanism of injury is when we are driving the car and then reach into the back seat to grab something. That over-extending of the shoulder can cause tearing in the bicep muscle or bicep tendon resulting in injury.

If you are diagnosed with bicep tendonitis, a range of treatment options are available. Nonsurgical interventions are the preferred first choice of chiropractors. Resting the shoulder and avoiding exacerbating activity may be suggested in combination with other strategies and ice packs to reduce pain and swelling. Of course the areas of the spine in the middle back and neck need to be examined to ensure restrictions are removed to optimize the healing potential of the body.

Once you heal from this injury it is important to evaluate why it happened in the first place and a course of action should be developed to help prevent future incidents from occurring. Postural training and exercises to go along with your adjustments will help keep you feeling good, active and as healthy as possible!

Have you had success treating your bicep tendonitis with Chiropractic? If so share your story below!