Biceps Tendonitis: Episode 24

• One of the most common complaints around the shoulder is Biceps Tendonitis. This pain presents in the front of the shoulder and responds well to treatment.
• We review The Daily Crave Lentil Chips Smoked Gouda – Complements of Pip & Jamie
• Trivia question of the week: When was the first year that the ball was dropped at Times Square, New York?
• Follow us on Instagram: 2pts_n_a_bagofchips and/or Twitter @2PTsNaBagOChips to see photos, video and get additional episode specific information throughout the week.
• Thanks for listening!!

Today we are going to cover biceps tendonitis. Yes. Then we are also going to go over The Daily Crave Lentil Chips, Smoked Gouda Flavor. Biceps tendonitis, quite common. Very common, in the shoulder, yes. A lot of people think of this more as a shoulder issue. We know of our biceps tendon in the upper arm there but. The tendon, tendonitis is felt right there in the front portion of the shoulder. Yeah it’s the long head of the biceps that tends to be the predominent culprit.

 

It runs through a grove, the biceps grove. Also called the bicipital groove. As it subluxes, or kind of rolls in and out of that it can get irritated. Happens with repetitive overuse. Like repetitive overhand motion; serving in tennis, swimming. Throwing the baseball. What have you. There is another issue with that.

 

Sometimes it spontaneously ruptures, in specifically elderly men. If it rupture completely it is no big deal. It just kind of curls back and you end up with what is called a “Popeye” arm. It looks very cool. Tends to be painful for maybe a couple days and some bruising. Then the pain goes away and off you go it’s more problematic if you have a partial tendon tear because they tend to be quite painful

 

They do indeed. That’s because you kind of are pulling on a hangnail, that is the best way to think of it. Really uncomfortable, you kind of catch it all the time. Gives you some sharp pains. But once you kind of rip that hangnail off, like when you fully rupture it. Sore for a day or two, three days. Then you are good; maybe some bruising for a little while but that is OK.

 

Biceps tendonitis is really common. I don’t have a specific number, maybe 50% of shoulder irritation. Yeah, even if you have an underlying rotator cuff issue or shoulder impingement a lot of times the biceps is involved because it is really important in shoulder mechanics.