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Thread: Left bicep/bicep insertion tendon (?) injury

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2008
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    Default Left bicep/bicep insertion tendon (?) injury

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    Hey, big fan of the Ask Rip series.

    -I've been back on SS for 9 months after 8 year break. 29 years old, 174lbs. 255 squat (current 245), 345 deadlift, 200 bench, 130 press, 155 clean, 140 Row.

    -3-4 months ago I started feeling pain in my left arm/bicep/bicep insertion tendon. It's hard to pin point the pain. Sometimes it seems to radiate from the joint above the elbow,

    below the bicep. Other times the forearm or top of the bicep. The pain has gone away for as much as a week, but comes back DURING SQUATS at seemingly random times (though usually

    during heavy sets, but not always, sometimes pain starts on bar warm ups). Recently I had a workout where it was really bad. I could barely hold the pins for the squat rack, but still

    managed to match my previous bench pr afterwards and deadlift. I mention this to point out my arm is still somewhat functional despite the pain.

    -I realized I was holding the bar too low on my back and my grip was wider than recommended.

    -1 month ago I reset my squat by 10%, changed the bar position on the back from this video A Clarification on the Squat Grip | On the Platform - YouTube and started doing my Press or Bench before

    squats. The reason for this was that I was sick of not being able to give 100% on my arm movements. This has helped the issue, but often times my left bicep still feels at the least

    uncomfortable and often painful AFTER SQUATS.

    -Could power cleans have caused the injury? I stopped doing them because I have to drop the weight on my arm joints and round my lower back to cushion the weight to the floor. I Can't

    drop the weight in my gym.

    -How about pull ups? They sometimes aggravate the injury.

    -I'm just wondering if it's safe to work out through the pain. The Bench or Press always improves the pain when I Squat first, but it takes 20-40min to go away. By the time I leave

    the gym, it's 90-100% gone.

    -I do plan on seeing a gp and physiotherapist if need be. Anything to ask/look out for?

    Thanks for any help guys.

    Video of my showing the injury location and squatting. I can grab from the back if necessary. I should slap myself for that duh at the end. Left bicep/tendon injury + squat form check - YouTube

    P.S. Hilariously enough I had a similar issue 8 years ago on this forum and totally forgot about it.

  2. #2
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    Don't go to a doctor; save yourself the money and disillusion. They'll either say "have you tried not doing that?", which I don't entirely disagree with, but is overly simplistic as far as solutions go, or they'll shrug their shoulders and stare at you. Either way, not helpful.

    Definitely a grip issue. From this angle, I'd have to say you're overdoing the "elbows up" at the beginning, but your shoulder girdle is contorting in all sorts of strange ways. Not only are your elbows too high up, you're not even keeping them tight. Try narrowing your grip and simply raising your chest with neutral wrists. If your chest moves up and your wrists remain neutral, you can be pretty sure of the fact that your elbows are neither dropping nor raising excessively. Try to feel for tight lats bunching up against your triceps. That's about as high as you want your elbows to be.

    Other than that, you can try the "chinup protocol". Not a whole lot else is going to help. Pressing and benching will suck ass for a while until it stops sucking ass. Just fight your way through that. Don't massage or swallow bottles of pills or apply heat or cold or whatever. Everyone has already tried that and it does not work. It's chins all the way to Tipperary or it's "letting it go away". I wouldn't recommend the latter.

    Once again for emphasis: elbows too high means shoulders in overextension. Anything in overextension is a no-no where heavy weight is concerned. There's a whole lot of information about this (Rip's videos, one is very very recent; Feigenbaum's article on squat grip; video on stretching for the low bar position by Horn; countless board posts like yours, not all of which ended up in the repetitive inquiries section).

  3. #3
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    I'd been having issues with my proximal biceps tendon for several months. I hadn't done anything I could pinpoint as being the mechanism of injury. So, I had my friend who is an ortho surgeon inject some kenalog, marcaine, and lidocaine right into the biceps tuberosity on the radius. Had instantaneous relief of pain, with a slight case of iatrogenic "stranger" for the rest of the day. I'm a week out and still have 0 pain whatsoever.

  4. #4
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    The upside of having friends in high places (and the insight into these matters to boot). Any cause for the pain you've been able to pinpoint? Doesn't sound like something a squat grip would cause, but I don't know.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scaldrew View Post
    The upside of having friends in high places (and the insight into these matters to boot). Any cause for the pain you've been able to pinpoint? Doesn't sound like something a squat grip would cause, but I don't know.
    I've never had a single bit of pain from squatting. The biggest trigger would be from moving patients, especially when I had to reposition them for a spinal manipulation. Some of my patients have what could be termed as "generous body habitus". Also, I NEVER, EVER do any bicep work, so possibly, I may have developed some issues from never doing any heavy curls, but I'm reaching to claim that.

  6. #6
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Scaldrew View Post
    Don't go to a doctor; save yourself the money and disillusion. They'll either say "have you tried not doing that?", which I don't entirely disagree with, but is overly simplistic as far as solutions go, or they'll shrug their shoulders and stare at you. Either way, not helpful.

    Definitely a grip issue. From this angle, I'd have to say you're overdoing the "elbows up" at the beginning, but your shoulder girdle is contorting in all sorts of strange ways. Not only are your elbows too high up, you're not even keeping them tight. Try narrowing your grip and simply raising your chest with neutral wrists. If your chest moves up and your wrists remain neutral, you can be pretty sure of the fact that your elbows are neither dropping nor raising excessively. Try to feel for tight lats bunching up against your triceps. That's about as high as you want your elbows to be.

    Other than that, you can try the "chinup protocol". Not a whole lot else is going to help. Pressing and benching will suck ass for a while until it stops sucking ass. Just fight your way through that. Don't massage or swallow bottles of pills or apply heat or cold or whatever. Everyone has already tried that and it does not work. It's chins all the way to Tipperary or it's "letting it go away". I wouldn't recommend the latter.

    Once again for emphasis: elbows too high means shoulders in overextension. Anything in overextension is a no-no where heavy weight is concerned. There's a whole lot of information about this (Rip's videos, one is very very recent; Feigenbaum's article on squat grip; video on stretching for the low bar position by Horn; countless board posts like yours, not all of which ended up in the repetitive inquiries section).
    Thanks for the help.

    I found Feigenbaum's article and indeed my elbows are too high. They should be the same angle as my back "the angle of the humerus relative to the floor should be about the same as back angle". The Elbow Problem | Jordan Feigenbaum I squatted today keeping your advice in mind and tried for a narrower grip, elbows down, and don't move elbows, but could only move 1 finger narrower without bending my wrists. I'll post another video in 2 days.

    The Chinup protocol seems to be for elbow tendinitis which I'm pretty sure I don't have. quick question about the pin firing - chin up protocol I did 5 sets of 2 today and I felt like if I did 1 more set it would make the injury worse since it's a bicep/tendon injury and chin ups really work the biceps. Pressing and Benching rarely trigger the injury at all.

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