How to Prevent
Biceps Tendonitis
One of the questions I get from
people is, “What injuries do you see all the time?”. My answer is always the
same, “It depends what sport you are talking about”. At Westfield High School we have 27 varsity
sports and I get to work with every one of them on all three levels (Freshman,
J.V., Varsity). It is safe to say that I get exposed to many injuries. One that I see all the time, especially in
swimming, is biceps tendonitis.
With any injury recognizing the
injury is the easiest part. Any coach who has been working with swimming or
baseball can tell you the signs and symptoms of biceps tendonitis. What I believe
is the most important part is finding the cause of the injury. If you can find
the cause you can fix the original problem. Whereas most other people focus on
the site of pain, I like to fix the root of the problem. I often ask my students if they focus on the
fruits or the roots. The root is what creates the fruits.
Biceps tendonitis can be caused by a
large number of problems but I want to explain the top reasons that I find in
High School Athletes
1)
Tight or overactive lats (This is most common in swimmers).
The latissimus dorsi is the big/wide muscles in the back that is used while
swimming. The problem is that its insertion point is in the front of your arm (for
my anatomy heads it is the medial floor of the bicipital groove of the humerus).
When this muscle gets tight it rolls your arm forward and internally rotates
your arm. This rotation will cause the space between the shoulder and arm to
narrow. This will then put pressure on the biceps tendon and cause a clicking
or snapping over the groove of the bicep. This causes pain and inflammation of
the tendon.
2)
Tight or overactive pec muscle (This is most common in football,
baseball players). The pectoralis major and minor make up what is called your
chest. These muscles are very powerful and have two key insertion points. The
minor attaches at an upper portion of your shoulder blade (coracoid process) and
the major attaches in the front of your arm (lateral lip of the bicipital
groove). The important thing to note here is that the pec minor is also used
during breathing, especially for those who do not know how to use their diaphragm
for breathing. When these muscles get
tight they cause the same issues as the lat muscles did in #1. They will roll
your arm inward as well as cause your shoulder blade to hike up and tilt
anteriorly. This again will narrow the
space between the shoulder and arm causing the biceps tendonitis.
These are two of the major issues I
see that cause biceps tendonitis. It is important to note that these issues do
not operate alone. They can be caused by many other factors, but for the
purpose of this blog we will not discuss those. These two issues can easily be
prevented if the proper training is done with these athletes. I have attached a workout that can be done 2
to 3 days a week that will help prevent much of what causes biceps tendonitis.
They are not the “end all, be all” but they will help to keep the muscles loose
and moving properly.
Shoulder Recover and
Regeneration Home Exercises
*You will need a baseball, Thera Band
or elastic tubing, and Rope.
Soft Tissue Work
Foam Roll
Pec Minor
|
40 sec-1min
|
|
Anterior
Delt
|
40 sec-1min
|
|
Rhomboids
|
40 sec-1min
|
|
Infraspinatus
|
40 sec-1min
|
|
Upper Trap
|
40 sec-1min
|
|
Lats
|
40sec-
1min
|
Shoulder
Exercises
Exercise
|
Sets
|
Reps
|
Youtube Link
|
Wall
Slides
|
1
|
20
|
|
Thread the
Needle
|
1
|
12 each
side
|
|
T-Spine
Rotations
|
1
|
15 each
side
|
|
Prone
Protraction/ Retraction
|
1
|
15
|
|
No Monies
w/ Bands
|
1
|
20
|
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