Suggestions on trianing around bicep injury

[Allen Yeh]

It's been a while since I've posted so hello!

Been deployed this last year and just got back to the US in December. The last few months of deployment I was humming along doing Defranco's WS4SB's 3 revision.

January since I was kind of aimless training wise and just getting back home I opted for HCT-12 for a change of pace. The program was ok but the kicker is that I somehow injured my left bicep near the elbow during that. I (maybe foolishly) finished up 1 complete training cycle.

I wanted to field some opinions on how training should proceed for now?

Any curling movement is out, I've bee doing light band work to try to get blood flow but even that hurts. Any rowing/pulling motion where my hand is supinated is out for sure and even some variations of rows with my hand pronated hurts too!

These last 3 weeks I've just been aimless in the gym and it's starting to drive me a bit nutty.

I was using that 4 week cycle of HCT-12 to use that as a jumping point on deciding on my goals. Now this injury has messed things up as it seems to limit my options in terms of pulling.


Goals:
1. Want to recover my arm, this injury is just irritating, hurts to bring in bags of groceries, just everyday mundane things that I took for granted are now painful

2. Don't want to lose to much of the gains I made but if that's what it takes to be recover I'll have to suck it up. I had finally gotten to a 405 DL and 19 deadhang pull-ups. I have sneaking suspicion I injured myself doing mixed-grip DL's in January.


Thanks guys.

[Steven Low]

Do you know what the actual injury is? Strain..? Or...?

ALso, is this a self diagnosis or?

1. Google a pic and mark where it hurts. Tell me what tissue(s) it feels like it's hurting in, or if it's more superficial or deep in the joint?

2. What exercises hurt? Which shoulder articulations hurt? Make sure you check both with passive motion and resistive/active motion. Also tell me when and what movements during these exercises are eliciting the pain?
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Shoulder.html

3. What type of pain is it? Burning? Ache? Tingling? Sharp?

4. What would you rate the pain at on a 0/10 scale? 0 being no pain, 10 being go to the emergency room.

5. Acute or chronic (chronic more than ~6-8 weeks)? What date was onset? How has the pain improved since the initial injury?

6. Have you been training through pain? If so, how long?

7. What have you been doing for recovery purposes? Do these recovery methods help?

8. What seems to help? What seems to make it worse? Is it constant? Does it increase/decrease with certain activities?

9. Check the tissue quality of the surrounding muscles. Which ones are tight? Which ones are tender? Is there any swelling?

10. How does it feel after exercise (if any)? How does it feel at the beginning of the day? How about the end of the day?

11. Any previous injury history?

12. How's your posture?

13. What is your current workout routine for that bodypart? Do you play any sports?

14. Any other information I should be aware of or that comes to mind that may help?

Any answers to these Q's would be good to.

[Allen Yeh]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Do you know what the actual injury is? Strain..? Or...?

ALso, is this a self diagnosis or?

Strain (I think) and self diagnosed, nothing actually tore off, no discoloration, not sharp pain.

Quote:
1. Pic attached, feels inside the area circled

2. Basically elbow flexion - As for shoulder articulations it depends on my hand position, supinated anything hurts so far that I have tried anyway, I've been on a pain avoidance thing these last few weeks.

3.Aches when isometrically flexed, moves to sharp pain when I actually try to pick up something

4. Just sitting here no pain, when I try to use it without thinking it can jump up to a 5

5. Almost chronic now, first noticed it the week of Jan 16th, thought it was just something weird, dropped any direct bicep stuff but continued everything else. Working through it didn't work and pain I think is the same now as it was weeks ago.

6. When I notice pain I stop that movement.

7. Cut my general inflammation down, heat, gentle SMR manually or with The Stick

8. Not using my left arm, but seriously nothing really.

9. Seems the same to me.

10.N/A

11. None to left arm

12.

13. No sports, no routine right now

[Steven Low]

Seems pretty close to the musculotendinous junction.

I mean, if it hurts significantly under low loads I would aim to:

Keep using heat if it helps

Loosen up the rest of the biceps muscle especially the upper portion and see if that helps relieve any of the issues... moreso than the area itself. Too much soft tissue work to that area can be wonky

Light eccentrics for rehab, but if it's hurting under low loads then I'd aim for a lot of non-painful mobility work through full range of motion if possible.

I would also try to loosen up your shoulders and forearms as well as sometimes tightness in those areas can cause compensations near the elbow

But other than that without more information I don't really know what to say other than see a professional.

[Allen Yeh]

Yeah you know me I try to avoid doctor visits like the plague! Honestly though the last few times I've been to a doctor I feel like all they do is tell me what I already knew and don't tell me to do anything different than I was already doing! Know what I mean?

[Steven Low]

Yep.

Do you know of any good sports docs?

[Allen Yeh]

Not in my area. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks.