Anyone experienced biceps tendinitis?

Question

I injured my shoulder a while back and went to a surgeon who sent me for an MRI thinking I had a torn rotator cuff. It turned out to be a frozen shoulder, and I was sent to a physical therapist. Now that my shoulder has improved somewhat, I find I have one remaining group of problems which a friend who is the trainer for a local athletics team has said is biceps tendinitis. I have a follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, but I am nervous. I was wondering if someone with experience wished to share.

My symptoms:

Cannot reach behind back with affected arm.
When I try to reach behind back, I have a good bit of pain in the upper back quadrant right at the joint and running down the arm toward the biceps muscle.
If I do the exercises I was given by the physical therapist aimed at reaching behind my back with this arm, I also suffer a feeling like my smallest finger and half my ring finger on that hand are going to sleep. They tingle and lack feeling.
If I sit still for a while, I feel I must move the arm to relieve the stiffness and pain that develops in the area of the mid- to lower-bicep.
In the morning after I have been asleep and still is the worst time for pain and stiffness in the shoulder and bicep.
Certain motions somewhat similar to the motion of pitching a ball overhand cause a good bit of pain in the mid- to lower-bicep area. 
Some examples of motions that have caused me pain include when I went to throw a throw blanket over the back of my recliner, and when hot liquid was splashed on the hand such that I reflexively jerked it away while attempting to fling off the hot liquid.

Despite doing my exercises religiously for two months, I have seen no improvement in these issues. I have seen a very great deal of improvement in other areas as when I started I was in constant pain about equal to the pain I currently feel when performing one of the motions in the examples above and lifting my arm out to shoulder level in front of me brought pain so severe it took my breath away and caused black spots to appear in my vision. I now only feel pain when I sit still too long or if I try to reach behind me or certain other motions. I think the reason the trainer thought bicep tendon was probably attached to the dead feeling I sometimes get in my smallest finger and half my ring finger of that hand as apparently the tendon and that nerve run in a groove together along the back of the arm near the shoulder. Apparently swelling and damage to that tendon can cause it to come out of the groove and possibly even push the nerve out, resulting in the falling asleep feeling.

The trainer and my physical therapist thought my surgeon might likely give me a shot and send me for more physical therapy, but the trainer said surgery was also a possibility. That's what is making me nervous.

Thank you!

massage therapist · Accepted Answer

You very well could have bicep tendinitis. But also what could be a big part of the problem is the infraspinatus muscle,a rotator cuff muscle. Trigger points in this muscle will refer pain to the front of the shoulder (bicep area) down the arm into the thumb and hand,and restrict range of motion in the shoulder joint, See if this looks familiar.http://myofascialtherapy.org/symptom-checker/symptomcheck/symptom_upper_infraspinatus.html If it does,show it to your PT and have some specific treatment on this muscle.  Hope this helps,good luck!  http://www.triggerpointtherapist.com/blog/infraspinatus-trigger-points/infraspinatus-trigger-points-the-magicians-of-shoulder-pain/

Anonymous · Answer

1

Helen Mae · Answer

I'm having similar problems in the same area myself right now, though I have tendinitis of the rotator cuff and impingement syndrome.  All very painful, and I feel for you.  Your ulnar nerve symptoms are disturbing.  Your trainer/therapist may be right, that the nerve and long head of the biceps tendon are moving out of the groove.  However, the largest rotator cuff, the supraspinatus, is wrapped pretty tightly around the humerus at that point, and holds both structures in place.  And when the long head of the biceps moves out of its groove, it can cause the biceps muscle to have a "double bulge" or "Popeye sign" when you flex your biceps.  

Paresthesias (numbness, tingling, feeling asleep or pins and needles) in the ring and pinkie finger are dead give-away symptoms of problems with the ulnar nerve (neuropathy).  Ulnar neuropathy can be caused up in the shoulder at the brachial plexus, possibly with the frozen shoulder, or in the canal with the long head of the biceps tendon, or lower in the elbow (the funny bone).  If the nerve is pinched by other structures at any point, it will cause your symptoms.  The orthopedist will do some tests that can help him localize where the problem is.  And he may repeat an MRI.  You only have two ulnar nerves, and they're important.  So if surgery is needed, I hope you won't turn it down.  If that nerve is impinged, or pinched, someone has to unpinch it.

Hope this all made sense and didn't ramble on!

Feel better!

amabelle · Answer

Lower Biceps Tendonitis

Anonymous · Answer

I have it in my elbow and the only thing that helped me was a cortisone shot. Long term, that's not a good solution though, so the only way to prevent re-occurrences is to strengthen the muscles around it. A physical therapist can recommend specific exercises to do this. Also, taking the maximum dosage of ibuprofen (800 mg) before bed and putting ice on it helped the inflammation and pain. Unfortunately in my case, it helped but wouldn't go away completely. Also, try to figure out what activities aggravate it - in my case using the computer mouse made mine worse, so now I either use the touch pad or an ergonomic mouse. That has helped quite a bit. Good luck, I know how painful it can be.

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ShakD · Answer

I have had some patients have this issue. It's not a good one at that. It's extremely difficult to determine what will be able to help you in this situation. have you consulted more than one doctor?

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Anyone experienced biceps tendinitis?

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