What do you recommend for an inflamed bicep tendon or impingement running under the shoulder joint.

Probablly not what you want to hear but...
REST, Ice, anti-inflamatories (Ibuprofin or Aleve). Rotator cuff exercises to stabilize the shoulder joint and keep the tendon from pinching under the acromion.

You'll probably have to reduce weight (or even stop completely depending on how severe) on your upper body exercises.

I'd also listen to the recommendations of whatever doctor or physical therapist diagnosed your condition.

No one wants to hear about that "R" word. So, don't do it.

You'll just never heal.

I forced myself to take six weeks off. (It was really 3 weeks off, 1 week very light, 3 weeks off) I've just started up again 2 weeks ago. Before that, I was hitting the heavy weights then icing down the elbow. I would wrap during the heavy lifts. Compensating for pain, I strained a pect.

I finally just decided to STOP. I also took some anti-infammatory meds (OTC).

I'm currently just doing about 1/3 the weight, super-setting along with higher reps. A totally different workout. I increase the weight slightly about every week.

The best medicine is rest. When was your last break from heavy lifting?

Frank

Question: why do you believe your bicep tendon is inflamed?

As far as suggestions, i definitely agree with rest. If the condition is acute, then ice will also be helpful. Pay special attention to the execution of all deltoid and bicep exercises. In particular, be extra vigilant to perform the eccentric portion of any bicep flexion exercise with control.

If you choose to use OTC anti-inflammatory drugs, be sure to follow the label directions and do not use on an empty stomach. If interested in trying an herbal anti-inflammatory medication, check out Zyflamend from New Chapter.

Finally, i think one would be hard-pressed to develop a bicep tendon impingement from the acromion process. The long head of the bicep has its proximal attachment much too low on the scapula to develop an impingement. Likewise, the tendon of the short head attaches to the coracoid process where impingement by the acromion is improbable.

More common in the shoulder region is impingement on the bursa causing bursitis. In any event, DCandy's recommendation to utilize rotator cuff stability exercises is a good idea. Bodybuilding.com has several good articles on that subject.

By the way, the rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles whose tendons function to stabilize and protect the shoulder joint. The four muscles are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis (SITS).

Fitdoc: Well I did heavy military push press, and heavy reverse grip smythe bench and then 4 days later I came in for my next chest/shoulder/tri workout and I started warming up on incline smythe bench and my shoulder was screaming in pain. There is not a single incident that hurt my shoulder it just started hurting when I warmed up, I work at a high school and I had the athletic trainer evaluate my shoulder and her conclusion was that it probably was not the rotator cuff and that it is probably the long head of the bicep tendon -inflamed/tendonitis or a little impingement. I dont know, I just want to get his thing healed.

Sorry for the late post, but I've had a lot of experience with this. Just about everyone involved in bodybuilding or powerlifting eventually experience some kind of shoulder injury at some point. Its really very common. I went through it about 10 years ago and wasn't able to do any flat bench for a good year until I got the help of a good orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist. Fortunately, I didn't need surgery, but got a cortisone shot to reduce the inflammation. I continued to train during the PT treatments. Whenever I have a layoff, and start back up, then the first thing I do is rotator cuff exercises for several weeks and some light lifting and cardio. One thing that helped me more than anything was a "Shoulder Horn." You can do a search on the net for them. I do the rubber band work also, but that Shoulder Horn along with the recommended stretching, does absolute wonders for me. It worked much quicker than the bands in strengthening up the right cuff muscles. You might try it and see if it helps. I'd do this and change up your exercise routine and find the exercises that don't cause the impingement until you get your shoulders stabilized. You can work around it. You'll need to experiment quite a bit to find the right chest and shoulder exercises though.
Good luck.
Cheers!
-Mack

Wanted to ad my $.02 worth on the rotater cuff exercises, DO them religiously and you should not have problems. I am 36 and both of my shoulders make popping noises like cracking knuckles which is from prior years of heavy training etc, but now ANYtime I do upper body I warm up doing rotater cuff exercises and have no issues.

I am glad to see the Zyflamend recommendation by fitdoc. I battled a shoulder problem for 8 months and was diagnosed with arthritis of the C Joint and spurs and severe inflammation. I consulted several Dr.ing, getting a recommend for surgery. Unhappy with this I found a continued my search for an alternative. The third Dr told me if i could control the inflammation I would not need surgery. Since I had tried a multitude of OTC drugs and was not etting relief the DR recommended the New Chapter product. 8 months later I am 98% better..and back to lifting at my previous level.

Fitdoc-
Does the Zyflamend tend to have the same potential to cause stomach irritation/ulcers as other Cox 2 inhibitors?

Normally COX2 inhibitors do not cause stomach irritation or ulceration. The push to use selective COX2 inhibitors instead of NSAIDS was to decrease the incident of gastrointestinal ulceration and bleeding.