New Bicep Tendinopathy Recovery Video Resources
A bicep tendinopathy is where the tendon (or tendon sheath) of the long head of the biceps becomes inflamed and/or begins to degenerate, resulting in dull and achy (sometimes sharp) pain at the front of the shoulder, particularly when raising the arm to shoulder height and overhead. It is common with activities involving a lot of overhead movements such as tennis (serving) which can cause repetitive strain to the tendon, but most often will occur in conjunction with another shoulder dysfunction such as shoulder impingement or rotator cuff injury.
The bicep tendon is particularly sensitive to shoulder imbalances that affect the position and movement of the humerus. Forward shoulder positions and imbalances within the rotator cuff muscles can cause increased friction and irritation to the tendon, predisposing it to inflammation and degeneration. If left unchecked, the tendon will become more prone to tearing and rupture in the future.
Standard care for a bicep tendinopathy will be physiotherapy to address underlying rotator cuff imbalances, and if needed cortisone injections to reduce inflammation.
So how could acupuncture and Chinese medicine help your recovery process?
At Village Remedies clinics in Sydney CBD and Balmain, we work with a wide range of people recovering from various injuries such as bicep tendinopathy. Our new bicep tendinopathy resource page offers specific advice and exercises for those concurrently undergoing treatment with us or another healthcare professional. It is important you take your shoulder/bicep recovery seriously as a poorly rehabilitated shoulder/bicep will be prone to future injury, so make sure you're working with a professional who can tailor the advice to your specific circumstances.
Our goal with acupuncture and Chinese medicine is to help support your recovery process and hopefully speed things up for you. At Village Remedies we use a very safe style of acupuncture where points distant to the injured area are used to trigger the body's innate healing response. This means that during the initial phases of healing and inflammation, we can still safely treat the injured shoulder/bicep without causing further trauma to the area by working on it directly. As treatments and your recovery progress, we may layer on other techniques to address imbalances and further promote tissue healing.
Your practitioner will also be looking to treat you as a whole person, rather than just an inflamed biceps tendon. This means we look at how we can help support your body's overall ability to heal by looking to reduce the stress response (which is often elevated in pain and injury), improve sleep quality and promote health digestion. To help support this and your bicep tendinopathy recovery, your practitioner may also recommend Chinese herbs. The benefit here is that you'll be getting a little treatment daily from the inside, and we find that it can help boost the effects of acupuncture.
Click here to see our Bicep Tendinopathy Resource Page with videos on how we can help, acupressure for pain relief and a step by step guide to help you recover.
If you have a bicep tendinopathy or other shoulder pain that you're not sure about, check out how we can help via our new shoulder impingement recovery videos or book in online here to see us at one of our Sydney locations.
Our Acupuncture Clinics in Sydney's CBD & Balmain
If you would like to try acupuncture in Balmain or acupuncture in Sydney CBD, you can book online, contact us or call.
- Sydney CBD: 0412 728 227
- Balmain: 0478 753 881