What Is The Best Bicep Tendinopathy Treatment?
2 Steps To A Successful Recovery
Bicep Tendinopathy treatment is made very simple and effective in 2 easy steps. As reported in our previous blog What Is Bicep Tendinopathy?, this is a common overuse and repetitive strain injury.
Pain when lifting or reaching, as well as pain when lying on the shoulder are common complaints. The diagnosis is the easy part – the key question then is how do we treat it?
Stretching alone will not cure a Bicep Tendinopathy.
Bicep Tendinopathy treatment should follow 2 simple steps in order for a successful recovery as part of a gold standard, evidence based approach.
In the acute, ‘reactive’ phase or initial 3-6 weeks of symptoms occurring it is best to go straight to step 2 of treatment. Strengthening!
However, due to it’s chronic nature, symptoms can usually build over months. A ‘disrepair’ of the natural healing process occurs. Often people will first present at our clinic having had symptoms for well over 6 weeks. In order to reverse these changes we advice following steps 1 & 2 over a period of 12 weeks.
Bicep Tendinopathy Treatment
Step 1 | Reset
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy is a relatively new intervention that has scientifically proven, excellent results with specific conditions. These include Plantar Fasciitis, Tennis Elbow, Achilles Tendinopathy and Hamstring Tendinopathy treatment. Shockwave Therapy owes its heritage to lithotripsy. This is when focused shockwaves break apart gall stones so they could be passed. A number of years later, a bit of lateral thinking and a strong evidence base now presents SWT as the ‘gold standard’ treatment.
As noted in our previous blog, ‘opathy‘ rather than ‘itis‘ is used to define the issue. This characterises the stalling healing process and disrepair (more commonly called scar tissue). SWT in Bicep Tendinopathy treatment aims to agitate or shock the injury back to its acute phase of healing. It uses acoustic energy – almost like pressing the reset button. SWT ‘resets’ the stalled healing process. It expedites a return to activity and has a noticeable reduction in pain. It is then vital to introduce progressive load to the tissues to ensure an optimum recovery.
Step 2 | Strengthen
As we know the Bicep Tendon plays a crucial role in absorbing and producing force when lifting, pulling and carrying objects. As a result, part of the Bicep Tendinopathy treatment should focus on regaining localised strength of the bicep muscles, as well as improving any weak links in the kinetic chain.
A research review showed that tailored, progressive strengthening programmes should be included as part of Bicep Tendinopathy treatment.
Research has shown Shockwave Therapy, in combination with a tailored strengthening programme, gives the most significant improvements in Bicep Tendinopathy treatment for chronic issues.
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