Muscular and Nerve Disorders Forum - Muscle injury: bicep tendon or overwork?

Conditions and Diseases > Muscular and Nerve Disorders Forum > Muscle injury: bicep tendon or overwork?

Q: Muscle injury: bicep tendon or overwork?

asked by: DoctorQuestion on May 6th, 2007

So yesterday saturday I woke up and my left lower side of the bicep (inner side of the elbow) was VERY sore and I couldn't extend my left arm completely, only like 145 degrees.

My right arm is sore but I can extend it completely with little pain.

I had a very intense back/bicep workout on thursday. I used to do only compound movements like pull ups and pull downs, but I decided to incorporate bicep curls to the program.

I was sore on friday but had no problem extending completely both of my arms, it was yesterday that I woke up with this.

So yeah, I can't extend my left arm completely, if I try it I get a lot of pain.

Any advice? Do you think it may be a bicep tendon injury? What should I do? Today it remains the same as yesterday, should I wait a couple of days and see what happens? I'm giving it rest.

I went to the pharmacy and they gave me an anti-inflamatory (apo flurbiprofen).

I'm worried.

Replies(2)

Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD

replied on May 14th, 2007

Muscular & Nerve Disorders Answer A2727

Given the description of “biceps muscle pain after workout”, it's not clear whether you’ve experienced some type injury such as muscle or tendon extension, or not. Larger amounts of milk acid collect in muscles after any kind of overwork and cause pain. If the pain was due to injury (muscle or tendon extension) you would feel the pain right after the acciden,t which didn’t happen in your case. However, you can’t be sure if there is actually some muscle injury, or not, without a physical examination. If the pain is due to overwork, it will pass in several days spontaneously. You may use a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen, aspirin, ketoprofen…for the short term. If the pain is due to a muscle injury, rest is crucial for proper treatment. NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can be also used to relieve pain. You can visit your primary health provider for a proper diagnosis.

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