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Heal Bicep Tendonitis/Strain Fast, Research Based
- chelsie462
- Aug 19
- 7 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/La7BAQKlXAk
Brad: Oh. Mike, what's wrong?
Mike: My bicep is hurting.
Brad: Well, today we are going to show you a very easy self-treatment to heal a bicep strain.
Mike: You can do this at home. And this method has been scientifically researched for years, so you know it works.
Brad: Right. And after we demonstrate how to heal Mike's bicep as well as yours, we're going to talk to you about the doctor who actually developed the system. It's been around for a while. And we're also going to show you how to regain full recovery to get active and full potential out of it right after that, with a quick little trick that's very simple. All right, let's get right to the treatment. First thing you're going to do is lie down on a bed works quite well. You can go on a carpeted floor if you'd like. You're going to have a pillow, a throw pillow, which is a little bit smaller, and can be helpful. We'll get into that in a little bit. And you just lie there relaxed. Now, the left side will be Mike's injured bicep. Let's say he's strained it, throwing frisbee golf too hard, you know. You're a pretty good frisbee golf player, right?
Mike: Sure.
Brad: Anyways, so here we have the injured muscle. Now, the first step, and you need to follow this very precisely, we're going to supinate or bring the palm up. Now we're going to flex the elbow all the way. What we're trying to do is get that bicep to a shortened position to relieve all stress and maximize circulation. Okay. Now, the next thing, because the long head of the bicep actually goes up into the shoulder, we need to flex the shoulder as far as you feel comfortable. Now, this arm should be completely relaxed. So at this point, Mike is going to grab his elbow and control the movement of this arm or this part of the arm with the other arm or hand. And at this point, I'm going to say we're going to move it around and noodle, in other words, just move it and monitor how that bicep feels. As we go up to elbow flexion and then shoulder flexion, it should feel better, that painful strain. And we're going to move it around until we find the point or the position of maximum relief or comfort. Mike, can you find that?
Mike: I'm going to say it's right here because I keep bumping my mic with my other arm.
Brad: Okay, if you don't have a mic, you'll have a little more freedom. But once you find that, this is really critical. This is a strain counterstrain is the name of this technique or positional release. And at this point, you need to time it for 90 seconds. And throughout that whole 90 seconds, you're going to do nothing but lie there and relax. Don't have the dog jump on you; your kids jump on you. You're not watching TV, and everything is quiet. You're thinking about relaxed breathing. Everything is relaxed. 90 seconds up to 120 seconds. That's going to allow that muscle to relax, increase blood flow, and decrease pain. This works very well. Now, once you get to that 90 to 120 seconds, this is important, we're going to allow that arm to come back down slowly, all relaxed, very quiet. There we go. And then extend the elbow out. And now make sure your arm is not going to fall off the edge of the bed. Have a little bit of space there so you can just relax that arm.
Brad: Now, your job for the next couple of hours is not to strain that muscle. In other words, you're not going to do any curls with it. You're not going to do any house chores that are going to work that arm. And right now, you can massage that muscle gently for a minute or two.
Brad: It's going to help increase that circulation, relax that arm, and that's the end of the treatment. It just takes a couple of minutes from the whole thing. Once you do it a couple of times, it gets easier. And then you can sit up and continue the rest of the day. Now, if this works very well and you feel a release there, you can do it two to three times per day. Now, once it starts feeling better after a few days, you can start to use it more. When it feels pain-free and that tender spot where that tear or that strain is, it's starting to feel better, it's time to start to get it moving more. But there's one thing you really need to address, and that is the scar tissue in the muscle as a result of the injury. And now that it has been repaired, there's some scar tissue that needs to be broken up to regain full function. Okay, before we go into that, I want to give the doctor who invented or started this system some credit.
Mike: So this technique was developed by Dr. Lawrence Jones back in the 1950s. And at first, it was called strain counterstrain, and now it's commonly known as the positional release technique.
Brad: Right. Now, Dr. Jones actually formed an institute and really formally got the system going in 1988, and it has grown since. It's very popular. All therapists are familiar with it, or at least heard of it if they don't use it already. Now, let's get into the part that talks about how to break up that scar tissue very quickly and easily. It's just not very hard.
Mike: So once your bicep is feeling a lot better and you may have that scar tissue built up in there, which is limiting your motion or function in your elbow joint here and bicep, you want to start massaging in there. You can do just manually, which is fine. It's kind of like you're kneading bread. You want to pick up the muscle bellies. You may find an area that is more tender, kind of work on that area. In this case, because it's probably the scar tissue, you kind of need to break up. Certainly do this for five, 10 minutes, whatever's comfortable for you.
Brad: My hand is already getting tired after two minutes.
Mike: If you happen to have a massage gun or you're looking for one, you can certainly use those instead of your hands.
Brad: You can borrow a friend's, too.
Mike: You could. So you can use different models or different strengths. Use whatever is best for you. I have the C2 Pro Massage Gun here, and Brad has a Q2 Pro. The Pro models have a heat and cold head function on them. That's only available on the Pro models. But you just slightly massage that bicep region, go around, find the trigger point, you can kind of dig in there a little bit more, and just do this for five to 10 minutes.
Brad: That's right. These guns are becoming very popular. I actually know a person who had bicep surgery. She has scar tissue, the therapist was massaging it out, felt better, and she says, "Can I do this by myself?" She's about my age. And I said, "Yeah." I actually lent her mine. She took it home, used it. She said it was great for pain relief. Improved the range of motion, decreased her number of visits she needed to go to the therapist to get similar treatment. Worked very good. And these new heads are incredible. They get cold, and they'll stay cold while you use them. And they heat up up to 114 degrees while you're using it, so you can get that heat. You use whichever you want, heat or cold, whichever you respond better to. So, they're great tools. So anyway, usually about five minutes on that area will break it up, and you can use that for a few days or whatever it takes to get the results you want.
Mike: So if you want to check out more videos on this technique, it can actually be used in numerous joints and locations. The video, "How to Get Rid of Muscle Knots in Traps, Shoulder & Back in 90 Seconds," is going to talk about muscle knots more in your upper traps, your neck, and even your upper back region.
Brad: Right. So do the strain counterstrain on that area. You can do it to yourself quite easily. Go ahead, watch it, and enjoy the day. Stay knot-free. Get it? Knot-free.
Mike: Oh God. I was very confused by that statement.
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