What Is It?
Biceps tenodesis is a type of exercise where the muscles are stretched before being used. A common example would be stretching your arms while holding a tennis racket or other heavy object. If you were to do this for long periods of time, it could cause injury such as tendonitis (inflammation) or even rupture.
How Does It Work?
The stretch causes the muscle fibers to lengthen. When you use these new longer fibers, they will produce force much faster than if you had just been using those same old fibers. You may have noticed that when doing this exercise, your arm feels like it’s ready to explode outwards! This is because the increased amount of energy produced from the extra fiber length allows for a greater strength output.
Why Should I Do It?
If you’re looking to increase your overall strength, then biceps tenodesis is definitely something you need to consider. The benefits include: Increased strength and power. Increases range of motion. Improves grip endurance. Improved motor control and coordination. Improves balance and proprioception (your sense of touch). Reduces pain during exercise. Decreases risk of injury due to decreased strain on joints and tendons. This is a great all-around exercise that will help you improve your physical abilities in nearly every way.
What Are The Disadvantages?
The only major disadvantage to this type of exercise is that it can be extremely taxing on your body. You’re essentially forcing it to produce more energy than it’s used to, which is one of the reasons for the extreme discomfort. It’s best to start out with shorter stretch sessions and work your way up as your body becomes conditioned to the stress.
How Do I Do It?
Bicep tenodesis is a great exercise, but it must be done properly in order to reap the rewards and avoid injury. Warm up properly by stretching and performing low intensity, easy movements. Increase the intensity gradually and give your muscles time to rest in between workout sessions.
Sources & references used in this article:
Interference screw vs. suture anchor fixation for open subpectoral biceps tenodesis: does it matter? by PJ Millett, B Sanders, R Gobezie, S Braun… – BMC musculoskeletal …, 2008 – Springer
Biceps tenotomy versus tenodesis: a review of clinical outcomes and biomechanical results by AR Hsu, NS Ghodadra, CDRMT Provencher… – Journal of Shoulder and …, 2011 – Elsevier
A humerus fracture in a baseball pitcher after biceps tenodesis by EJ Dein, G Huri, JC Gordon… – The American journal …, 2014 – journals.sagepub.com
Anatomy of the biceps tendon: implications for restoring physiological length-tension relation during biceps tenodesis with interference screw fixation by PJ Denard, X Dai, BT Hanypsiak, SS Burkhart – Arthroscopy: The Journal of …, 2012 – Elsevier
Tenodesis of the long head of biceps brachii in the painful shoulder: improving results in the long term by U Berlemann, I Bayley – Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery, 1995 – jshoulderelbow.org
Clinical success of biceps tenodesis with and without release of the transverse humeral ligament by B Sanders, KP Lavery, S Pennington… – Journal of shoulder and …, 2012 – Elsevier
Clinical outcomes of revision biceps tenodesis by JM Gregory, DP Harwood, E Gochanour… – … journal of shoulder …, 2012 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Biceps tenodesis associated with arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tears by SL Checchia, PS Doneux, AN Miyazaki, LA Silva… – Journal of shoulder and …, 2005 – Elsevier
Isolated arthroscopic biceps tenotomy or tenodesis improves symptoms in patients with massive irreparable rotator cuff tears by P Boileau, F Baqué, L Valerio, P Ahrens, C Chuinard… – JBJS, 2007 – journals.lww.com
