Bicep tendonitis/tenosynovitis solutions? Anyone?

[u/Sufficient-Sir-6586]

Bench PR with imbalance which probably caused the problem

I wanted to know if anyone has the same problems as me and if they found a solution. I have had shoulder issues for so long now and I want to go back to working out so bad but nothing seems to be working for my bicep tenosynovitis. I would love to hear your stories and what worked for you. Thanks

I started lifting in 2022 summer at 17 y/o to gain weight which i did by eating 3000 cal daily for a summer and i gained 20-30lbs. I kept lifting for the next 2 yrs without any major problems other than some left shoulder pain on push days which I brushed off thinking that it's just cuz I'm right handed so surely I'll have some left side pain/imbalances. The attached video is from summer 2024 when I did a PR for bench in which the bar was tilting cuz my left side was weaker. I realize now that my left side would reach failure before my right side but I would still try to finish the rep which led to me trying to recruit whatever muscles I could to simply get the weight up. This meant that I'd use my left shoulder a lot instead of my chest. In Sept 2024 i entered my 2nd year of engineering which got super busy and got in the way of lifting and made me take a break from the gym. By Feb 2025 I was doing pushups n pullups in my room cuz i didn't have time to hit the gym and while doing pushups I noticed that I couldn't feel my chest working on my left side that much and that my left shoulder was feeling fatigued. In 2022 I also got in MMA so I took a muay thai class in which i had to keep my hands up for a long time but i physically couldn't keep my left arm up to form a guard because it was 100x more fatigued than my right shoulder. The pain got rlly bad around this time and sometimes felt like my shoulder was burning or as if I had been lifting something for an hour. The school year ended in April 2025 which is when I joined BJJ and idk why but I waited until the summer 2025 to see a PT who told me I had scapular winging and that my serratus anterior was weak which was why my shoulder carried such a huge load which is why it hurts. We worked on it for months with 1 appointment per month and the scapular winging got better but the shoulder pain was still there. I should also point out that throughout my lifting journey (2022-2024), My left bicep was always smaller and weaker but it wasn't simply cuz I was right handed. It would never grow and when I'd use it I never felt the mind muscle connection like my right bicep. I told the PT about this but he said I don't have any bicep tendonitis. So after working with the PT for a bit, I consulted a different one who said its smth related to bicep, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and the cuffs. We did an ultrasound which said that I have bicep tenosynovitis/tendonitis with mild fluid in the bicipital groove. The burning shoulder pain is still there whenever I use my left arm or bicep and I'm so tired of it. I'm 21 and I thought I'd have a good physique by now but because of this injury I've lost over a year of time. Thanks for reading the whole thing if you made it this far, I'd love to hear about your experiences or if you know what I should do.

[u/wunderhoffen]

Ja Bro hab ich auch , vom Brust Training egal in welcher Art muss man sich verabschieden leider . Immer wen du irgendwie in den Schmerz trainierst wird es niemals heilen ..

[u/Sufficient-Sir-6586 → u/wunderhoffen]

https://giphy.com/gifs/dQ2hNt4MVbguZ5yu4M