Biceps Tendinitis

After a lot of research, I'm pretty sure I found out what my problem with my shoulders and biceps is - biceps tendinitis. The symptoms descibed fit mine to a "T." The biggest problem is my favorite exercise, lap swimming, is one of the biggest culprits. Any overhead movement like that triggers the inflammation and pain. I kept track of how badly my pain at night was, and after lap swimming in the morning, it's the very worst that evening. Drat. I guess I could just do breast stroke and use the board and kick laps, but I really prefer freestyle and backstroke. When I did my weight workout yesterday I was careful not to do any shoulder presses or anything overhead. They still hurt last night, but not excruciatingly so. Oh well, I'll just walk, bike, alter my swimming and weight workouts, and keep at it!

Jenny

 I may be a little biased towards physical therapy (it's what I do for a living), but if backing down on the exercises and giving them some rest doesn't get rid of it, you might consider going for some PT.  
After your workouts (and it looks like you've modified them well), and several times a day, it wouldn't hurt to stretch them either.... keep the elbow straight, rotate the palm down, lift up behind you, and hold for at least a minute or two.  Good luck!

Hey, thanks for the tips, Stacy, I'll certainly try that stretch. I had already determined that if modifying my workouts doesn't work, I'm going to try some physical therapy and see if that helps. It is really, really painful at night and wakes me up quite often. This has been going on for most of the summer. I cheat occasionally and take Aleve when it's really bad, as it works better than Tylenol. I know it's an NSAID so I don't make a habit of it, but sometimes it's the only thing that helps.

Again, thanks for the reply.

Jenny