Pain in bicep

Pain generally isn't normal. When you say specialist, what do you mean? Personally I'd take him to see a sport specific ortho, one who has experience with shoulders and throwing athletes in general.

His specialist is a chiropractor who specializes and works with the local college and professional teams.  He is very respected and trusted by serious local athletes. 

Spend the $$ on the MRI with an ortho.  You want him to be the best, healthiest 18 year old, not the best 15 year old.

I just hear the "growing like a weed" and now that we are 2 MRIs in (different injuries) - be careful.  Pain is not normal.  Son had some ridiculous growth spurts unlike other kiddos that grew slowly.  THAT is when my son has been most injury prone from too many reps (he's a kid who really WORKS on his own).  Our sports medicine docs have guided son to recovery, but he HATED the rest.  We are lucky - he has healed from 2 overuse injuries that did not progress to terrible time off, but still to annoying time off.  He's had teammates who pushed it and were not so lucky.  Have him do all of the stretching and arm care and do not let him overdo it on repetitions until the growth plates are closed (doc pointed out on recent MRI that they were NOT fully closed).

@Master P posted:

Spend the $$ on the MRI with an ortho.  You want him to be the best, healthiest 18 year old, not the best 15 year old.

This may be the quote of the year right here.

Is the chiro the one diagnosing open growth plates and telling you about scar tissue?

Not that there isn't a place for chiropractors, but some can be straight up snake oil salesman getting involved in areas they know nothing about. I would see an ortho, maybe two if you want a second opinion and then a qualified sports PT.

As already stated, pain is not normal. There is either something wrong physically or his mechanics are flawed. The chiro or PT should do a full physical eval and observe pitching mechanics. There is likely an over or underdeveloped muscle somewhere that basic PT and lifting will resolve.

@nycdad posted:

This may be the quote of the year right here.

Is the chiro the one diagnosing open growth plates and telling you about scar tissue?

Not that there isn't a place for chiropractors, but some can be straight up snake oil salesman getting involved in areas they know nothing about. I would see an ortho, maybe two if you want a second opinion and then a qualified sports PT.

Bingo.

Orthopedic problem, go see an orthopedic specialist.

Son had to shut down a few times during growth spurts. Growth plate issues with both elbow and shoulder. He would get tightness in the bicep just before pain started in the elbow, if he didn't say anything about it because he was mid season and didn't want to stop. He learned his lesson.

He had growth spurts that were so rapid he got stretch marks on his back. He went from about 5'1'' just before freshmen year to almost 6'1'' his junior year. Needless to say we became really good friends (customers) with a good Ortho.

@nycdad posted:

This may be the quote of the year right here.

Is the chiro the one diagnosing open growth plates and telling you about scar tissue?

Not that there isn't a place for chiropractors, but some can be straight up snake oil salesman getting involved in areas they know nothing about. I would see an ortho, maybe two if you want a second opinion and then a qualified sports PT.

What’s the deal with chiropractors? (Insert Jerry Seinfeld voice)

There is one in north Texas that is all over Twitter. Maybe the most shameless and egotistical self-promoter of all time. He sucks kids in with his social media presence and knows enough about baseball to pull the wool over the eyes of teenagers. Promises velocity gains to kids that pay for his clinics. Then treats their arm injuries with a chiropractic session that he also gets paid for. Scuzziest business model you can imagine. In one winter session he ruined the arms of two players that I spent years developing. Both are now out of baseball.

In reply to the OP : try hanging from a bar to stretch the bicep muscle

@BB and BB posted:

My 15yo freshman P/1B/OF has been dealing with pain in the middle of his bicep after (and sometimes during) throwing for a couple of years.  He is 6'5 190 and has been growing faster than a weed.  His specialist says his growth plates are wide open, that he has a little bit of scar tissue in his shoulder and that he may experience this until he is done growing.  He put him on a 100+ gram protein diet and said to just "slow play it". He has no restrictions.  It doesn't always effect his performance, but it normally bothers him.  Has anyone heard of this and what was the cause, treatment and result?

My son had this problem in HS (pain in bicep). Team had an ortho come in, told him to rest a week. Did so, threw some BP, no pain, then threw in a game and pain. This time we took him to an ortho we had seen before. He stated it was most likely a micro-tear, three weeks rest. It never bothered him again.

Chiropractors, use to think they were witch doctors. Then my sons back started hurting. Four different back specialists told him your f'ed, back will always hurt, good luck with sports, sucks to be you. Took him to this man, who told him he would fix him, and he did.

@SomeBaseballDad posted:

Chiropractors, use to think they were witch doctors. Then my sons back started hurting. Four different back specialists told him your f'ed, back will always hurt, good luck with sports, sucks to be you. Took him to this man, who told him he would fix him, and he did.

I don't have issues with chiropractors in general, just ones that say they can treat *everything*. And every issue you have can be cured by multiple weekly adjustments over weeks and months. Sounds like you have a good one by you.

@nycdad posted:

I don't have issues with chiropractors in general, just ones that say they can treat *everything*. And every issue you have can be cured by multiple weekly adjustments over weeks and months. Sounds like you have a good one by you.

The health care system isn't a charity, they are for profit. How do you think they make more of a profit, you're cured, or you're f'ed, see you next week?

In many cases bicep pain is associated with throwing mechanics where the biceps tendon takes on more than it's fair share of work in the deceleration part of the throw.  Look at the information online from Cressey or Tread.  In the case of my son who just finished his grad year pitching D1, he and his coaches found mechanical fixes that addressed bicep soreness over time

@BB and BB posted:

His specialist is a chiropractor who specializes and works with the local college and professional teams.  He is very respected and trusted by serious local athletes.

Chiropractors are little better than witch doctors, endorsement by athletes is not a valid endorsement, the medical establishment considers them the pariah of the "medical" profession.   go see an orthopedic specialist in the area of sports medicine as well as credible trainers, before "correction" injures your son.

PS.  Bicept pain (leading possibly to tendinitis) while throwing is often a sign of poor deceleration patterns, where the bicept is taking on too much of the percentage of decel stress,  sometimes associated to a push pattern as the arm doesn't rotate over and shoulder doesn't extend properly.  Often proper mechanics are limited by proper strength and mobility. Exercises to teach the anterior serratus to properly function in getting the scapula to move correctly also will help as well as strengthening the posterior cuff and shoulders.  Check out posts by Eric Cressey (CSP) on proper scapular function (movement).   These are issues often associated with hyper mobile, tall lanky athletes.

My understanding of this comes from lengthy conversations with trainers at both Wasserman S&C and CSP as both my sons dealt with a host of different muscle pains associated with their body types and growth during adolescence ( growing from 5'8" to 6'5" in high school).  I am lucky enough to have CSP in my backyard (well within 50 miles).

@ALF648 posted:

In many cases bicep pain is associated with throwing mechanics where the biceps tendon takes on more than it's fair share of work in the deceleration part of the throw.  Look at the information online from Cressey or Tread.  In the case of my son who just finished his grad year pitching D1, he and his coaches found mechanical fixes that addressed bicep soreness over time

Ha, I didn't see your post before I just posted mine.  I think you are on to something ;-)