Your biceps are for more than curling dumbbells. This muscle group between your shoulder and elbow helps you move in all sorts of ways. Your biceps help you bend and straighten your arm, and also support other arm muscles.
If you’re recovering from a bicep strain, there are a few things you should know. First, you want to avoid making the injury worse (especially a bicep tear). And secondly, there are exercises you can do to encourage your biceps tendon to heal.
But let’s start with a look at the injury itself.
How Do You Strain Your Biceps?
A biceps strain is a tendon or muscle injury. If you stretch a loaded muscle or tendon with more force than it can handle, you can strain it. With enough force, you can even tear it.
In addition to straining the bicep muscle, you can also develop bicep tendonitis (tendon inflammation). Sometimes, this leads to more severe injuries.
This usually happens with your biceps because of:
- Falling hard on your outstretched arm.
- Lifting something too heavy.
- Overuse, often from doing the same motions over and over again.
You’re more likely to injure your biceps where these muscles attach to your shoulder. (The other end attaches near your elbow.)
It’s even more specific than that, though. The bicep muscle has two heads that attach at the shoulder — a long head and a short head. Of the two, you’re much more likely to injure the long head of the bicep tendon. It’s more vulnerable because it travels through the shoulder.
This is why you can strain the long head but still be able to move your arm: The short head is still intact.
What are the grades of bicep strains?
There are three grades of bicep strains based on how severe the strain is:
- Grade 1 biceps strain — This is a mild strain that can heal quickly with rest.
- Grade 2 biceps strain — This is when you have a small tear in the bicep muscle or tendon. It may take longer to heal but usually doesn’t need surgery.
- Grade 3 biceps strain — This is a complete tear of the muscle or the tendon from the bone. You may need surgery to repair it.
What Does a Bicep Strain Feel Like?
When you strain your biceps, the pain is usually near either the shoulder or the elbow. It might feel like a burst of pain.
A mild bicep strain can present as a nagging pain. A severe bicep tear will cause a sharp pain and limit your ability to bend, flex, lift, and reach.
You might also have an inflamed tendon (tendonitis), which can make it hard to move your shoulder.
What are the symptoms of a bicep strain?
The symptoms of a bicep strain range from mild to severe. The most common symptoms include:
- Bruising around your upper arm.
- Feeling of popping or snapping (which you might also hear).
- Sharp and sudden pain in your upper arm.
- Trouble rotating your arm (turning between palm up and palm down).
- Weakness around your shoulder (or elbow, but less common).
Sometimes, you can also have what’s called a “Popeye muscle” — or a bulge in your upper arm. It happens when the tendon can’t hold the bicep muscle tight.
Bicep strain vs. tendonitis
Bicep tendonitis is an inflammation of the bicep tendons. It causes pain, weakness, and tenderness, and can sometimes lead to a bicep tear.
The cause of bicep tendonitis is usually overuse. It’s a common athletic injury, especially in:
- Baseball and softball.
- Rowing.
- Swimming.
- Tennis.
In general, you can treat bicep tendonitis the same way you treat mild strains.
How are bicep strains treated?
A sports medicine doctor can diagnose a bicep strain by examining your arm and your range of motion. If using your bicep muscle hurts, you could have a strain or small tear.
People with bicep tears may also have other injuries, including:
Before settling on a treatment plan, your doctor will want to understand the full picture of what’s going on. An x-ray can show a complete tear, and an MRI can show smaller ones.
A complete tear may need surgery. For strains and smaller tears, doctors usually recommend these steps:
- Rest — Rest the injury. Take a break from doing the activity that caused it. You might need a sling to help your arm rest.
- Ice — Ice the area for 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. Do this as often as you can for the first 24 to 48 hours.
- Compression — Wrap the injury with tape or an ACE bandage to help with swelling.
- Medicine — Take over-the-counter (OTC) medicine to help with pain and inflammation. This includes ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen (Aleve).
- Physical therapy — Do exercises to stretch and strengthen your biceps and shoulder muscles. This can help with pain and mobility.
Bicep strain recovery time depends on the severity of your strain. A mild strain can heal within a few weeks, but a severe one may take months.
What Exercises Can Strengthen Biceps After a Strain?
Be careful stretching or loading torn biceps. Working with a physical therapist is a great way to learn safe stretches and exercises.
The following are some of the best exercises for a bicep strain. If any of these movements cause pain, continue to rest.
Stretch your biceps
Standing close to a wall, lift your arm to the side, palm-side down. Don’t lift higher than your shoulder. Press your thumb gently into the wall as you turn your upper body away from the wall.
You should feel a stretch across your biceps. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds.
Biceps extension exercise
Start with your injured arm hanging at your side. Keeping your palm up, bend your elbow and bring your palm to your shoulder.
Repeat 10 to 15 times. The idea is to gently take your biceps through the full range of motion.
You can make this more advanced by holding light weights and doing bicep curls. But be careful not to push too hard, too fast.
Forearm rotation exercise
Start with your injured arm hanging at your side. Keeping your palm up, bend your elbow to a 90-degree angle in front of you.
Holding the position, rotate your palm down. Rotate back so your palm faces up and then lower. Repeat 10 to 15 times.
Shoulder flexion movement
Start with your injured arm hanging at your side, palm facing your thigh. Raise your arm out to the side, all the way up toward the ceiling. Your fingertips will point upward.
Hold the position, then lower. Repeat 10 to 15 times.
Sources
OrthoInfo. Biceps Tendon Tear at the Shoulder. Accessed June 2025. https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/biceps-tendon-tear-at-the-shoulder/