Have you or your clients ever felt a burning, aching pain in the front of the shoulder that just won’t seem to go away—no matter how much you work on the biceps? This pain often radiates down the arm, making simple movements feel strained and heavy. Many bodyworkers and massage therapists go straight to the source of the pain—yet true healing lies in understanding the deeper web of muscles that support this area.
In the ancient Hawaiian healing art of Lomi Lomi, we don’t just treat symptoms. We listen to the body’s story. We tune into the spaces between—between muscle and bone, between physical and spiritual, between the practitioner and the client.
In this video, I share five muscle groups that are often overlooked in conventional treatment of biceps tendonitis. These techniques are drawn from our advanced Lomi Lomi teachings here on the island of Maui at Ho’omana Spa, where Kumu Jeana Iwalani Naluai offers lomi lomi classes in this lineage-based Hawaiian bodywork.
Whether you’re a massage professional, energy worker, alternative healer, or student in training, this blog will offer both insight and inspiration for your practice.
Key Takeaways
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Even skilled practitioners may miss the deeper story behind biceps tendonitis.
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Pain in the biceps often has roots in 5 deeper muscles. Healing begins when we honor the whole shoulder girdle, not just the site of pain.
- Know 5 muscles to assess with biceps tendonitis and a release technique for each
- Lomi Lomi is not just technique—it is presence, breath, and aloha
The Wisdom of the Bones: Pain in the Biceps Has an Emotional Source
Pain in the biceps tendon is rarely just about the biceps. Here are five essential areas we must address to truly release and restore balance to the shoulder girdle.
1. Pec Minor – The Guardian of the Heart
This small but mighty muscle tucks deep under the chest wall, often holding years of emotional armor. When released with intention, the heart space softens, breath deepens, and the shoulder opens.
2. Pec Major – The Shield of Protection
The pec major spans the chest like a warrior’s shield. Using Lomi Lomi compression and body weight—not force—we can invite this muscle to surrender its grip, allowing ease and mobility to return.
3. Teres Major & Minor – The Wing Connectors
These hidden gems link the upper arm to the shoulder blade. In our teachings, we call this area the “wing”—a powerful metaphor for release. As we unwind tension here, we help the client reclaim their wings.
4. Latissimus Dorsi – The Swimmer’s Stroke of Life
The lats connect the arm to the spine and hips. They are muscles of strength, motion, and direction. Releasing the lats reconnects us to movement that flows with grace, not effort.
5. Subscapularis & Brachialis – The Inner Whisperers
Tucked beneath the scapula and biceps lie these quiet players, often ignored. Yet they hold the final keys to full shoulder mobility. These techniques invite deep trust and awareness from both practitioner and receiver.
These advanced releases are part of the sacred teachings passed down through our Lomi Lomi lineage. Watch the video to see how each one is performed, with aloha and precision.
Demonstration of Lomi Lomi Techniques
Pec Minor
To release the Pec Minor, start with your thumb. The intention is to go forward and up, right into the armpit. Your fingers aren’t going to be doing anything, just go in and forward. Next, relax this arm down the front and have the client press into you with her elbow and relax. Press and relax. Three times total.
Finally, she’s going to completely relax this arm and shoulder girdle until she no longer feels the pressure or tension of my thumb. It won’t be because you released your pressure. It’ll be because her muscle is released around your thumb.
Pec Major
Start with your knee right behind the client so she can lean back into you. Take your hand underneath. Spread your fingers between the ribs, and line yourself up with her clavicle. Place your outside fingertips on top to have reinforced fingertips and just lean back. Do compressions over the pec. Repeat three times.
Teres Major & Minor
Start from a sidelying position. Support at the elbow and use the thumb pad to do the work. Come into the armpit to get to those muscles and give a firm hold. It’s not a push and pull. Just stabilize the arm so you can give some compression. ome into the armpit, push in and traction down. Repeat three times.
Latissimus Dorsi
This muscle group lies at the tip of the wing. Take your thumb pad, and begin to peel off the tip of the wing. Peel away from the tip of the wing, and follow the edge of the lat, and it’s a contour of muscle all the way into the thoraco-lumbar fascia near to the sacrum.
Subscapularis
Stand in front. Hold onto the elbow. Use the “lomi L” hand position and take it into the armpit. Glide between the wing and the torso. Each time drop down to the tip of the wing to release subscap. The client is participating in this motion. You should feel that your thumb is between the rib cage and the wing. As you draw them back, the hand that’s holding isn’t resisting. Let the arm go with the client.
Lomi Lomi: More Than Technique—A Way of Being
At Ho’omana Spa in Makawao, Maui, we don’t just teach massage. We guide you through a transformational journey of cultural learning, spiritual awakening, and professional skill building.
What makes our Lomi Lomi classes in Hawaii so unique?
You are learning from a Native Hawaiian teacher in a space rooted in true lineage and tradition. This is not a modern adaptation—it is the real thing. Here’s what one of our students had to say…
You Are Invited
If your heart feels called to the sacred teachings of Lomi Lomi…
And you know there is more to healing than physical manipulation…
Then you are ready to bring the spirit of aloha into your hands and your heart…
Join us in one of our upcoming Lomi Lomi classes in Hawaii and experience the magic for yourself. Practitioners from all over the world gather here on Maui to reconnect with purpose, power, and play.
See upcoming classes at:
👉 www.LearnLomiLomi.com
Join Our ʻOhana
Want to go deeper?
Receive our FREE video training where you’ll discover the ancient spiritual secrets of Lomi Lomi and begin your path toward becoming a true healing practitioner.
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👉 https://classes.clickfunnels.com/optin
Mahalo nui loa for being here. For listening. For remembering.
We are wrapping the arms of aloha around the world… and we’d be honored to welcome you home.
With aloha,
Jeana Iwalani Naluai & the Ho’omana ʻOhana
Makawao, Maui, HI
1 thought on “5 Lomi Lomi Techniques to Ease Biceps Tendonitis”
Hi Jeana,
what a similarity. Deep connected. Since yesterday i Was wondering to write an email to you. So guess what about?
Shoulder pain!
Supraspinatus tendon tear at the humerus head. Every other muscle and tendon you mentioned is on Board. The pecs, both teres , subscapularis and somehow a little brachialis, especially the biceps tendon.
Unfortunally the supraspinatus tendon tear is medical proofed. Also glenoid and labrum are a little bit hurt.
The ACG is beginning degenerated and all together does not make fun.
I ‘m with a surgery in contact to discuss a good conservative way to fix the tendon slowly.
Isnt’t it like a family band to find our thoughts at the same time?
What do you think?
Love
Franz