Huge Scare - Pec Tear - Possible Dodged Bullet

[GoShocks]

Monday at the gym I was on my final set of bench. I was doing 3 sets of 7 reps of 225. Previous to my working sets I had done what I thought was a sufficient warm-up. Prior to bench I did a more generalized pre-workout warm-up which included: 3 mins of cardio, various arm stretches, and some rotator cuff movements with very light weights.

I wasn't feeling particularly good on this day but nothing was hurting or otherwise giving me the feeling that I needed to be somewhere else but the gym.

On to the incident...

So a couple reps into my final set of flat barbel bench, at the bottom of the rep and a few inches into the concentric movement, I hear three distinct pops in which seemed to come from the left side of my left pec. I was able to complete the rep and rack the weight. At this point I was scared ****less and just knew what had happened. I rushed to the front desk to get some ice. I had a deep sensation of pain in my pec-delt tie-in area. I also felt some light nerve pain in my bicep area and on down to my fingers. I knew I was totally screwed up.

Over the rest of the evening I continually iced the area, ate Ibuprofen like candy, and whined to everybody who would listen that I know I am finished and I had snapped my **** up big-time. Later that night I Googled pec tears and filled my head with the wonderment that is having your pec muscle disconnect from your bone. I laid very still in bed Monday night fully expecting my pectoral to be lying on the pillow next to me in the morning.

The next morning I hurried to the mirror expecting to see all the colors of the rainbow across my injured pec and the adjoining bicep area - but I saw nothing. My chest and arm looked normal. I carefully flexed my pec and didn't notice any deformation and it appeared that I could ripple my pec the same as before the "injury". In short, everything still seemed connected. I still couldn't shake the sound I heard, the ensuing pain, and the moderate swelling I experienced. Something serious had to have happened right?

Well, fast-forward to now, and I have never had any discoloration, I have leaned against a wall and executed several light-moderate presses not feeling any pain. If I firmly massage the connective area between my pec and shoulder it is sore, but I have a fairly normal range of motion. I can stretch my arm out fully to the front and side without any major discomfort. In fact, I have noticed no major discomfort while moving except for the night of the incident when I reached out my window to take a drink from the drive-thru attendant. That definitely gave me a bit of pause. But other than that, really no major pain.

So W-T-F did I do to myself? Obviously it can't be a full tear otherwise I would have some kind of deformity and range of motion issues. I was able to re-rack the weight so that also supports the theory that whatever I damaged it must have been partially. Most of the major pec tears I have read about on here involve total lifting failure at the time of the injury. The "pop pop pop" sound has been identified with the sound you hear when the tendon comes away from the bone. But I seriously doubt that happened as I would have had more significant bruising, pain, and loss of function. Still, are we talking about a partial tear here? Has the strength of my left side been permanently compromised? Do partial tears heal? Surely surgery isn't an option is it?

In the meantime, I am doing nothing but riding my bike, walking, and thanking God my major parts still seem to be somewhat firmly attached. Also, I'm sure someone will say to schedule a visit to the doctor. At the moment my insurance is in limbo so I want to make sure everything is in place before I do anything like an MRI. Right now I just want opinions, personal experience, estimations, theories, and even a sea story or two would be fine. I'm just needing to get some of this sh!t off my chest. It's been a weird last couple of days. Comments and advice are appreciated.

[Karl_Hungus]

Probably a partial tear. Yes, it will heal -- but obviously, don't push it too hard -- You don't want to turn a partial tear into a full tear.

[InternetTuffGuy]

Well I'm no doctor but where you said the pain is and the tingling in your arm could be the bicep tendon. The description of the discomfort sounds exactly like what I'm receiving treatment on. My first injury to it was playing baseball but it gets aggravated mostly with bench press if I'm not careful with my form.

If it continues to be a problem an exam by a physician would be the way to go.

[anonymous]

MRI

I've had a small muscle tear in my left pec which scared the crap out of me, enough to make me quit benching for good (not a sensible lift for older lifters imo) and it healed.. but you need to get an image of the area. If you have insurance insist the Dr sign off on it no matter how much they try to put you off having an MRI

[GoShocks]

Probably a partial tear. Yes, it will heal -- but obviously, don't push it too hard -- You don't want to turn a partial tear into a full tear.

Which reminds me, I tweaked the exact same area a couple months ago during dumbbell benches and I laid off chest exercises for several weeks and then started back slowly. This was probably the second chest day that I started going heavier. I don't know why I didn't remember that before, I suppose it was because I just figured it was a routine tweak and I would give it the standard treatment and then continue on. There's no doubt I over-estimated the speed at which my "tweak" was healing. I was given a warning several months ago, and now received an even sterner warning Monday. I think I've reached the age where it's time I start leaving the ego at the door and stop focusing on lifting more weight for the sake of lifting more weight. My interest is not power-lifting but bodybuilding. This is a hobby not a profession. **** just got real Monday night.

Well I'm no doctor but where you said the pain is and the tingling in your arm could be the bicep tendon. The description of the discomfort sounds exactly like what I'm receiving treatment on. My first injury to it was playing baseball but it gets aggravated mostly with bench press if I'm not careful with my form.

If it continues to be a problem an exam by a physician would be the way to go.

Well all the tenderness is in that thick area that connects the pec to the arm. I suppose if you tear something in that area you also affect the bicep a bit? Otherwise, moving my arm in a curling motion with some added resistance yields no discomfort. I also poked and prodded around the area of my bicep and tricep and nothing hurts. The soreness is pretty much just limited to the outside of the pec and that thick band that connects the top edge of your pec to the bottom of your shoulder just above the arm-pit (kind of where a person's stretch marks reside - at least that's where they are on me).

MRI

I've had a small muscle tear in my left pec which scared the crap out of me, enough to make me quit benching for good (not a sensible lift for older lifters imo) and it healed.. but you need to get an image of the area. If you have insurance insist the Dr sign off on it no matter how much they try to put you off having an MRI

I'm beginning to think you are correct. The bench press was starting to bother my other shoulder and I was seeking ways to limit the irritation the bench was causing me. One of the best things I did was learn to bench with my elbows tucked in more and the bar closer to the nipple line vs. the upper chest. Also, Monday night I was experimenting with not bringing the bar all the way to the chest which is supposed to be safer.. go figure. >_<

The injury occurred right as I was at my widest stretch point in the movement and just starting the concentric phase. I read that is usually where the tendon or muscle fails. Perhaps I will look into stretching the chest out more during off days. But for now I'm just walking around waiting for the pec to fall off the bone. I can't believe I am not in more pain after hearing what I heard. It sounded like three bands snapping and I had my ear buds in so it was a sound in my head. It didn't sound like tearing, it was definitely a snapping sound. The immediate question that follows is, WTF was snapping and how many more bands do I have left to snap? LoL, FML,

[InternetTuffGuy]

In my specific case I couldn't tell if it was the pec or shoulder because that's where it hurt similar to what you described, even in your follow-up response. My bicep doesn't hurt a bit but the inflamation from the tendon is radiating pain in the pec and shoulder.

Hopefully it is nothing or at least not severe. Get yourself checked out by a physician. I don't claim to be one...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[GoShocks]

Well I went to the gym tonight to just keep my remaining muscles stimulated and to stave off de-training. I kind of worked a total body circuit program doing one or two light reps on everything as well as carefully testing for any pain. All in all everything felt good although nothing was pushed very hard except for legs. I moved a bit of weight on the leg press. I even did a few very light sets (I'm talking the pin all the way at the top of the stack) on a chest press machine just to work on flexibility - no pain.

So for now I'm going to continue to do a light circuit with the occasional heavier set on a random body part while just going through very light movements on chest. Oh, and I will forget that the bench press ever existed for a long time. Starting in a month or so I will build my weight back up on chest 5 lbs at a time. Dumbbells and machines only with my arms not breaking 90 degrees to limit any over-stretching.

I'm also going to try and find a way to get an MRI.

Thanks for the helpful comments.

[Phattso]

Why do you stretch before working out?

[JRT6]

Once we hit our 50's testosterone takes an initial nose dive that causes the time of the most frequent tendon tears in males. Most guys who have had tendon tears during this period, particularly bicep tendons, report having no pain, soreness or any other warning signs. Over the whole weight spectrum. So I have accepted that a tendon tear in my future is part of the game.

I had a major pec tear when I was 26 and unfortunately it was the pec muscle off the tendon rather than the tendon off the bone so it was not repairable. It's the same kind of tear this guy has:

http://www.never2big.com/2012/12/day...burzacott.html

[GoShocks]

Why do you stretch before working out?

I hear ya man. I generally only stretch a warm muscle. My warm-up involves a bit of cardio with some light rotator cuff warm-ups. I then do quite a few warm-up sets before the first working set of each major body part. I've read somewhere that hard stretching of cold muscles can actually create tiny tears that can set you up for injury down the road.

Once we hit our 50's testosterone takes an initial nose dive that causes the time of the most frequent tendon tears in males. Most guys who have had tendon tears during this period, particularly bicep tendons, report having no pain, soreness or any other warning signs. Over the whole weight spectrum. So I have accepted that a tendon tear in my future is part of the game.

I had a major pec tear when I was 26 and unfortunately it was the pec muscle off the tendon rather than the tendon off the bone so it was not repairable. It's the same kind of tear this guy has:

Sounds like a really tough injury. Hopefully you've regained most of your strength. The guy in your link has an amazing body. Perhaps it's a good thing he has the one defect now because without it he looked damn near perfect and that makes me jealous.

I still have no deformity showing on my pec and it's now been 6 days since the incident. I am starting to notice more soreness in the area as I suspect some scar tissue is developing. I am doing some very light stretching throughout the day just to keep my range of motion intact as well as performing some active release type massage around the sore area. I've heard you want to try and break up the adhesions and scar tissue before it makes things too tight.

[GoShocks]

Once we hit our 50's testosterone takes an initial nose dive that causes the time of the most frequent tendon tears in males. Most guys who have had tendon tears during this period, particularly bicep tendons, report having no pain, soreness or any other warning signs. Over the whole weight spectrum. So I have accepted that a tendon tear in my future is part of the game.

I had a major pec tear when I was 26 and unfortunately it was the pec muscle off the tendon rather than the tendon off the bone so it was not repairable. It's the same kind of tear this guy has:

I'm early 40's. So you are saying that testosterone droppage affects the strength of your tendons? Is there anything we can do to help stave off tendon degradation? Will flexibility activities like yoga benefit the health of our tendons or are we just screwed as we age? Are there supplements that target the tendons like how glucosamine helps the fluid in the joints? I seriously want to do anything and everything to try and prevent this from happening again. Next time I might be fully disconnected if you know what I mean.

I sure would like to get my bench back up to 315+ one day again. I am natural btw and always have been if that matters. Should I swear off heavy chest work for the rest of my days? :/

[JRT6]

From what I've read the steep drop of the hormone is causal for tendon tears. It's not inevitable obviously but it is statistically valid. Even antidoctaly if you read these forums most of the guys reporting tears are older. However even so there is no reason not to train heavy because your body will adjust at some point.

My tear caused a muscle imbalance so bad that I have severe arthritis in my strong side elbow. Had I known the tear was resulting in such lop sided compensation...