Right pec won’t engage

[ctluba]

Ok,new guy here. I’m 49 years old, been training for 30 years. 5’11”, 235. Heavy basics, low reps, eat a lot, don’t compete.

So for the past 10 years i have been dealing with a nagging injury in my rhomboids i believe. Knots and deep pain under my shoulder blades. Sometimes it flares up on the right side, sometimes on the left. Seems to be s direct result of heavy benching. Every year or so i end up taking a week off if gets really bad. Get some deep tissue message, eat well, rest and it goes away. Would definitely call it a chronic injury.

So it hasn’t flared up in a good year and a half. But about three weeks ago it flared up on the right side really bad. Big ropey knot with deep pain. Not really sharp, just a throbbing deep soreness. Ok, i took last week off, message, rest, eat. Keep in mind nothing happened while training that i can say, oh, that’s when it happened. It just came on again. Sorta like an overuse, chronic type situation.

So i went back to the gym Monday. Just check it out, see where i am. I start warming up with 135 and immediately feels off balance and weird. No crazy pain, just off. So i go up to 225, which i usually do ten on the way up the pyramid. Lift it off and come down and i can’t push it up!!!! Guy comes over and pulls it off. I was caught off guard and thought i wasn’t paying attention or something so i try again, same result. Mind you i have been at the top of my strength for months. I haven’t missed 365 in 3 months. I went for 385 last month and just missed. So i get off the bench in a panic and check my chest as it felt like i couldn’t push with my right arm. I put my thumb on my inner left pec and flex and push. Pec is bulging and hard. I do the same on my inner right pec, soft and no ridge. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t seem to flex my right pec. I am able to move it, twitch it and somewhat flex it, but not full engagement. Keep in mind no shoulder pain, full range of motion. Everything else seems ok, but the pain under the right shoulder blade. Went to message guy and he said get it looked at. I trained back yesterday and Bis and tris today, going very light and everything feels ok. Although my right arm felt a tad weaker on tricep pushdowns. I keep testing my pec. I did very light pec deck and feels ok, just weak. I got up in the middle of the night and laid on the floor and pushed the coffee table up while holding my left hand on my right pec and i could press the light table up and feel my pec working. Just no strength and still softer than the left pec. No bruising, no pain in chest, not a tear in my opinion. Now I’m online in a panic thinking it’s nerve damage or something. I’m freaking out here but trying to stay level headed. I’ve never had any serious injury in 30 years and took me s long time to handle this kind of weight. I live for the gym and have felt like I’m the strongest I’ve ever been in the past 5 years. I have an appointment with a orthopedic on Friday. Anybody experience anything similar? I’m not ready to be taken out by this thank you

[jonster900]

As far as your back story everything is pretty much identical with myself. I'm a heavy lifter and about 2 weeks ago I was having this amazing shoulder pain in my left side and one day I had put some weight on the bar and went to go do 135 lb and I felt it incredibly uneven. It's like I lost all the power in my left pec muscle. It's incredibly frightening and I am making a appointment to see a specialist this week. Have you had any progress?

[shwervan]

Any update on this? I had a very similar experience 6 weeks ago where my right pec just wouldn't engage and flex like my left pec. I don't however have any of the pain in the inner back you're describing. Have you had any imaging done? I had an ultrasound that showed no damage to the pec so I've been trying to ease back into it but still, my right pec is at best at 75% strength.