Torn Muscle

I think I tore a muscle today doing bench. I was on my 2nd set when all of a sudden there was a ghastly crunching RIIIIIIPing noise and my arm collapsed. There wasn't a great deal of immediate pain, but I stopped the workout immediately and came home...by which time there was considerable pain. There is also a slight bit of bruising.

It's a weird muscle to hurt for that exercise, and I haven't been able to find any information about it on the 'net. The pain is at the top inside of the arm, around the bicep up towards the armpit. Ice and ibuprofen has alleviated the pain considerably.

Oddly, I was not using a whole lot of weight when this happened... 165 pounds.

I'm looking for information on how to treat this, how long to rest, how to start working it again to avoid scarification of the muscle tissue, and so on, but haven't found anything for this particular muscle.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

John

Sometimes the weight just doesn't matter.  I've pulled my back pretty good a few times now doing things that really aren't that heavy.

Let's go with this "I have a friend" story.  It usually gets the point across.

My friend was doing leg extensions without all that much weight.  But becuase of the particular angle of the machine, it put his bicep in a stressed position.

He heard a 'POP' and felt something odd but no immediate pain either. 

However, later that day and for the next several weeks, he was unable to do much upper body exercises.  Biceps were out of the question. 

While there was no visible damage, he ripped his bicep doing leg extensions!

Huh?  Yup.

He never saw a Doctor he just let it heal.

Needless to say his bicep did recover but it was odd looking.  And it will never be the same in terms of strength.  He later confessed that he saw a Doctor about 3 months after the incident.  The Doctor told him:

Because you waited so long there's nothing I can really do.  We can operate to fix what's wrong but it would only be cosmetic.  There's not even a guarantee I could get the attachment put correctly. 

He let it be. 

In your case, you know you did something pretty severe.  And while you can do some home remedies to ease the pain, I would suggest on Monday you make an immediate appointment and get this looked at.  If indeed it is a tear and something is detached, you'd be far better off to deal with it so that it can not only look better, feel better but heal correctly.

If it doesn't, you might not bench again regardless of the weight if the muscle in fact has been damaged pretty severely and doesn't heal correctly.

My 2 cents.

Marc C. David - NGA CPT
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

I was afraid you'd say something like that....New question: do I see a doctor or just go straight to they physical therapist?

doctor

Doctor. Going to PT before a Dr. is like taking your car to MAACO to have it painted when a quarter panel is missing.
 
Paul

A friend helps you move, a true friend helps you move bodies.

Go to a doctor as fast as you can. The longer you wait the more severe the pain can get. I tore my hamstring a few years ago and the only way I got though the pain was because my doctor gave me some pain medication. Physical therapy is very good though. They should be able to get you back to about were you were before. I got almost all of my strength and allmost all of my flexibility back in my left leg "the one I tore my hamsting on". Don't be freaked out because of the not getting all of the flexibility back though, it just takes time and I am unusually flexible anyways. I hope that you get better though man. I know how bad it is. I couldn't sit down without extreem pain for a long while. Get better soon man.
-Kyle

3rd place discuss bodybuilding transformation comp.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
-Aristotle

I'll try to get an appointment tomorrow, first thing. Good news is, though, that it's feeling a great deal better today, so at least it probably isn't a complete tear. If there is any silver lining to this cloud, that's it.

J.

ORIGINAL: GTDude

Don't be freaked out because of the not getting all of the flexibility back though, it just takes time and I am unusually flexible anyways. I hope that you get better though man. I know how bad it is. I couldn't sit down without extreem pain for a long while. Get better soon man.
-Kyle

Thanks. I appreciate it. I hope I get better, too!

J.

ORIGINAL: Marc David

Sometimes the weight just doesn't matter.  I've pulled my back pretty good a few times now doing things that really aren't that heavy.

Let's go with this "I have a friend" story.  It usually gets the point across.

My friend was doing leg extensions without all that much weight.  But becuase of the particular angle of the machine, it put his bicep in a stressed position.

He heard a 'POP' and felt something odd but no immediate pain either. 

However, later that day and for the next several weeks, he was unable to do much upper body exercises.  Biceps were out of the question. 

While there was no visible damage, he ripped his bicep doing leg extensions!

Huh?  Yup.

He never saw a Doctor he just let it heal.

Needless to say his bicep did recover but it was odd looking.  And it will never be the same in terms of strength.  He later confessed that he saw a Doctor about 3 months after the incident.  The Doctor told him:

Because you waited so long there's nothing I can really do.  We can operate to fix what's wrong but it would only be cosmetic.  There's not even a guarantee I could get the attachment put correctly. 

He let it be. 

In your case, you know you did something pretty severe.  And while you can do some home remedies to ease the pain, I would suggest on Monday you make an immediate appointment and get this looked at.  If indeed it is a tear and something is detached, you'd be far better off to deal with it so that it can not only look better, feel better but heal correctly.

If it doesn't, you might not bench again regardless of the weight if the muscle in fact has been damaged pretty severely and doesn't heal correctly.

My 2 cents.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111oneoneoneoneleven

That sounds like me!  A year ago, I was benching until failure and later decided to do dips.  Big mistake.  I did not feel anything painful per se, but after that, I could no longer bench or exert my right pectoral muscle.  Well I later exerted myself continuously and had to take pectoral exercises off the list for about 4 or 5 months.  Everything had been going fine until October when I benched that day, and later went to exercise again (hitting the bag)...again, I felt little pain, but an obvious sensation and a suspicion that I tore or injured my pec again.  The next day all suspicions were put to rest when I couldn't use my muscle.  I've been trying to rest it ever since October and still feel a sensation when I flex or use my pec in certain ways.

I've read that a torn muscle will not flex and will have brusing, swelling, etc.  I don't have any of these symptoms, but what I do have makes me suspect something.  Something just isn't RIGHT, and when I would bench it would show through a large strength difference between my left and right sides (not to mention what I could do off my injury). 

What do I have?  I suspect a minor tear or maybe a strain, but I am not sure.

I don't know if I'm being clear or not, but I would REALLY appreciate any information or insight that could help me.  I've wanted to see a doctor for the longest time but for the time being, I'm stuck here. 

Thats gotta suck....

Yeah, it really does suck.  But what sucks even more is the fact that I'd like some help...

bump

I've been reading your messages about the torn pectoral muscles.  I have a friend who was operated on yesterday for a torn pec.  He waited months before being able to schedule the surgery because of work.  I don't know how bad the tear was, but obviously it was bad enough to get operated on.  My question to all of you is, how long will his recovery time be?  Also, what can he expect to be able to do when he is recovered as far as being able to lift again?  When will he be ABLE to lift again?  Byt he way, thank you for all of the great info on this in these posts. 

it's so ironic because the first person who posted about tearing a muscle under the armpit to the chest has the same problem as me. i just decided to search the net to find any info to solve this tearing and happened to find this forum.
 
i was working out doing heavy weights and suddenly on the first rep as i lowered the weight, i realized it was hurting. me being stupid, i kept pushing and did many sets. i also kept working out after that for 2 weeks. now, i have stopped working out completely and decided to go the doctors tomorrow. i hope that i'm not too late and injured myself to a point where it becomes permanent.
 
the problem is i dont know if my situation is as bad as many of you guys. i was still able to do reps afterwards but just not as much and was still able to do my back and arms without too much pain. the only pain i have most is benching.

hi. could you please inform us wat happened when you went to the doctors. wat did he/she tell you?
 
i'd very much like to know because i have the same problem. thanks.

Ok guys, here's the story:

If something doesn't feel right, you heard a pop or a crunch and then you can't use a muscle properly, YOU NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!  To delay is at your own peril.  We spend so much time in the gym, watch our diets, and discuss bbing endlessly, all in the name of improving our bodies (and minds!), to not take care of it when something goes wrong (or seems to have gone wrong) is to take your hard work and FLUSH.

The worse a doctor will say is that "it's nothing serious."  Actually, that's a good thing.  You didn't waste his/her or your time.  Self-medicating is just not an option when we're talking the time and expense that we spend on our bodies here.

I've been as guilty as others in not seeking professional attention after hurting myself.  The alternatives include slower healing, and maybe not being able to be as good as before.  I've learned my lesson.

"If there's nothing else that's relevant, I'll be leaving now"

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground"

I haven't heard from my friend since he's had his surgery on Monday so I don't know how he's doing.  I'm assuming his arm has been immobilzed.  Does anyone know how long he will be out of the gym with this injury?  After surgery will he have full use of this muscle.  I know it probably won't look the same, but he's not a competitive body builder so it doesn't matter.  The only one who will notice will be him.  But what is the recovery time?  How long before he can step into the gym.  The reason I'm asking is because he thinks it's going to be a year and he's freaking out about it.  He's also a fireman and works out for his job.

i have just joind the club, on monday i i was doing my upper chest i think i lifted verry heavy, so bam i felt something snapt i weven herd it inside of me, i got up, put the weight, the feeling was weard not painfull but like a chock, i was thinkin that i brock something, i stated moving my sholders  didnt feel much, i stoped working out whent home but my brain was giving me the sgnal that something is wrong,to day is tuesday im taking it easy im tryng to not lift anything heavy, i m a little swolling between my upper chest and the end of my troath. i have an appointment on thursday.
im affraid that io wont be able to work out right again,working out made my life diferent gave me confidence and i feel like if i stay off it for a wile im gonna loos all what im working hard for fisicaly and money wise. i just hope .................................

I too am struggling with a pain in one pectoral muscle. The pain feels like a stretching feeling when contracting the muscle.  I haven't shown any symptoms of a torn muscle however something is not right and refuses to heal. i have taken months off of lifting trying to rid myself of  the problem but it never seems to get any better. I have visited a general doctor and an orthopedic specialist who both say they see nothing wrong (maybe a mild tear but probably not). i cannot bench nearly what I used to and have developed a muscle inbalance trying to carry on lifting.  If any one has information that could help me please respond.
 
 

it was only 2 weeks ago i was dumbell pressing 45 kg when i passed out for about 5 seconds due to an unberable pain . The pain was so bad i went straight to a and e ,i saw a doctor straight away and was told i had torn my pectoral muscle . The advice i was given was to rest it for 2 weeks and i would have some bruising .with in 2 days my whole arm was black and blue and my pec was and still is surounded by fluid.It is now 2 weeks since my injury and i can flex my (RATHER LARGE)pec but have very restricted movement under pressure ie pushing and lifting ( not weights) just in general.I also have pain from my bicep and tendod over my arm pit .I took it upon myself to use ice packs on every other day which i think has helpt alot and plenty of streches .hope this helps you .

Hi. I have had a problem with my pecs for the past year and a half.  I have tried physio and been to doctors but it is never the same.  Ive tried stretching and hot and cold packs but nothing seems to work as i have a pain sensation sometimes.  Even if I do lightweights I still can feel it after 2 or 3 days.  .  Also I think the best way is to train is slowly and build ur strength by increasing the weight each wk.   But if it hurts then back off for a few days. If you have a solution then pls let me know

Hi, all. I suffered a torn pectoral a little less than two months ago - not while lifting, but in a fight. But I'm going through the same thing all you guys are going through - the anxiety and the doubt and the interminable waiting. I didn't realize until after I had walked away from the fight (which, obviously, I lost - I was outnumbered, but it still pisses me off) that I had internal bleeding (ecchymosis [sp?]) all down the bicep of my right arm, and it wasn't for another two weeks when the limited movement and the armpit deformity freaked me out enough to see a doctor. My GP was worthless - it was his first year, and he tried to convince me there was no injury or deformity, so I made him call in a more experienced doctor, who told me there clearly was some damage, but that it should heal on its own, and I could start lifting again immediatley so long as I did less weight and more reps. Well, I researched torn pectorals on-line after that, and freaked out, so I managed to finagle an appointment with a sports medicine specialist two weeks after that, who scheduled an MRI that came back inconclusive ("you might have a partial tear, but we also can't rule out a complete rupture..."). So, finally, after just over two months of finagling with my doctors and my health insurance and the referral system, I'm finally being sent to see an orthopedic surgeon next week who will (hopefully) tell me once and for all whether I'm going to get surgery and return to normal. At the moment, it's really obvious that something is superficially wrong with my pectoral muscle - there's a long indentation in my right armpit where, on my left side, the pectoral muscle attaches to the arm; likewise, while I can bench reduced weight, do a few pushups, and do assisted dips and chin-ups, it almost always hurts, and I'm not sure whether I'm strengthening my remaining pectoral, or tearing away what's left of the connective tissue.

This all really sucks, because I'd dropped out of college with the intention of joining the Navy SEALs, and if this doesn't heal right, there's NO WAY I'll be able to pass training (I <i>need</i> to be able to do push-ups!). I don't really have many other options...

Oh well. Keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck to everyone else in a similiar situation!

And, hey, if any of you guys who posted in this thread earlier are reading this, maybe you could post follow-ups? How are you progressing?

aww menn this same thing just happened to me four days ago. I was in a bench press competition. I had done chest the day before and i was swore but i still decided to be in the competition. I maxed out at 395 the day before and at the competition i did 325 and 350. I decide to go for 405. I got the weight off the rack and brought it down slowly waited for the 2sec pause and as i was about to push the weight off of me i heard a loud ripppp and pop at the point i was terrified i mean i was freaked out. i yelled for the spotters to get the weight off of me and at that time i got up and grabbed my arm.. The pain wasn't much at first i was still freaked out about what i had just heard. i decided to go see a doctor right away and he told me that i might have torn a muscle in my chest that connects to my biceps and that he is repairable by surgery.

I got an MIR the next day and i will be going in on monday to see my doctor so we can go over the results. im really scared because my arm is significantly weaker. like it just feels weird. Today when I got out of the shower I noticed some internal bleeding in my upper right bicep and my chest is swollen. Right now I don’t think I will ever get my full strength back and that sucks. I really just hope I can get back to normal with no deformities.  im glad i found this forum and seeked immediate attention.

Here's a story of life one year after a nonsurgical pec tear. I tore my pec last year while benching about 70% of my max. The tear was confined to the muscle -- no ligaments or tendons were damaged. Right after the injury, my damaged side was about 1/2 as strong as my good side. I visited two orthos who both recommended against surgery. They said that positive surgical outcomes can only be expected when a ligament or tendon tears. One compared sewing muscle together to sewing two peices of sh!t together. They said that surgery would require immobilizing the arm which would atrophy the pec further as well as atrophying the shoulder and tricep. They also warned that muscle repairs (as opposed to tendon repairs) for large muscle groups have very high failure rates, as high as 50%. I went to PT for about 3 months and then started doing machine workouts and barbell pec exercises on my own. I recovered most of my strength about 2 more months after that; I was up to 85% of my pre-injury bench. Now, a year out, I still have a deformity (little to no pec webbing) but my bench has returned to the 405lbs that it was before the injury. I went ahead and benched the 405lbs to see if I could do it, but usually -- anything over 315 -- and I use Cybex machines -- just to be safe. My affected side does not have as much endurance as my good side. I think that is because my smaller tricep and shoulder muscles strengthend to partially compensate, and smaller muscles tire more quickly than larger groups. I used to be able to do 50 push ups, but now I can only do 35 -- but I have not worked to improve endurance. After going through the tear and the rehab, I would recommend getting surgery as soon as possible IF your tendon or ligament tore. Otherwise, if just the muscle tore, take it VERY easy, go to PT, and give your muscle time to heal before you start rebuilding it.

well i will be having a day surgery on wed. to reconnect my torn muscle to my bicep. My doctor assured me everything should be back to almost normal with 4months threapy and 6weeks in a sling... i really have a good feeling about this..wish me luck!

Hi I am 32 years old,
 
 
When I was performing flat bench presses at the GYM....Start pushing heavy and feeling my chest really tighten up.. then decided to do one more the ..Got one big snap! and a pop on my right side of the chest.   I was freaked out! Had to get some help to pull the bar away from my neck.. After that  I just sat on the bench in shock then I started feeling the pain after 5mins... walked to the locker room and looked at the mirror and I saw a dip, where my armpit is located underneath the pec.  Went down to Urgent care saw the doctor and told me to ice it down for a few days and then start the hot and cold treatment.  My arm, inner bicep was swollen and was all purple by the armpit area.  I asked the doctor if I would need surgery?  I told him that I was not a professional bodybuilder, but I just like to do physical activities such as basketball, tennis, boxing, golf and playing with my kids.  He told me that my strength won't ever be a 100%, and if you are not active..it wouldn't be a problem.  But to be active as I was,  he requested that I get an MRI and see a orthopedist specialist.  A week later I got the results from the MRI and saw the doctor.  He stated that I tore the pectorlis tendon underneath the chest/armpit and recommended surgery.  I was a little hesitant to believe him, since this has never happen to me and he was quick to point out that I needed surgery without appointing therapy first, maybe a little tiger balm or ben gay?  He told me that my tendon was tore and that the tendons are 2 inch's away from each other from being connected.  So what was going through my mind was.. this doctor only wants to get paid by my health insurance money, so he wants the big payout by performing surgery on me!  So I did my research for that week, and saw identical stories and results from people that performed surgery and people that have not.  The ones that performed the surgery has increased their strength and physic's and was able to perform their normal function abilities.. and the people that did not get surgery, had a deformaty..one muscle bigger then the other and pain occured after a few years later.  Got a second opinion from another doctor, and he stated that Surgery is the only way to go for a full or close to full recovery.  He told me, you dont feel pain now and you are able to move because the tendons are healing on different muscles and are not healing in the correct places..which is self healing.  Other Tendons are still attached but not the main ones.  He told me in the long run if I dont have surgery.. that this will catch up with me.  Not only by lifting weights but by applying pressure other wise..like holding a drill or pushing screwdriver to screw something, you will feel pain.  So I said, I am still young..I better get this over with.  The only thing that bugs me is that I was in the best shape of my life and I had to stop because of this mishap.  I hate starting over again! when I know I had the eye of the tiger!  So I have to suck it up and make the future brighter for me.
 
So I took his advise and I have surgery on the 9th of January 2007.  Hopefully the healing process goes quicker then normal.  I will run and keep the legs in shape once the stitches are off in a couple of weeks.  But the pushup motion is out of the question for now.  Just continue to take protein and amino acids to build up the muscle.  I was told the full recovery can take up to 10-12wks with good therapy.
 
 
TENDON TORE/ REPAIR VICTIM  

hey guys, i have this wierd feeling i may have torn my chest muscle but i'm really not sure. I'm 18 and i've been lifting pretty religiously sense i was like 14 believe it or not. Don't think i'm unexperienced and did an exercise wrong or something. Well anyways, after fridays workout my chest was a little sore..except it was arm day and not chest. The only thing i could think of was that i maybe over-extended my elbows on my dips for tris on my last rep. So i took saturday off, still pretty sore. I felt okay enough to lift on sunday which was chest. Had absolutely no problem, didn't hold back at all. no pain or anything during my lifts except a little soreness in the beginning but that was understandable. Then today i did back, and i was in soo much pain that i almost couldn't finish my workout. I forgot to mention that my chest was a little swolen on saturday and sunday, but remember, no pain when lifting. So today it is really painfull. It hurts even when i do a simple crunch. Grasping the steering wheel on my car with my right hand to turn was even out of the question. The bottom and top of my right chest is a bit swolen, some very very light bruising, you can barely see it. i dont even see it but my mom said she can see a little bit,  and it almost looks like theres a small divit in my chest towards the middle. so i have no idea, help me out n let me know if i should just take some days off or go get like an mri or somethin. I'm going to my high schools trainer to see what she says about it. thanks

Dan