First of all...Hi!

I'm Jamie D.

I just started lifting wieghts about 5 months ago and all was going well until I injured myself bench pressing.

I'm not sure when I first injured it but i know that it wasn't severe enough to warrant me stopping lifting...even though i wish i had know....

But when i hurt it seriously I took some time off and went to see a G.P. Who did the whole "Take it easy in the gym your only 15, don't want to stunt your growth" act after giving me some stretches and telling me to take week after the pain stopped then I can go back.

So i do the stretches, crank on some ibprofen and wait it out a week.

As soon as i go back, the trapezius and rhomboid pain comes back. So i take off two weeks. Same thing happens and im currently in my 6th week of not being able to do a single thing with my chest...I feel 5 months of work disappearing every day and its driving me crazy.

So what do you suggest. Every time i try to do something, no matter how long i take been off the injury comes back and i dont want to risk serious damage.

Hey bro, I've injured my upper back, real bad, just like you. I kept doing what you are doing take 2 weeks off then go back to the gym and hurt it again. After awhile I had to go with back therapy 4 times a week... It was real bad I lost everything I had and once I got better I couldn't make my self go back to the gym. When I did I made a smart move, I started off very light. Thats very important that you let your body go back to lifting slowly and not jumping right back in where you left off. You will end up like me, almost 8months of no working out and 3 months of back therapy, not fun at all. Right now I am suffering from lower back injury and I am taking my time, even though I was doing so ****ing awesome, I was looking great for the summer, its all ruined. But I am not going to go back and make another mistake. Stretching, cold for 30 minutes, heat for another 30 minutes and stretching again. Don't stretch if it hurts. 1800mg of Ibuprofen a day if that doesn't help after a week ask your doctor for Cyclobenzaprine. It makes you drowsy so I take it before I go to bed and not during the day. It helps to totally relax your whole back muscles. So anyways take you're time bro, stretch, and once you go back to the gym start off slow, if the injured spot starts to feel soar, give it some time to rest, don't go back to the gym the next day. Thats all I have to say man, take care.

- Dmitriy