Torn Ligament? Please help..

[BigLattimer]

I was doing some bench today, and when the bar lowered to my chest I felt a sharp pain around my left front of the armpit. Where everything connects. I'm afraid that I tore a tendon, but i'm not 100% positive. I'm not in tremendous pain right now, its quite stiff, and hurts if i try and strech my arm back. The doc said he thinks I may have torn my minor pec or something like that, i'm not sure if he really knew.. Does anyone know what might be up? How long does this type of injury take to heal? what can be done to quicken the healing process?

thanks!!
Lattimer

 

[Bonkme2]

Is it black and blue at all? Any unusual lumps in your pec area? (something that would suggest an actual tear...that there is muscle flapping around with no attachment)

 

[BigLattimer]

No, nothing of the sort, just sore and stiff in the front armpit area, i think it may have been ligaments or tendons, not the actually pec..

 

[Bonkme2]

I kinda did the same thing when I pulled my hamstring a few months ago. It turned black and blue a few days later. After about 8 weeks, I can squat with my full weight, but it's noticeably weaker than the other one when I train them individually, so I still don't push it too hard.

If you didn't actually tear anything, you should be good to go relatively quickly if you give it some rest. Just be careful not to push it too quickly and aggravate it over and over.

 

[BD100]

Sounds like you tore a pec. More than likely it is not the tendon because the muscle will give way before a tendon unless you have an underlying condition that has weakened your tendon. I recently tore my pectoralis major and it was pretty severe, but not a complete tear. It will take approximately 6 weeks for the initial healing of the muscle to take place. For me, I could not lift my arm for 2 weeks and after that, it got much better fairly quickly in regards to mobility. My whole arm turned black and blue. I couldn't sleep laying down for 2 1/2 weeks. My bench was around 405 lbs. when I tore it, and I am back up to 25 lb. dumbbells. Let me know if you need anymore info. I could go all day on this. Good luck with it.

 

[season7445]

The same thing has happened to me twice now. It was right at the top of the armpit where the bicep seems to meet the pec. The first 2 times it took around 2-3 weeks to feel better. and after that i took it wasy and warmed up alot. Now i have this really tight feeling in that area when i do chest. I am very careful about warming up and if anything feels weird or uncomfortable i never go heavy just concentrate on a medium weight and make sure to keep my form perfect. What i have been doing now is getting one of those rubber band stretchy things and using it to stretch out my chest in every possible direction, seems to be helping. By the way i never went to a doctor after this happened and wish i would of. Have it checked out to find out what it is for sure. if not it could be one of those injuries that haunts you forever!!!

Season7445

 

[Zyglamail]

Before you load up on anti-inflamatories, do a search here and on the web for prolotherapy. It works wonders.

 

[season7445]

Does anyone have any other info on this injury? Any good methods for stretching it out or rehab techniques to prevent any future injuries.

 

[BigLattimer]

i was wondering the very same thing.. can anyone give me any tips on rehabing it.. ect.. should i be streching it now? or later, i'm not quite sure what to do..

 

[Zyglamail]

i was wondering the very same thing.. can anyone give me any tips on rehabing it.. ect.. should i be streching it now? or later, i'm not quite sure what to do..

The problem with ligaments/tendons is they have a cellular turover rate of 300-500 days. What that means is that the cells are very slow to be replaced. Injury causes inflamation which greatly speeds this recovery, but most people adress sprains/strains with anti-inflamatories which prohibit healing and interfere with healing. It does however help with the pain so people jump right back in to exercising in a weakened (structurally weakened mind you) state and thus continue to cause microtrauma and/or further sever injuries to the same are, followed by anti-inflamatories and often things never return to normal.

You fastest way to recovery will be to promote blood flow via heat and exercise, but not so strenuous you risk injurying it further. Stretching helps make things feel better because in the case of a sprain/strain the supporting muscles generally tense to help support the joint so the stretch help the muscles but does little for the tendons/ligaments.

Prolotherapy can greatly promote healing and even further strengthen and thicken injured tendons and ligaments.