Help with possible tear of pec muscle/tendon

[Uncle]

Hey coaches, hoping you can help me out with this situation.

Stats:
29 years old, 6'4" 240 lbs
Currently doing Adv Novice program

Tuesday morning, a minute or so after finishing and re-racking my third/last set of squats (355x5), I felt what I could only describe as a charlie-horse tightness at the front of my right armpit. There was no definite pain, so I continued on to bench press, and my warm ups felt good, so I finished my work sets (265x5), moved on to deads, and a couple sets of chins afterwards. At no point did I feel pain, only tightness.

Yesterday morning, I woke up with very mild soreness in the same place in the armpit, and very light bruising, where I could just barely notice the change in skin colour. I had, and continue to have full ROM with my shoulder, and no movement produces pain, I only feel pain when I touch the specific area, and first thing in the morning.

I have yet to see my Doctor, but have spoken to a friend who is an MD, and he said it sounded to him like a microtear of the pec tendon. I'm skeptical of this, as there was no "event" for the injury, and it was hurt while in isometric contraction, plus it seems like the pain is too far from the insertion of the pec muscle to be connective tissue. But I could be off base here.

I'm hoping someone can help guide me in how to proceed with this, as I am leaning towards starting Starr rehab tomorrow, but I'm not sure if it is wise considering there is a small chance I may damage things more if it is, in fact, connective tissue.

I can update this with a picture of the specific area once I am home from work, if that would be helpful. If you need any more information, please let me know, and thanks in advance for your time!

[Tom Campitelli]

I think your doctor friend is probably right. You felt some pain and have some bruising. Muscles tear at strange times and often for no good reason. Chances are very good you have a small tear. Let pain be your guide here. Let it rest two or three days after the injury with some ice and NSAIDs as needed. Then start to move it as much as you can tolerate. Don't make it worse, but don't lay off it, either. I would bet in about two weeks things will be feeling okay again.

[MBasic]

I had this happen, but in my case my pec re-tore. I tore my pec like 6-8 years ago, pretty good rip. The following years, I avoided standard grip heavy bench presses....only would heavy inclines, DBS, flat close grip bench, dips, etc....anyways, took a run at a TM program and re introduced flat std.grip benches....I started off real slow and conservative with the weights....got up to a 270x5 int day....outta nowhere, I notice a small bruise on my pec. There was no pain whatsoever during the set, after wards, etc. No pop, tear, or rip....the set wasn't particularly grindy. So I start jamming my finger in there (bruise site) and yeah it felt kinda tender, as in a injury site. Point of long story, is yeah, it's possible for it to tear without an typical "injury event" during the set.

[Uncle]

Thanks for the insight guys, I've never dealt with a muscle injury before so it's good to know that I'm doing the right thing as far as rehab is concerned.

The day I submitted my thread, I fell to a viral infection and spent the next 4 days in bed, a complete mess of fever, migraines, nausea, etc. Needless to say, my ibuprofen intake was substantial, and 4 days after the injury, I would drag myself downstairs to begin Starr rehab. So far it has been a painless experience, and I am increasing the weight as I can tolerate it. I'm going to take the week off from anything else, and just let my entire body recover, and hopefully I will be on track to be back to my previous programming on Monday.

And thanks again Tom for your quick response. I know it may get tiring sometimes reading the same types of inquiries, but your attention to my concerns does not go unappreciated!