Chest pain from DL

[Str8shutr]

36, male, 280# BW, been on SS model since Sept 2012, recently moved to TM.

My upper left chest is sore and throbbing.

Yesterday evening, I was completeing a volume WO on TM with DLs. I had already done squats (290x5x5) and presses (130x5x5). I moved to DL and did 335x5. On the last rep of the DL workset, my back was rounding a little. At the top of the movement I pushed my chest up, and felt a POP in my upper left chest area.

- Pain is about a 3 or 4
- The pain is kind of achy and sore, and feels as though it is deep in my chest.
- Nothing really makes it feel better, but I have a full range of motion in my left arm, and moving it around does not seem to make the pain worse.
- It feels worst when I lift my chest up, then it turns into a stabbing pain. When I let my chest down, it goes away.
- Symptoms are the same throughout the day.
- There is no visible bruising or other physical evidence of an injury, just the pain.

Do you guys have any idea what happened? If you do, is this something that I can recover from while continuing WOs?

Thanks,

Joe

[Steve Hill]

Upper left chest is somewhat vague, though to give you credit, it's a lot less vague than some posters usually are. Can you be a bit more specific as to where the sharp pain is (the one you get when lifting your chest)?

Also, just to make sure: remember that the motion is a lifting of the chest, not a pushing. It's done via a contraction of the upper back muscles.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

This sounds musculoskeletal. That POP was the failure of a muscle, tendon, bone or cartilage. You could have popped out a rib, ripped a new groove in a pec, tweaked a costal cartilage, tore an intercostal muscle...you name it. Feed it tylenol and motrin and avoid pissing it off, and it will probably go away. If it gets worse, get it checked.


This post is for illustrative and educational purposes only, and does not constitute medical advice for any particular patient or condition.

[Str8shutr]

Thanks for the quick responses.

Some additional info: I was using an alternating grip, with my left hand supinated.

To Steve: The epicenter of the pain is about 4" down from my collarbone, about 3" up from my nipple, and on the left side of my chest about 4" from my breastbone. And, yes, your description of the mechanics of lifting the chest is much better than mine...guess thats why you are the coach, and I am a lowly SS peon, struggling for knowledge and understanding ; ).

To Dr. Sullivan: I fed it 800mg of ibuprofen last night so that I could get some sleep, and slowly through the day the pain seems to be lessening. As to avoiding pissing it off, do I need to avoid pulling movements completely or warm up to worksets and stop if pain increases? I will do the second option if left to my own devices, but I don't want it to get worse.

And another question: Is there any way to avoid this situation in the future? I mean, I don't want my shit to get all snapped up ya know. Or, does shit just get snapped with no warning like this?

[Steve Hill]

Sometimes shit happens.

Sounds like upper pec or an intercostal muscle to me. You should be able to tell us when you bench tomorrow.

[Str8shutr]

Morning! So I did my WO yesterday and had minimum pain during bench presses (170x5x3). However, when I went to curlz (85x5x3, just started these two weeks ago), at the start position (arms curled up, shoulders in flexion) I had some moderate pain in the same location detailed in previous post. Not as bad as Monday, but definitely there. I had to take ibuprofen last night to get to sleep.

So...is this something that I can continue working through? Like I said before, I don't want it to get worse. Since I've torn one thing, is it now easier to tear other muscle fibers, tendons, cartilage, whatever in the same area? Or is that a non-issue?

I understand that any advice disseminated in this forum should not be considered medical advice for any particular patient or condition.

[Steve Hill]

Morning! So I did my WO yesterday and had minimum pain during bench presses (170x5x3). However, when I went to curlz (85x5x3, just started these two weeks ago), at the start position (arms curled up, shoulders in flexion) I had some moderate pain in the same location detailed in previous post. Not as bad as Monday, but definitely there. I had to take ibuprofen last night to get to sleep.

So...is this something that I can continue working through? Like I said before, I don't want it to get worse. Since I've torn one thing, is it now easier to tear other muscle fibers, tendons, cartilage, whatever in the same area? Or is that a non-issue?

I understand that any advice disseminated in this forum should not be considered medical advice for any particular patient or condition.

As with any injury, you need to evaluate as time passes. If the pain is getting worse, then time off from the things making it worse is warranted. As long as it's not getting worse, yes, in general, you train through it. Using caution. And your giant massive brain to make sure you're doing it right.