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Thread: Teres major strain

  1. #1
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    Default Teres major strain

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    I was doing chinups Monday and on the second rep of my last set I felt this ripping sensation and a sharp pain. At first I thought it was a lat tear but I can tense my lats and feel absolutely no pain. From my limited knowledge it seems as though it could be the teres major.

    Doing a pulling motion with my left arm elicits pain as does pressing my lefft palm against my stomach and trying to press in. The pain is felt in my upper arm, not my back. There is no visible bruising and there is no visible difference (bulges, knots, etc.) between the injured arm/back and the uninjured side.

    I stopped the chins immediately but was able to finish my squats without any noticeable pain. I also had Romanian deadlifts scheduled but they were a no go; once my torso passed the 45deg mark on the way down, the pain was intense.

    Normally, I would try and rehab this with a pulldown machine but the gyms are closed. I have no bands to take the load off of bodyweight chins so until it heals a bit, chins are out. I do have a barebell, plates, bench, rack, and adjustable olympic dumbbell handles. I tried a dumbbell row with 25lb and it only hurt a little and didn't get worse as I went through the set. I also threw a nylon strap of the type used to secure loads in pickup beds over the pullup bar and tied a 10lb plate to the end and used that as a sort of pulldown mechanism. I did three sets of 12 with my left arm and while they hurt, the injury didn't feel any worse after than before I did the sets.

    Am I on the right track with this? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Culican View Post
    I was doing chinups Monday and on the second rep of my last set I felt this ripping sensation and a sharp pain. At first I thought it was a lat tear but I can tense my lats and feel absolutely no pain. From my limited knowledge it seems as though it could be the teres major.

    Doing a pulling motion with my left arm elicits pain as does pressing my lefft palm against my stomach and trying to press in. The pain is felt in my upper arm, not my back. There is no visible bruising and there is no visible difference (bulges, knots, etc.) between the injured arm/back and the uninjured side.

    I stopped the chins immediately but was able to finish my squats without any noticeable pain. I also had Romanian deadlifts scheduled but they were a no go; once my torso passed the 45deg mark on the way down, the pain was intense.

    Normally, I would try and rehab this with a pulldown machine but the gyms are closed. I have no bands to take the load off of bodyweight chins so until it heals a bit, chins are out. I do have a barebell, plates, bench, rack, and adjustable olympic dumbbell handles. I tried a dumbbell row with 25lb and it only hurt a little and didn't get worse as I went through the set. I also threw a nylon strap of the type used to secure loads in pickup beds over the pullup bar and tied a 10lb plate to the end and used that as a sort of pulldown mechanism. I did three sets of 12 with my left arm and while they hurt, the injury didn't feel any worse after than before I did the sets.

    Am I on the right track with this? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
    Given the constraints you have with equipment, I would be doing something eerily similar to what you have developed. The fact that you are not having increasing pain after the sets shows that you are doing precisely what needs to be done.

  3. #3
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    Thanks. The pain seems to be diminishing fairly rapidly.

    One final question: When will I know it is safe to grab the chinup bar and attempt to to a chinup? Even as I type this, I do realize that there may be a mental component to me even asking the question.

  4. #4
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    Maybe start with hanging from the bar in a chin up position and try a few partial reps. If those go well, try a full rep.

  5. #5
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    Did a full chinup rep after my training session just to try it. Absolutely no pain; 13 days post injury.
    It always amazes me how much better doing movements that stress the injury (within limits of course) works so much better than total rest.

    Thanks again

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