Intercostal muscle strain/tear?

[BarryF]

So I seem to be healing up slowly, but not 100% yet, so I thought I might get some ideas concerning my injury. Pulled 450x5 on 10/16 with mixed grip, right hand supinated. Felt an odd pull in my right pec region. Proceeded with my first of two back off sets of 390x5. Whatever I had done on the 450x5 pull was very noticeable so decided against the 2nd back off set. It was painful to take a deep breath. I ended up having more pain/discomfort in my back in the area of the middle of my right shoulder blade, pretty much directly opposite the area in my chest. This is hard to describe as it did not feel like my pec muscle, or my normal back muscles, but rather underneath those areas.

No sharp pain during any activity at all...but felt more like substantial doms one might get a day or two after lifting....but lasted for weeks. Last week for the first time(6 weeks) it felt markedly better...less sore. I could not bench or dedalift heavy during this time but was able to complete 8x5 with about 80% of 5RM on bench. I have slowly ramped up over the weeks and was within 5 lbs of 5x5 PR this Monday. I also did a top set on press = to 5RM. This resulted in a little bit of soreness in the back area. More concerning though was a resulting shortness of breath last night all the way up to going to sleep. Improved this morning. Shortness of breath has been occurring the last few workouts. Inflammation of the affected area causing this?

I seem to be able to bench and deadlift without causing much if any discomfort to the chest or back muscles, which leads me to believe this was an intercostal injury. I don't believe it is a broken or cracked rib as there has never been any sharp pain other than breathing deeply immediately following the injury.

Pulled 405x5 last week with no pain or discomfort, other than shortness of breath requiring constant yawning for most of the weekend. I feel like continuing to work with submaximal weights until completely healed is the right course of action, but the time it is taking to heal and feel normal, coupled with the shortness of breath, seems unusual. I am considering doing a squat only workout on Friday with no benching or pulling just to get a full 5 days rest leading into Monday's workout.

[lou t]

go to a doctor. I've had intercostal injuries 2 x's last year. I did not have any shortness of breath other than taking a deep breathe was uncomfortable