Pec Minor Grade 2 tear - 8 months into rehab

[dtclark2188]

Hi all,

In January of this year, I had a grade two tear of my left pec minor tendon where it attaches to the shoulder during bench press at my first powerlifting meet. I have been following my orthopedist's advice regarding training, and until a few days ago, things had been fine. I have been doing an LP on my bench for the last month and did 3 sets of 5 at 207.5 3 days ago. An hour or so after my last set, my shoulder started aching much like it did earlier on in my recovery. It is still aching today, but it has subsided a bit. I am trying to decide if I should continue my LP, back off the weights and run it back up at a slower pace, or if I should lower the weights and do progressively more volume at a lower intensity for awhile to increase the work tolerance and hypertrophy the muscle without stressing the tendon as much. I guess what my question boils down to is this: is this likely just inflammation that I can expect from now on due to the previous injury, so just deal with it, or is it possible that I have reinjured the tendon? I am guessing the former because the injury itself had a very specific feeling associated with it (pop pop and ripping cellophane), but I am just not sure.

Thanks!

[timelinex]

I can't give you a recommendation, but I can share my own pec tear experience if it helps you any.

I had a pec tear from a sport about 2 years ago I think. My primary pain while rehabbing it was in the armpit area where the pec starts attaching to the arm. At a certain point the pain went away completely. But since then I have had it come back randomly atleast 2 times for a week or two. When the pain would come back it was a gnawing pain, and not too intense. It would hurt during or after benching and would remain sore for a little bit. I just benched through it every time. Then it would randomly go away again. I haven't had it in a solid few months now.

If you want to be "safe", do a reset to give it a little break. Years down the road, it won't matter that you gave up a few workouts worth of possible progress. I didn't reset because mine didn't hurt too bad, but I dont know how bad yours hurts.