Sustained a pretty bad pec tear this past tuesday.. Advice welcome

[Aslin]

Hey guys,

Was benching 300lbs and my pec tore about three sets in to the exercise. There was no pain prior or sign that anything bad was going to happen.

It's sunday now, and I've basically started no rehab whatsoever. I was going to start the Starr rehab tomorrow after taking a few days off. I erroneously believed that I needed so much time before I started for some reason...

I haven't iced the injury at all, it feels far less painful and is much less swollen than what it was. It's definitely time to get under the empty bar with it...

Is the best thing I can do now to follow the Starr rehab? I was a little worried that I've done some damage to the healing process by not using Ice or starting the rehab a couple days earlier?

Thank you guys/girls.

Matt

[Kostas Theodorakis]

How to Rehab Muscle Strains and Tears | The Art of Manliness

[Will Morris]

I don't prefer the starr method. I highly prefer working up to something moderately heavy but does not cause an increase in pain above your baseline pain after completion of the set. I perform repeated doubles at the heaviest possible weight, that, again, does not lead to increased pain above baseline. I'd start with 5-7 doubles....increase weight each time...then, once you get close to the previous working weight, increase the reps to 3s....then to 4s....then finally back to 5s. This will keep you lifting heavier, salvage more strength, and make sure the repair is able to handle heavier loads.

[Aslin]

Thank you for the link and for the advice Will.

I found it incredibly difficult to even press the bar to begin with. I decided to follow the star method as I was scared to do anything heavy as I never experienced a tear before and really didn't know how to push it with heavier weights without tearing it again.


It was all going so well until today when I re-tore part of the injury doing sets of 15 at 150lbs.


The pain is coming from my armpit, it feels like it's emanating right from the location of the coracobrachialis muscle. There was pain here too with the initial injury, but I don't think just the bench press rehab that I've been doing has worked the area the same as it has done with the area that was injured previously, which now feels fine.

I was wondering if I could get advice on rehab with this? stretching my arms above my head in the way you would while pressing seems to target the area. I was thinking of lowering the bench press rehab and starting the starr rehab with the overhead press, that should work this area I've hurt today and bring it up to the level of what's healed already doing the bench press rehab. Would love any advice.


Thanks all.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Are you sure the pec has not avulsed?

[Aslin]

Are you sure the pec has not avulsed?

I was worried about that. When it happened it felt really, really bad. I went to the emergency room for what it's worth and they looked at it for a while and told me that it would heal completely with rest. No talk of rehab whatsoever of course, and the guy insinuated that I just went too heavy for what I was capable of, which was ridiculous.

I have full range of motion, well up until tonight where it again feels painful getting into the rack position with the squat. Before tonight I thought I was doing really well with the rehab... It's quite gutting really.


I'm not sure how to find out if it has avulsed. I was under the impression it would look noticeably different, which it doesn't at all, and the pain would still be rather intense if that happened... How would I go about checking this?


Thanks Mark.

[Will Morris]

It was all going so well until today when I re-tore part of the injury doing sets of 15 at 150lbs.

This has been my experience multiple times before, which is exactly why I don't like high repetition sets for new injuries. It is easier to control for sets of 2 than it is for sets of 15+.

An avulsion doesn't necessarily have to have a pronounced deformity. Did they take a radiograph of your arm when you went to the Emergency Room?

[TommyGun]

Guys can I ask a dumb question? I have read about pec tears and the the Starr protocol, but I really don’t know what a pec tear is, or how it feels when it tears. Is it a pop or more of a shear? Is bruising a requirement of diagnosis?

I have always wanted to ask. Thanks.

[Aslin]

This has been my experience multiple times before, which is exactly why I don't like high repetition sets for new injuries. It is easier to control for sets of 2 than it is for sets of 15+.

An avulsion doesn't necessarily have to have a pronounced deformity. Did they take a radiograph of your arm when you went to the Emergency Room?

I mean there is more than one way to skin a cat, I think I just tried to stick to the start rehab too vigorously and went up in weight quicker than I thought. Say if it were a partial avulsion would it possibly get better with conservative treatment? I think I'm going to stop benching all together and focus purely on the press, beginning with high rep sets tonight. I'm just worried that I would be doing more harm than good because of this avulsion worry I now have. I'm possibly thinking Its a better idea to just give it a few weeks without any work whatsoever. My day job is very strenuous as it is, I'm a landscape gardener, and I can't afford to not work.

They took no radiograph, I was asked if I had full range of movement which I had, I did have a lot of trouble taking the rack position with the bar for a couple of weeks though, since then I've had excellent range of motion and no perceptible weakness.

[Will Morris]

We treat most avulsions without surgery.