Strained pec ( near armpit)

critter11

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Started feeling pain near my pec and armpit a week ago and it only got worse after my chest day yesterday... Anyone have advice on ways to relieve the pain as quick as possible ive been taking baths with epsom salt ( muscle relaxer) so hopefully that helps but monday is my next chest day should i skip the day entirely or just strain for certain excercizes, if so what should i shy away from?
 
Sean1332

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I tagged a member here so he would respond with his advice, as he has just had the same problem and overcame it.

and I would avoid horizontal pressing movements until it's better
 
Rocket3015

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RICE
 
herderdude

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Hey bud, I just had this happen to me in late October, and even with that setback I just benched 405 last week for the first time. First off, don't do chest for a month. You won't lose all your gains. Take this time to double down on shoulder presses, tricep extensions, lats, all that. You gotta heal up right or its a never-ending road. Then, mash it. Don't stretch it for a few weeks, just mash. That would be a foam roller, lacrosse ball, anything to break up scar tissue in the area and let blood flow. I mashed mine unbelievably hard and its turned out great.

When you get back into it, use light weights for high reps, not to failure, not a lot of workload. Try to use a shorter than usual range of motion. Then start stretching the area VERY LIGHTLY and week by week stretch it more and more and use a bigger range of motion and more volume.

This last part is the most important. It will hurt when you get back into it. You have to be very honest with yourself regarding good pain vs. bad pain. Too cautious and you'll be nursing it forever. Not cautious enough and it will happen again. Err on the side of too cautious.

In the future, to prevent it, You will need to have a better balance of pushing and pulling movements. I would hazard a guess that your pecs are tight and your shoulders ate internally rotated. Since it's already become a problem, you need to do two pulling reps for every pushing rep you do. Rows, pull ups, rear delt work, facepulls, and pullaparts are your best friends for the next year or so.

Any questions, let me know. Good luck!
 

TheKing7

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Great advice man. I had the exact same problem and am still dealing with it for over a year. It definitely was due to the tightness of my pecs and limited ROM. I had to tear my pec minor or something, because it has been off and on for over a year. I will be good for a few months and then all of a sudden it happens all over again. Definitely take some time off and don't push it to hard to soon or it will be a nagging injury and impact your lifts a lot more in the long run if you do not take the necessary time off to heal now.
 
Beltzie5

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Take herderdude's advice on this one only way to fix that problem is with time off. I did the same thing back in Sept and skipped a week then went back to lifting because it felt better. Wrong thing to do ! ended up laying off of chest for extended period and now coming back to the point of where I was before the strain. Now i make sure I'm good and warm and always make sure I'm doing slow full reps
 

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Take herderdude's advice on this one only way to fix that problem is with time off. I did the same thing back in Sept and skipped a week then went back to lifting because it felt better. Wrong thing to do ! ended up laying off of chest for extended period and now coming back to the point of where I was before the strain. Now i make sure I'm good and warm and always make sure I'm doing slow full reps
Yeah man you are right. I did the same thing as you did. I thought I was good after a week and one wrong move and I was right back to where I started except worse.
 
herderdude

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Take my advice better than I did, I strained it again today. Another thing that helps is benching a thumb away from the smooth. Not as much chest stimulation, but you can bench safely. I'll be taking three weeks off and then benching thumb from smooth from there on.
 
Beltzie5

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Take my advice better than I did, I strained it again today. Another thing that helps is benching a thumb away from the smooth. Not as much chest stimulation, but you can bench safely. I'll be taking three weeks off and then benching thumb from smooth from there on.
Never thought to throw in about thumb placement learned that the hard way to. That sucks that you injured yourself. Take it easy and you'll be back before you know it. Also I learned NO CLOSE GRIP BENCH !! Will mess things up in a hurry. Reverse grip not bad
 
herderdude

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Never thought to throw in about thumb placement learned that the hard way to. That sucks that you injured yourself. Take it easy and you'll be back before you know it. Also I learned NO CLOSE GRIP BENCH !! Will mess things up in a hurry. Reverse grip not bad
Yeah thumb away from smooth is my close grip lol. I'm a fatty. Any closer and your pecs have to lock it out. I usually bench pinkie or ring on the ring, but thumb from smooth is minimal pecs, but you better have some beefy tris.
 
Beltzie5

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Yeah thumb away from smooth is my close grip lol. I'm a fatty. Any closer and your pecs have to lock it out. I usually bench pinkie or ring on the ring, but thumb from smooth is minimal pecs, but you better have some beefy tris.
True That on the Beefy Tri's
 
Chrisehyoung

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I'm just getting over a pec minor strain from 3 weeks ago. I've been getting deep tissue massage, chiro, and plenty of rest. Because I work a desk job my posture is often hunched forward. This has led to shortening of my pecs making them susceptible to strains. I focus on better posture throughout my day now and stretch them often. It has helped but i'm still recovering so I can't say exactly how long it takes.

I worked chest for the first time in 3 weeks last night. I went with much lower weights and higher reps making sure to stop, rest, and reset whenever I felt pain. The upside to this is that it will force you to place more focus on your form and safe lifting. I hit a nasty chest pump last night and it felt great to work those muscles again. I feel good this morning so I know I didn't do any more damage.
 
braskibra

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Started feeling pain near my pec and armpit a week ago and it only got worse after my chest day yesterday... Anyone have advice on ways to relieve the pain as quick as possible ive been taking baths with epsom salt ( muscle relaxer) so hopefully that helps but monday is my next chest day should i skip the day entirely or just strain for certain excercizes, if so what should i shy away from?
skip all pressing and heavy movements, light movements creating blood flow will be beneficial
 
braskibra

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I'm just getting over a pec minor strain from 3 weeks ago. I've been getting deep tissue massage, chiro, and plenty of rest. Because I work a desk job my posture is often hunched forward. This has led to shortening of my pecs making them susceptible to strains. I focus on better posture throughout my day now and stretch them often. It has helped but i'm still recovering so I can't say exactly how long it takes.

I worked chest for the first time in 3 weeks last night. I went with much lower weights and higher reps making sure to stop, rest, and reset whenever I felt pain. The upside to this is that it will force you to place more focus on your form and safe lifting. I hit a nasty chest pump last night and it felt great to work those muscles again. I feel good this morning so I know I didn't do any more damage.
depends if you learn to relax your chest more on the eccentric portion of the BP results in less strains, more strains actually occur when people fight the eccentric on the Bp
 

TheKing7

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depends if you learn to relax your chest more on the eccentric portion of the BP results in less strains, more strains actually occur when people fight the eccentric on the Bp
Yeah that is actually true because an eccentric contraction is stronger than a concentric contraction.
 
CorpKiller

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Nothing fun about a pec injury. I tore my left last year. Went straight to the doctor and he confirmed. Ice and rest for a while. Then light stretches working towards use of stretch bands at about 30 days and light isometric. Six weeks out got to use 5 lb DBs for range of motion slowly increasing the weights. At about 5-6 months I was back at it but carefully and with light weight. Been about little I've a year and finally going heavier. Take it slow on your recovery. On the other, I am 45 years old and your recovery time is probably quicker than mine.
 

Jimmy7Slevine

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Nothing fun about a pec injury. I tore my left last year. Went straight to the doctor and he confirmed. Ice and rest for a while. Then light stretches working towards use of stretch bands at about 30 days and light isometric. Six weeks out got to use 5 lb DBs for range of motion slowly increasing the weights. At about 5-6 months I was back at it but carefully and with light weight. Been about little I've a year and finally going heavier. Take it slow on your recovery. On the other, I am 45 years old and your recovery time is probably quicker than mine.
So you didn't have surgery to repair it?
 
CorpKiller

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No. 60 days off from chest. Did legs and cardio 3x week. Back 3x week, but no pull downs. Light biceps work. Light stretches at 5 weeks out. Light isometrics at 6 weeks. 8 weeks, light DBs nothing we 15s for a solid month using incline. Injured it doing flat bench. Finally got back into flat bench after at least 14 months. Still don't go heavy.
 
choccyswag

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What does 'thumb away from the smooth' mean?
 
herderdude

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What does 'thumb away from the smooth' mean?
Smooth part of the bar. Where there's no knurling. You measure your hand spacing by putting the tip of your thumb where the knurling starts and then stretch it out along the bar. That's where you grip.
 
choccyswag

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herderdude; wow thats way closer than how Rippetoe coaches in the starting strength videos! (hands placed so the forearm is pointing straight up when the bar touches your chest) But it still works.
 
Gutterpump

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I haven't read through the thread, but if you're feeling pain IN the armpit area, it is likely your supraspinatus.
 
herderdude

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herderdude; wow thats way closer than how Rippetoe coaches in the starting strength videos! (hands placed so the forearm is pointing straight up when the bar touches your chest) But it still works.
Shouldn't be that much closer if you externally rotate and tuck hard. For me, what Rip coaches and thumb away from the smooth would be the same thing. I'd have to see video of your bench before I made any comment on it.
 
choccyswag

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Shouldn't be that much closer if you externally rotate and tuck hard. For me, what Rip coaches and thumb away from the smooth would be the same thing. I'd have to see video of your bench before I made any comment on it.
Yea, tucking my shoulders back more and arching is what me and my new trainer have starting to work on. I have been taught some pretty bad habits previously lol (legs in the air, back flat etc etc)
 

bhawks23

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I'd say skip it entirely, but if anything do some light resistance work to stretch it out.
 

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