Help my pectoral muscle ruptured

You have to see it for your self and come up with your own opinion on how bad it is from how it looks pec pics What I need is help I trust the doc sort of. I have to go in for a MRI on Nov 18. But so far the doc says that I will not need surgery if it is a partial tear and He said "Its got to be hanging on to something". So he told me that partial tears do not get surgery and that it will fill in if it is not fully torn. But I do not think so I can not see that filling in. But dose anyone here honestly think that my right pec will be half of what my left is without surgery. The doctor was an orthopedic but he even told me that you do not come by injuries like these every day. Dose any one know anything about this kind of injury. Or what should be done? I never have had used any drugs. and boy I was warm(and my dad asked me this question about 1000 times after it happend.) I was benching when it happened. it was about 75% of my max and out of no where on my 6 rep it went.I have read about how it happens. And that not doing it is the way to live. But I could not remember what they did if something like this did happen. I was not taking pain killers or stimulants at the time. And as far as pain. Before it happened I was solid. After I heard the snap and felt my chest pull apart there was pain but not as much as I thought it should have been. Adrenalin was a factor that did stop some of the pain at first when it happened but even after I had calmed down and the pump was gone I was not in that much pain. I have had ankle sprains that were much more painful. The only think I can say I was doing that had changed was that I was taking more vitamins then before not over board or anything just more complete I have been doing that for about 2 months before it happened. I did remember reading something about vitamins and how they can cause some problems but I really do not know what ones that caused the problems and what they did that had negative results maybe some one else has some info.
 
Yes, these are uncommon injuries and unfortunately also very long to heal. If the orthopedic believe that it was not a complete rupture, then there still will be some "filling in" happening, but your main goal will be to have closely supervised rehablitation to prevent much of that filling in to be scar tissue, which would siginificantly impede any further strength gains. The muscle will need to go through the normal inflammation phase and then progressively, you will begin to work to regain function, beginning with gentle range of motion exercises and then later, isometric contraction and eventually, regular strengthening. Due to the severity of the strain, I would NOT suggest that you attempt to do this on your own, but rather go to a sports medecine clinic to see an athletic therapist or physiotherapist. Obviously, the MRI will tell you more about the severity of the sprain, and you will then have an idea of the time frame of healing that you will be looking at. Bruising is a good indication of severity...pain is also a factor. A complete rupture produces little or no pain because the nerves are completely ruptured. Let me know, I will be very interested in following the course of your injury.

GOOD LUCK!
 
Let me start with "I can't see the pic from work because it is hosted at Geocities, but it sounds painful!" I will check it out when I get home and probably hurl then.

Second, I am glad you went to a specialist. These things really require someone with as much experience as you can get. Sounds like you did everything right, but OUCH! stuff happens. Wish there was some suggestions I could make for you, but I have no experience with this (and don't want any). About all I can do is wish you good luck and follow the doc's and therapist's advice. It will be worth it in the long run.
 
fletcher it could always be worse man check out this poor soul.

im gona wear some pants next time i do reps

you should consider yourself lucky. In fact if your not him...your lucky lol
 
Ok, now I'm scared after looking at Fletcher's pic. How can one prevent this from happening?? I've lifting for 6 years since I was 14 years old, I would hate to have something like that happen and lose a lot of that muscle I worked so hard for, plus that looks as painful as hell. So, what can one do to prevent that?
scott
 
There are a few things you can do to reduce the chance of this type of injury:
1. Stretching - both static and active (active stretching using an exercise that allows full range of motion, ie dumbell bench, flyes, cable cross overs).
2. Perioditize some high rep (12+) workouts in to allow your connective tissue to catch up to your muscles. If you do low rep sets only, you are constantly stressing your connective tissue and never allowing it to catch up to your muscle strength. Muscles have the capacity to grow faster than connective tissue, so you can literally tear your muscles from their connections when they become stronger than the connection.
3. Perform your exercises in a controlled manner with good form.
 
here is another post on another web site.
were you or did you take creatine? there seems to be some indication that some people that take creatine experience such injuries. alot depends on what the mri shows. in any event you are going to be laid up for awhile and it is going to take some time for you to get back into training. the one thing you have going for you is you are young. the older you get the harder it is to fully recover. i agree with the others that you should see a sports medicine doc. try to get one that does that type of repair. when i was injuried, in auto accident, i had three surgeons. one for my back, and two for my rotator and bicep injuries. i was laid up for over four years, four operations, and years of rehab. of course, i was much older then you, which worked against me. don't worry, however, because they have made great improvements since my injuries, so hang in there.
And to answer his question about creatine I was taking creatine at the time. I always wondered about creatine but I have been cyclying on and off it for the past 7 years and have not had and problems. I know alot of people have always been sceptical of creatine but I don't know. hydration was always the major issue what I read was a problem but I can not remember anything on something like this.at the time this happend I was taking 5 grams a day and as far as my work outs I was using a well planed out periodization program.
 
Well I finally got back to results to the mri today and well the Million $ question is it a complete tear. Well the doc didn’t know? So I have to get a second opinion. This is how my opponent went today. He walks in the room and asked me how it was doing and I told him it felt better and I had a little more strength so he took another look and said that it seemed that it was filling in. So I was thinking good it is attached. Then he tells me that it was a compete tear according to the radiologist. So then he tells me that he never has seen anything or repaired anything like this as far as the pec tear and he didn’t really know what to do.( that’s what I summed up he did not say he did now what to do.)He also said that the colleges that he worked with didn’t know much about this either Then he told me the options on having surgery. And he left it up to me. So I say to him. Ok is it a complete tear? How could it be filling in if it is not. So I told him. What I need to know if it is a complete or an parcel tear. So he pulled out the report that the radiologist wrote up on the mri and after rereading it he didn’t know if they were implying that it was an complete tear. What I read is that there is 2cm torn right next to the humorous bone. The question was, how much is attached if any and unfortunately he could not tell me. So now I have to talk to another doctor. I know one thing and he told me this as well that the time is ticking and if need to go under the knife I have to go quick if it needs to be attached and if scar tissue has developed it could case major problems. The injury happened about October 24 or so. I just hope it is not too late. And not only that if I do need surgery that I can find a doctor some where that knows what they are doing. I have to say if I didn’t post this message on the message boards I would be completely in the dark. My frustration with this situation has gotten me down. From day one I went to the doctors for solutions and they have been leaving me hanging for over a month and now like I have said the window for surgery, if needed is starting to close. I feel that the doctor is not taking it serious enough do to the possibility that it could be a complete tear. ( what I mean is the slow scheduling of my appointments) I have a question for anyone who has had a complete tear and has gone under the knife. How long after the injury did you get the surgery done? And what kind of knowledge and experience with this kind of injury did the doctors have? My next doc appointment is this Friday.
 
Most often, the torn muscle should be repaired as soon as possible. But I searched the Internet to see if I could find anything to state the opposite and found this:

"In the past, tears that have reached the chronic stage have been considered irreparable injuries. However, recent reports have documented excellent functional results following surgical repair for such tears.[2,3] In one of these reports I read the surgical repair was successfully undertaken 13 years after the initial injury. "......reference:


Basically, if you have a partial tear, there is at least still part of the tendon that is attached, keeping the muscle fom retracting too far and therefore making it easier to repair it.

I would definitely get a second opinion. Who is your doctor? Is he a general practitioner? Have you been to a sports medecine clininc? Many of them have orthopedic surgeons working right out of the clinic. They can probably give you a better answer as far as the severity of your injury and your different options go.

Good luck, keep us posted ;)
 
I went to the doctors Friday and another doctor confirmed that is was a partial tear. He told me from the way it is healing that it could not have been a complete tear. But its not in to good of shape. But he told me that it would be best to start rehabbing it and see how it further heals. He said because the way the muscle is torn it can be repaired at a later time if rehabbing it is not working well. But just like most people have told me on the boards surgery is a last option do to the fact that it can do more harm than good. So now I have to find a therapist. I want to know if anyone here knows how to rehab this properly. So that I do not chance further injury it.
 
Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to just tell you how to rehab it...you really need someone next to you, you need to see a therapist one or two times a week..if not more. Likely, the therapist will begin with gentle range-of-motion exercises progressing to isometric contractions to begin realigning the fibers of your repairing muscle. There will eventually be some manual therapy such as massage, etc. Eventually, you will progress to isotonic contractions, but that will not be until the muscle has healed enough to withstand this type of tension. Before beginning rehab, the therapist will perform a full assessment in order to see where you stand right now as far as healing, range of motion, strength, etc go. This is why it wouldn't be safe for me to tell you what to do on the Internet. It would be an entirely different story if you were seeing me in a clinical setting. Keep me posted ;)
 
It Happend to me!

Hey Fletcher,

Just wanted to let you know you're not alone. EXACTLY the same thing happend to me but under slightly different circumstances. But the result was exactly the same.

The story is embarassing but most of you will get a good laugh. I had a few to many to drink and ended up being kicked out of a local bar, only to decide that I would take on the 8 bouncers that threw me out. While being kicked and pinned down by 4-5 big guys I strained to get up, and I think thats when I felt the warm sensation in my upper arm (tearing of muscle). The next day my upper bicep was black and blue much like yours. Then came the excrutiating pain and inability to lift basically anything more than a glass of water.

I went to the hospital, they felt I did not have a complete tear. I went to my local doctor. He recommended physio. So I went to Physio for 4 months. That helped a bit, Ultra-sound to remove/prevent scar tissue build up, and they stressed low weight, tension/resistance high rep training. After this I started going back to the gym. At first it was pathetic. I could do barely 10% of what I used to be able to do. But slowly I began increasing weight and felt my strength gain.


A year has passed since, and at late I have been reluctant in going back to the gym. I feel frusterated that my muscle looks deformed on the one side. I dont know how long it takes to build back up but it seems to be a 'long term' item.

Does anyone know any specific exercises/routines that might aid in speading up the process of rebuilding outter pectoral muscle??
 
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