Pec Strains

[Devil3]

Well folks, it's happened.

I've had a handful of minor injuries in the gym, all of which were successfully healed within a week or two max. A few days ago after I did some heavy dumbbell presses ( 100+ ) I noticed some tightness and pain in my left pec, deep in the pec around where it ties into the delt, or where we get those "dimples" when we flex. In between sets I would massage it and I noticed it's not just isolated to one spot say the size of a toonie, rather, I'm able to follow the muscle from where it connects to the rib and to the middle of my chest. It feels inflamed, and a bit harder. I'm familiar with myofascial release therapy, I've done it for releasing my back muscles and it worked incredibly well. I'm thinking of trying that route. I haven't done any chest pressing/stretching movements since as I know any further strain will only hurt me. These things can take weeks or months to heal, but from my personal research online my strain appears to be a level 1- minor pain to the touch, no visible redness or bruising, and I have full range of motion, but not comfortably. When I do the static pec test where I press my fist against the opposite palm, I can defientley feel my left pec is off and is not tensed like it should be. I've used ice packs before bed and I'm taking aspirin before bed. Any useful tips from the guys more prone to these injuries or are familiar with the proper steps to recovery? I'm going to go hard on the delts/tris so I don't loose too much strength/size.

Devil

 

[MindlessWork]

Ouch, any kind of pec strain or any upper body muscle strain is gonna be painful as fuck, which may limit your upper body work till it heals up. I myself strained my lower left bicep Friday, and the pain's been tremendous but with ibuprofen and a lidocaine patch it's less painful than it has been and regained a bit of ROM today.

For recovery, it's best to use heat and ice alternating and to not put any load on the affected area so in your case that would preclude nearly every upper body work. It will take several weeks for it to clear up. Ibuprofen helps with pain reduction too.

Obviously if it isn't getting any better, then it may be time to visit the doc.

 

[Devil3]

What I was thinking was say for shoulder presses, do partials. Keep constant strain on the delts. I'm talkin Ronnies "x-rep" logic. Don't full extend my arms or lock elbows on the way up, which would put less stretch on my pec.

Does that logic make sense? I'm a smart lifter. If I can still lift while recovering I will. I've done bi, tri, back, delts so far since I noticed the injury; legs today. Tomorrow would be the scheduled chest day but I'm not going to.

 

[MindlessWork]

What I was thinking was say for shoulder presses, do partials. Keep constant strain on the delts. I'm talkin Ronnies "x-rep" logic. Don't full extend my arms or lock elbows on the way up, which would put less stretch on my pec.

Does that logic make sense? I'm a smart lifter. If I can still lift while recovering I will. I've done bi, tri, back, delts so far since I noticed the injury; legs today. Tomorrow would be the scheduled chest day but I'm not going to.

Nice idea, and this might work for a biceps strain too. I will try these tricks tomorrow as I am looking for ways to work around an injury.