Hey T-men. I got a problem. I partialy tore my pec tendon at the insertion about 8 weeks ago. I went to the doctor and he said rest and gave me an antinflametory to take. Well I’ve been resting 8 weeks and it is still bugging me. If I do and chest work even light 30 pound dumbbell press it hurts and I’m afraid I will tear it again. Has anyone else torn a tendon? How long were you out for and what did you do to get back in? I’ll take any advise. I just started powerlifting and am already gonna miss a comp in Feb. There’s another one in April I hope I can be ready for. Thanks T-men.
Dave the tearing of tendons and muscles has a big impact on weight training. I myself ruptured a wrist tendon playing basketball and tore my triceps muscle in a car accident. Believe me that it takes time to get back on top of things. Each injury set me back an excruciating 3 months in weight training. I was able to fully recover from the ruptured tendon but the torn triceps still give me trouble(bench press strength) All I can say is take it slow and really listen to your body. Who knows you may be able to take advantage of this situation. During my comeback I ate like a horse and consumed lots of supplements. I also shifted my training for upper body to a rep range of about 15-20. The results were pretty good considering I put on forty pounds. But I dont see my strength totally coming back until my next phase is over around March. I just kept on training the only way I could and did lots of stretching. I guess all I can say is have patience and train very instinctively. The human body is very resilient.
It’s funny you should ask. I completely tore my pec major tendon a few months ago. I had surgery to repair it in early November and I’m still in rehab now. It will probably be 3 more months until I’m back to normal. I was in a sling and could not move my arm for 5 weeks. After that I began some mobility exercises and now I’m trying to regain range of motion and structural balance. I’m no Dr. but I would think your powerlifting days are over. My Doc told me that I should expect a full recovery but that I should not handle wieghts heavier than a 5 rep max in the future (FLAT BENCH) if I want to minimize my chance of re-injuring it. This guy was into the iron and really seemed to know his shit so I don’t think he was just being conservative with his recommendation. BTW…did you go to a specialist or a general practitioner? I went to a general practitioner at first and I was misdiagnosed. I was told that I pulled a muscle and then he gave me some meds. After a few weeks the swelling and bruising went down and I still couldn’t flex my pec so I went to a specialist and he told me the whole fuckin’ tendon had ruptured. Hope this helps. LL
LL, I went to a orthopedic so he was probably right in that it was just partially torn, but I have been misdiagnosed before. But I can flex it and use it to some point so thats a plus I guess. But thanks both of you for your responces. I think I will try to do some higher reps and see where that takes me. LL I sure hope your not right about doing no more powerlifting cause that would just suck, but I guess I will have to see what happens.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I partially tore my pec four years ago as a result of inadequate warm-up and it took nearly a year for my strength to approach my pre-injury levels. I advise against attempting to compete in April, you risk turning a horrible but temporary injury into a career ending one. Lots of deep tissue massage will be of great benefit to you, also I found that I could bench with a very close grip without aggravating the injury too much, that helped to prevent the muscle from atrophying off my triceps, inner pecs, and anterior delts. You should probably consider permanently adopting a slightly narrower bench grip than what you are used to using. It will please you to know that my strength now exceeds what I had before the tear so I don’t think you necessarily need to abandon hope of competing in the future. Hope this helps.
Dave D, I also partially tore my tendon a few years ago before I finally did it right. I was benching, didn’t warm up properly and felt a sharp pain in my chest where the tendon is. For weeks afterward, any pressing movement caused a sharp pain in the injured area. Eventually it healed and I went back to benching. However, since that initial injury I have re-injured the tendon probably 3 or 4 times whenever I focused on getting strong in the bench press. For me heavy was around 350lbs for a 2-4-rep max. Anytime I got around this magical number I would feel a sharp pain in the tendon and have to stop. Each time I would recover after about 2 or 3 months and then try to readjust my training by warming up better, stretching more and so on. Each time I thought I had the problem licked but whenever I got the bench press fever I got hurt. Interestingly enough, inclines never caused me any problem, nor did dips or close grip bench presses. From my experience, it seems that I could have continued training hard and heavy in all lifts but the flat bench and probably would have never had a problem. I still could have made great gains and built a good physique and even continued to bench. Take a lesson from me, think about what your training goals are. If powerlifting is in your blood then spend some cash and see and talk to experts in the field and get their recommendation. Talk to Dave Tate (he recovered from a pec tear), Poliquin or King and get there take on how to approach training again. Form my own experience, I think given some time you could resume training without any problem provided you stay away low reps (5 or less). This is why I would say forget powerlifting but I do understand the mentality so I won’t be judgmental. Whatever you do take some advice from someone who has been there…be careful. LL
LL, I guess I’m right in your footsteps. I did some incline with 135 and didn’t feel a thing but the 30 pound DB’s flat hurt a lot. So maybe I can do some incline and stay away from the flat. I think when I get home from college for a weekend I will go see a specialist at home. And maybe I can get in touch with Ian or some other, if I’m lucky:) Thanks guys!
I was out 4 months!!(Yes, I was going CRAZYYY) What I did was take the time off & really LEARNED HOW TO BENCH CORRECTLY. I don’t want to sound “better than thou”, but,get a hold of the WESTSIDE BARBELL CLUB’S-Benching tape— stronger NOW than EVER. Be patient & good luck!!