Injury: May 2011, was working out with 60 pound dumbbells, went too far down for chest press, felt a little pop/tear in the pec. Next day constant “thumps” in the muscle almost like it had its own pulse, took the next month off.
Everytime i would workout out chest it would get really tight, numbess/tightness in the trap. Haven’t lifted chest in a year. Sucks, couldnt do pushups for a while at all, now i’ve gotten up to 450, so i started lifting dumbbells again for chest. But another injury has sub-sided me for about a week.
Im just nervous getting back to training the symptoms will appear. Does this sound like a pinched nerve?
[quote]KKRake wrote:
Im just nervous getting back to training the symptoms will appear. Does this sound like a pinched nerve?[/quote]
I’m not a doctor, but it doesn’t sound that much like a pinched nerve to me except for maybe the numbness part. My dad got a pinched nerve in his neck that affected his right pec and arm. He never felt a pop or injury or anything. One day he was in the gym repping 315, the next time we went to the gym he couldn’t even do 225. So it doesn’t sound like one, and I hope for your sake it isn’t a pinched nerve, because from what I know, soft tissue injuries are easier/faster/more reliable to heal than nerve stuff.
[quote]KKRake wrote:
Im just nervous getting back to training the symptoms will appear. Does this sound like a pinched nerve?[/quote]
I’m not a doctor, but it doesn’t sound that much like a pinched nerve to me except for maybe the numbness part. My dad got a pinched nerve in his neck that affected his right pec and arm. He never felt a pop or injury or anything. One day he was in the gym repping 315, the next time we went to the gym he couldn’t even do 225. So it doesn’t sound like one, and I hope for your sake it isn’t a pinched nerve, because from what I know, soft tissue injuries are easier/faster/more reliable to heal than nerve stuff.[/quote]
thi is how mine was, one day i could bench 315, next week i coulndt even do 135 evenly, was fucked. But there are two types of nerves i beleive, mechanical and sensory, if he hit a sensory it would be alot of pain, numbness, the mechanical ones like what ur dad and i had it sounds like, affects strength but its not really painful just kinda odd tingles a lil bit and super weak in that arm or whatever.
It could be both. TrP’s can cause pain and weakness and create tension in a muscle that will pinch a nerve. Tears, depending on the severity can be extremely painful, and again also create a protective tension mechanism that will cause it to pinch a nerve. Look up active isolated stretching and utilize those before you train. They will not cause diminished action potential that static stretching can (weakness).
It is also a better stretch for muscles with TrP’s, as it tends not to activate and aggravate latent or active TrP’s. TrP’s and pinched nerves will generally cause pain in the arms too, so if there is absence of lower arm symptoms a tear is more likely (depending on the tear severity and location etc, upper arm pain can occur in tears too).
Also check out some of the smaller secondary muscles.
What did your arm and chest look like after the injury? If it was a full tear, regardless of whether it was muscle or tendon, the arm/chest would have been deeply black and blue. I’m not a medical doctor, but it sounds like it may have been a partial tear of the muscle or tendon. The only way to know for sure would have been to obtain an MRI. You still may want to look into that if you’re concerned, but given that it has been over a year since the injury, there may not be a lot you can do to repair the damage.
^second on getting an MRI if possible, and you are still concerned with it. Also maybe stop db benching…find other movements that dont hurt and dont scare you. half the game is being mentally scared of a lift that has injured you before.