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:

http://www.ast-ss.com/dev/qa_search/...xt.asp?ID=1088

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

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??

Hey, the same thing happened to me. My pec looked exactly like yours in the picture. It happened about 10 months ago while benchpressing.

I saw an orthopedic surgeon and he reccomended surgery to me as he said that I would see a better recovery with surgery. The surgeon said it was very rare, but that he does about 5 of them a year.

So I ended up getting surgery. The first week afterwards sucked, but after that it wasnt too bad. I was in a sling for about 2 and a half weeks. After the surgery, the torn pec had filled in a little more as he reconnected it, but since there was lots of muscle tearing, it still looks a little deformed.

I started physics therapy, but I have the feeling I went to a really crappy place because they didnt have me do much that I didnt consider obvious or couldnt do by myself at home.

After about 4 or 5 months after the surgery I started working out normally again. My bench pretty much hit rock bottom as recovery is slow.

At this point ive taken a bit of a break from lifting as Ive gotten frustrated with my injury. At one point I was benching reps at 165 pretty easily, but then I pushed myself to hard and hurt myself a little.

Thats kind of where I am now, it still hurts to bench significant amounts of weight and Im kinda lost as to what to do next, but I hope that if I just take things slow that things will recover.

home page ptpage new I have a new pic of what my pec looks like now at the site there is a before it happened after and now. so take a look

Hey ah my brother is a body builder he had some what the same thing in that pic but on his biceps and the doctor told him to go easy on the arm and wait a few months and it will recover but that looks really worst then what my brother had so maybe it will need surgery or a year or more to recover

Sorry to hear about your injury, I think I can help? I completely tore my pectoral muscle four years ago in March, and had surgery less than two weeks later. I did it bench pressing as well, and on my sixth rep just like you. I knew it was torn right away, my whole arm was black and my left pec was also very discolored. I had an MRI on a Thursday, and was under the knife by the following Monday. I had three blood clots in my arm the doctor had to clean out, and the surgery took about an hour and a half. My Orthapedic Doctor said he had only seen about a half dozen pec tears in his practice, so he had a specialist come in and assist during the surgery. My arm was in a sling for about three or four weeks, and I also had to wear a wrap around my chest to keep the arm from moving in any direction, so I had to be very cautious. I then had physical therapy three times a week for a month to get the range of motion back in my shoulder and chest, and I can tell you it was painful to go through! I really pushed myself in therapy, then had to do a series of exercises at home. I was 33 years old when it happened, and I took things very slowly when I went back to the gym. I would say I was out from March until the end of May, then I went back to the gym. I was benching 350 when it happened, and when I went back to the gym, I could not even curl 10 pounds with my left arm! I took things slow, read a lot of articles, and followed my Doctors advice by slowly increasing the weights I used gradually. It took a long time to feel comfortable doing chest exercises again from a mental standpoint, and after all this time, the most I have benched is 255. I rarely do flat bench anymore, I use Hammer strength machines to avoid further injury. My left shoulder bothers me from time to time, but I do rotator cuff exercises every week to keep it strong and healthy. I would advise you to find a very good Orthapredic Surgeon, follow his advice and take things very slowly. Remember, it is not important what you bench, use correct form and use weights you can handle with good form, and you will be fine. I know it will be frustrating at times, but if you do these things I have suggested, you will be back to your old form and lifting again very soon. Good luck, I hope I was of some help? Joe R.

Gosh this seems very scary what has happen to some of you guys

is there ways to prevent this rupturing from happening?

HELP PLEASE.Im deppresed.Hey what's up!I was watching ur pictures and...my right pectorale looks just as same as yours.I had even a bigger inflamation.I couldn't even raise my arm from lay down position(like u do dumbell flyes).Than after 3 weeks after red-blue-yellow singh was off i made a echo to see the situation.Rapture near pectorale tendin and a big hematoma inside my pecs like 1inchx1inch.I had a trauma cuz i raptured in a motorcycle accident.Im 21 years old and last year i got second in my state strongestman.Then i start train as a bodybuilder.I weighted 300lbs with 22.4inch arms.Then after 6 weeks i start training cuz i couldn't wait any more.Before this happend i did in bench press 286lbs x 22 reps and 1 rep max 420lbs and now i was feeling pain with just 100lbs.I couldn't do free weight benches or flyes.I started incline smith machine with 100lbs and in 3-4 weeks iv done it 200 x7 reps.Before accident 286x10.But now i was very slow range of motion.Than seated machine press.Then some pullovers and i started with 11lbs dumbell fly movement but my right pec was gettin tired fast.I did up to 27.5lbs.I trained for 7 weeks.Now i have 2 months im not training.When im standing and move my arm in position like im doing lat raise than i flex my pecs and my short head of bis moves back and foward.I have this big scar and hole in my right pecs.It looks like theres nothin there.So i need u help cuz where i live there is not a specialist.I have gone to a surgeon and he told me not to do a clinical surgery but he is not a specialist 4 this so i need u help.My pec looks just like yours.Anything would help me.U can e-mail me to niku_big_boy@yahoo.com or niku_muskulozi@hotmail.com or at my profile.

And what is a MRI??Plz