Hi BBM Team! On Friday I was performing my last set of bench press. It was an all out effort and the last couple reps of each set I was noticing my elbows wanting to flare out from my body. On my last set (again last rep or two), I lowering the weight to my chest when I felt a pop (on my left pec/arm). I had the safety spotter arms and just quickly lowered the weight onto them, unloaded my weight, and left the gym. I went home and applied ice throughout the night and next morning and took some ibuprofen. I wouldn’t say that I was in any excruciating pain or anything, but definitely felt weak and as time went on, stiff. It’s now been a couple days and I have visible brusing on my left bicep area. I’m able to mostly function normally, but my arm is a stiff and weak. As long as I don’t have any visible muscle deformity (left pec balling up and not symmetrical with my right pec, or bicep balling up towards my elbow), are there any concerns that I should visit a sports medicine clinic to rule out any damage?
NT,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for the post. We can’t really give you a diagnosis from here and it would be inappropriate to provide an opinion on what you should do. Disclaimer aside, I have some concerns about the weakness, the mechanism of injury, and your so on. I would not suspect a biceps tendon rupture or pec tear with what you described, but a rotator cuff tear or similar is possible. It could be nothing as well.
As far as what to do, I think this is best suited to a consultation with us or our pain and rehab team.
-Jordan
Hey Jordan, I appreciate the follow up! I wasn’t sure if a trip to a doctor was warranted since I wasn’t noticing any visible muscle deformity, but based on your response I just took a trip to the local ortho to verify things were ok, since they could take xrays and closer inspect the injured area. Doctor thinks its either a torn bicep tendon or just torn muscle. The xrays and exam were all good. He thought he could feel the tendon at the shoulder, which is where he suspected this might be the issue. He thought an MRI might not be a bad idea, so I went ahead and scheduled that. Whatever happens I am interested in BBM to help rehab my injury. Thanks for all you do doc!
Happy to help if needed. Heal up quickly.
Hey Jordan, I had an MRI scheduled, but cancelled it because I didn’t have a great experience at the place I went to. I had questions about the diagnosis and about the MRI and they didn’t seem to care about my concerns. I attempted to schedule a second opinion, but they asked if I had been seen anywhere, to which I said yes. Then they said they wouldn’t even schedule me until they received my records and xrays which would take 7-10 business days. I really want to get an answer on my injury sooner than later because if I have a tendon tear vs muscle tear then rehab on those would be completely different. Would you have any concerns just going fresh to another provider and just getting another round of xrays so that I can get in faster? Or would waiting 2 to 3 weeks just to get in to another provider be more appropriate? I don’t really want to get more xrays and expose myself to more radiation, but I also want to get an answer on my injury so I can start rehab/recovery faster.
Additional this is not medical advice disclaimer.
That sounds like a pretty awful experience with the second location and I’m not sure why it would take them that long to get your records. This can usually be done in minutes. I would ask for clarification, because that’s pretty silly. I would not wait 2-3 weeks for this.
I don’t feel confident that a “second opinion” is going to be beneficial because you didn’t really get a first one. The xray isn’t useful and you haven’t gotten an MRI yet, which you may not need in the first place. The dose of radiation for this xray is mostly inconsequential, so that wouldn’t really be a concern either. If you really want an MRI, I would probably go with the first place. If that’s not something you can do, a different place entirely is reasonable, but again, I don’t know that you actually need any of this.
I actually am not sure that your rehab would be different with a tendon or muscle tear depending on the extent of your symptoms. I think getting an MRI may be reasonable.
-Jordan
When I called the second location, they started out by just asking if I had been seen anywhere for this injury already and if I had xrays. Once I said yes, they just said they needed those office visit records plus the xrays. Once they received it, and the doctor looked at the records, then they could schedule the appointment. When I contacted the first location to request a transfer of those records, it’s their medical records department that said it would take 7 to 10 business days to process the records transfer. So that is what’s putting me in the dilemma, because I’d rather get something scheduled sooner than later.
I will say however, that as the days have gone on, my range of motion is getting much better and the tightness on my inner upper bicep area has gotten better. I was pretty concerned because I had some decent size bruising going on in my upper and inner bicep area that extended down to a few inches above my elbow. Looking at pictures of pectoralis major tendon tears concerned me as the brusing looked similar. However, I do feel like I’m starting to heal already and thinking this may be more of a muscle tear. I think my own fear of a possible tendon tear and the bruising and tightness just had me concerned of possibly tearing the tendon more if it were a partial tear, or not knowing what other damage I could be causing. Also, just want to say thanks for all your feedback!