Hello, I had a grade 1 pectoralis major tear on January 18th, I had surgery on Febuary 4th. I am currently imobilized in a sling. Although doing some gentle self prescribe PROM, as no pt has been ordered until after Febuary 19th. For lower body I have been doing a lot of stationary cycling, smith machine squats, leg press, and core work. I was hoping you could provide some advice on other exercises to suplement my recovery. There is very little info on the internet other than PT protocols but nothing in regards to supplemental activities or restrictions after the 6 month recovery. What has been your experience with other athletes with this injury?
Michael,
Sorry About that I must have got confused, I had a grade 3 Tendon rupture at the insertion site on the humerus. The MRI was read as 8 cm of separation. The repair was completed in the typical manner with sutures and clips that were inserted into the cortical bone tissue. The mechanism of injury was bench press. Let me know if you you need any other info. Thanks
Well I went back to the doctor today for a follow up visit. Its been 6 weeks. He wants me to wean myself from the sling, and continue rom exercises. He doesnt want me to start with physical therapy until 12 weeks. Specifically he doesnt want me to lift any weight until then. This was all said to me before being examined, so to say the least a little frustrating. Just curious if you have worked with anyone who has had a similar injury, and how you went about maintaining strength and fitness. Any exercises you recommend for the pec recovery as well.
There may be variables the surgeon is considering and why they are making the timeline recommendation. Without the ability to converse with the person and having details on your case - we recommend sticking to the recommendations from your surgeon. If you’d like help with rehab once you’ve been cleared to start rehab - we’d be happy to consult with you.
The variable seems to be that my surgeon has only done a handful of these surgeries and he wants to be conservative because he doesnt want it to re tear, and neither do I. Its not that im not cleared for rehab its just that im not cleared to use the affected arm. My purpose for inititing this post was to gain some insight on how you or one of your colleagues would train an athleat after this injury. Obvioulsy, no trainer should recommend to do anything against the advice of their surgeon. But other exercises can be done to maintain strength in other muscle groups, until you can use your affected arm again. So for anyone that has suffered this injury I will discuss my experience since surgery.
week 1
dont plan on doing anything physically demanding for the first couple of days. If your up to it go for some walks.
week 2-4
begin some minimal range of motion exercises, dangle the arm as you are bent over. Let it swing with no effort used by arm or chest muscles. Use your torso and hips to generate movement. Preserve fitness with stationary bike. I have been sitting on rogue echo or assault bike, but obviously not using upper body. My goals have been to reach 100 calories in under 10 minutes and 200 calories in under 20 minutes. Im not a huge fan of cardio but when your given lemons you have to make lemonade. Squating with a barbell is pretty much impossible but the smith machine is do able. Leg press is good to. Light core work possible but be careful not to tighten up your upperbody.
week 4-6
continue previous exercises, begin using a wand to perform assisted active rom. Keep it in the pain free zone. Avoid external rotation, and horIzontal abduction. I also started using 55lb weight vest, doing lunges, step ups, and some weighted situps, but make sure you are sitting on a step because the weights on your back will limit how far you can laydown on flat ground.
week 6+
so this is where I am now. I have continued the above advanced the stretching a bit, but still no where near pain free full rom. I have added bies tries and upright row with light weight on cable machine.
plan is to not begin any chest work until 12 weeks.
Anything additional you would suggest or do different?
These restrictions are pretty standard, your description is similar to the protocols that our surgeon’s follow as well. Pretty much everyone has no chest work until the 12 week mark, after the 8 week mark they allow some row/retraction work below shoulder height, but nothing above shoulder level or chest press until 12 weeks. Sounds like you are doing pretty much everything that our surgeons would clear you for as well. Besides some variation of cable Rows, prone rows with light weights and some band exercises, that’s really the only other things we do, good luck moving forward