Chest Muscle Pain

[civil]

Hi Guys, hoping I can get some advice on this:

last Saturday (16th) a friend of mine got into some trouble and needed to get out quick, long story short his wheel fell off (studs snapped) in a VERY bad neighborhood and he needed help. I jacked up his car and with him in steering pushed it to a location where I could fix it safely. While pushing he inadvertently put on the breaks while I was pushing from the driver window, I leaned in a bit and felt something sharp (like a pen jabbing my rib) and heard a loud pop. I also had to push a van about a mile up a slight hill and while doing this the chest pain was quite solid but not enough to make me stop pushing.

So in short while pushing the car I felt a stabbing pain and heard a loud pop in my left pectoral muscle (feels like it's between two ribs). That night it was throbbing and became very sore, I iced it for a few days and the pain is mild now except when sneezing, coughing or laying on my left side. Putting pressure below the nibble on an area about the size of a business card feels like pressing on a fresh bruise. I figure it's a tear or sprain of the muscle but have no idea.

What do you guys think just ice for a few more days and let it rest? When can I start working out my upper body again (I have been doing the Blitz program)?




P.S It was quite an exciting night, also that coming Monday was the day my best friend headed to boot camp so it all happened during his going away party, he was with me most of the time we had a blast :D

Cheers,
Civil-

[Red Flag 1]

RF 1

[PedOncoDoc]

What RF said.

Need to see a physician to get a diagnosis - could be a number of things. Could be strain, sprain, muscle or ligament tear, dislocated rib, etc.. The laying of hands and, if needed, the taking of pictures does wonders for making a diagnosis in this case. I'd recommend asking to see a sports medicine doc if you have options - they're more likely to get to the bottom of this injury based on mechanism and examination.

[NoRoadtrippin]

Sounds a lot like me at Ranger...I dislocated a couple ribs in Darby phase and the PA was able to pop them back in. However it didn't keep me from getting sent back home with the advice to take a few months off from working out because they would just come right back out. In the end, it took over a year for the pain to really go away. It was worst when I would wake up in the morning after all my pain receptors had calmed down and turned back on over night. Over the day I guess they would get sick of sending the signal and it would stop hurting.

With mine, you could see physical deformity. If I stood in front of a mirror, you could see the distal heads of the ribs on one side definitely did not match their opposites on the other side of my body. They still don't quite match up even now. Obviously I am not a doctor and the posters above have good advice while I just have .02.

[civil]

Thanks for the responses guys, I was hoping it was just bruising or something simple, doesn't hurt bad enough for me to want to see a doc mainly thinking you guys could direct me as to how long to rest it before exercising again.



No skin discoloration or misplaced ribs (everything looks symmetrical)

Didn't see a doc right away as it didn't immobilize me, pain is getting better mainly looking for advise on how long to rest it before exercising again. Pain is lighter and lighter every day, no trouble breathing and only bothersome in morning and while lying on that side. Spent all day yesterday tearing apart my bathroom and painting it without much trouble so I didn't think the injury was that serious.


Yes that night was very interesting, started with a phone call from a buddy while I was having a last bit of time with my friend before he heads to boot ,he was visiting a church in a neighborhood heavy with gang activity when the studs on his left (driver side) wheel apparently snapped off while taking a right turn at about 25mph, the wheel traveled approximately 20ft into a snow bank. The car took a chunk out of the road and left a nice groove for ~ 10 yards before he stopped. He couldn't afford a tow truck and there wasn't much damage except for 5 broken studs (even the rotor was intact). I jacked up the car and moved it out of the road to a safer area, hammered out the remaining stud pieces ran down the road to the parts store for a breaker bar and axle nut socket (no place to slide the new studs in behind the hub) loosened the nut used a pry bar to carefully get enough room to slide in new studs, tightened studs to secure and reset hub. After we got back to the party my buddy suggested tacos (the one heading to boot) so we shoot on down to the local TacoBell and run out of gas (his van...yah boot camp will be good for him). I push he steers about a mile to the local station, partially up hill, not the best part of town either so I'm not surprised no one stopped to help push (it's good exercise anyway :lifter ). Overall it was a great night and we had a lot of fun before he left, gave him something memorable to look back on while at boot.

[357SIGFAN]

Sounds very much to me like a partially torn pec. Stay hydrated, stretch, and try not to bench anything for a while. Work back into things slowly and refrain from "shock" loading the muscle with jerky/quick pushing movements.

Common sense will see you through.