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Submitted by: Bart - SII

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Are you having a lot of pain with this injury? Do you have noticible weakness with your shoulder? Does the muscle look funny when you view it in the mirror? Whether you tore the sternal or clavicular portion of the muscle doesn't make as much difference as how severe the tear was. If you are having a lot of pain, weakness, and if the muscle has a visible defect (droopy or looks funny in the mirror) then the surgery might help to fix those things... The pectoralis major is a very large muscle and it will usually heal well on its own as long as you didn't completely detach it from the humerus. If you did detach it, then you could have quite a bit of weakness and problems down the road...if it wasn't detached and was just a muscle tear, you may be able to get by without the surgery and just giving it time to heal on its own. I would recommend talking to your doctor about your concerns and get their prognosis for your situation if you cancel the surgery... Hope this helps - comment back if you have other questions.

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Submitted by: graeme

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yes there was alot of bruising for the first 2 weeks from the top of the bicep down to albow almost black as black from what i can see in diagrams its like 2 flaps of tendon if only the sternal partis completley torn of the arm is the recovery quicker than both parts torn when i did the injury there was a sharp pain and a snapping sound yuk there is alot of weakness try to do a fly there is almost no strength is the recovery 6 weeks in a sling my orto says 6but alot of articles on the net say 3-6 weeks wat should i expect in the rehab time??? ps this site is great

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Submitted by: Bart - SII

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I have a little better picture of your injury now - and I think that the surgery is probably a good idea for the best recovery. If you have a lot of strength loss and had that much pain, swelling, and bruising, a repair is probably necessary. As for the sling, 3-6 weeks is probably a good estimate. Most of the time when dealing with muscle or tendon repair, 6 weeks is the standard...the important part is that you don't use the muscle actively while it is healing during the first few weeks...this keeps the stress off of the repair. After the sling, you will need rehabilitation for several weeks to work on getting your motion and strength back. I would estimate a full return to activities somewhere 3-5 months after surgery, but this will vary significantly from person to person. Thanks for the kind words about the site!

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Submitted by: graeme

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hi i had the surgery 3 months ago sling for six weeks and tomorrow is my six week appointment with the surgeon after getting out of the sling yes it was painfull and very fragile for the first 4 weeks in the sling all ways feeling like it was going to rip out yuk a awfull feeling any way i am having rehab physio motion is almost 80 % external rotation still pretty bad everything else is pretty good i have also started some very light weights no chest work but maybe tomorrow i will be cleared to start i am planning to to be back to decent weights in another 5 months or so anyway just touching base on how i went thanks graeme

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Submitted by: Bart - SII

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It sounds like you are doing well - it is a long process, but you have the right attitude - slow and steady wins the race. Good luck with your continued recovery. Bart

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Submitted by: Anonymous

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I tore my right Pectoralis Major while benching 405 a little over three months ago, I am 32 years old and have been benching for over 20 years now. My arm went numb almost immediatley after the tear and I could not raise the arm above my head. The next day the arm, and chest area were black and blue. I went to a orthopedic surgeon and had a MRI done, which confirmed the tear. I had surgery one week later. The Dr. informed me that I had tore my tendons which attached the muscle to the pec, one tendon he was able to re attach, but the other was completely shreded so he used a cadavar tendon and grafted it to the other repaired one. I was in a sling for the next two months, which caused my right arm to be next to useless when I was able to remove the sling. I started physical therapy two months out and am now able to have almost full use of the arm after only three weeks, but still no weight training as of yet. I was told no lifting till three months out. I would recomend the surgery to anyone who tears the pec, letting it heal on its own will limit your mobility and will more than likely result in an even worse tear in the future.

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Submitted by: Nick

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I am 29 yeas old and originally tore my pectoralis major in October of 2007 bench pressing. I just graduated USArmy Air Assault School three weeks before the injury. I must have weakened the muscle during the required training for graduation. My Doctor at the time explained to me that I could do physical therapy and that I could build myself back up but would never be 100% again. He was somewhat correct in the fact that I was able to do 75 push ups in two minutes and was able to do 15 pull ups, but, even though I seemed to be close to 100% I re-tore my Pectoralis major exactly one year later. I will be going through a complete Pectoralis major repair the day before thanksgiving. Lord willing I will be back to 100% or as close to it as I can even though the original injury occurred over a year ago. I pray for a speedy recovery for all of you including myself and I appreciate all of the information and experiences shared on this site.

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