Medical question: ultra-sore chest muscles...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

First the stats:
I’m 25, male, I have a pretty healthy body and I work out at 24hour fitness an average of 2-3 times a week, for the past 18 months. I went last evening. The last time before that was about five days ago.

Now the story:
This morning at 4:30 am, I woke up with very sore chest muscles, which were (and still are) swollen, mostly on the right pec. It was too unbearable to keep sleeping. I considered soaking in a warm bath, but instead chose to go to the gym and sit in the hot tub and wade in the pool for about 30 minutes.

It feels like sore muscles from working out after a long break, except about 5 times worse. It’s now 1:15 pm, and I’m still pretty sore (enough to keep me from being able to throw a full-on punch, at least). I didn’t stretch after working out, unless you count the 20 minute walk home, but I never stretch much anyway, and this has never happened.

The best I can guess is, during sleep last night, my chest muscles tightened and, because I couldn’t feel it (sleeping), they just kept on doing it. But why the swelling? Is there excess fluid or something (it doesn’t feel like there is)? Should I expect it to shrink back down?

I’m guessing that it’ll just fade off before tomorrow, as long as I keep massaging it.

2

I think you may have pulled a muscle and not realized it. Try icing it until it is numb about every 2 and take Ibuprofen every 4 hours. If it doesn’t feel better after the first icing then see a doctor.

3

Thanks, sylphishone.

4

I’m not so sure I agree there. Having pulled many a muscle, I don’t think you can do it without realizing it.

When I first clicked the link, I was expecting to read something to the effect of: “I just started working out again after a long break” or “I just joined a gym and lifted on my own for the first time” In both of those cases, almost everyone, even people who are in fairly reasonable shape, will get very very sore after their first chest workout. The chest is one of those muscles that is reasonably strong and even beginners can push themselves to lift a fair amount of weight the first time without too much immediate burn. However, the two days after that workout will usually leave them nearly incapacitated. Those chest muscles will tighten up to a degree thats shocking. By day four its usually much better and after the third chest workout (usually spanning three weeks) that soreness becomes much much less post-workout.

So, I’d ask, do you lift chest on a weekly basis? Or have you been going to the club and focusing on cardio over the 18 months prior? If you’re just beginning to weight train and just did a reasonably intense chest workout (and frankly they often don’t seem intense as you do it) I’d chalk it up to fairly typical soreness from overtraining. Yeah, I know it makes the soreness you’ve had from other workouts look like nothing, but there’s just something about the chest that seems to do this.

Is the soreness on both sides? I know one side is more swollen, but are the sypmtoms pretty much the same on both sides, if not quite as intense?

If my theory is correct, and depending on the kind of machine you used, you could very likely have this uneven soreness on the right side. If you’re a righty, and you used some type of unilateral press machine, your tendancy would be to compensate by pushing harder with your dominant arm. This could create that unbalanced soreness. Also, if you’re a lefty and you used an isolateral type workout the weaker side would be lifting a relatively heavier load than its used to and could create the uneven soreness.

So, I guess the short version is this:

Do you work chest on a weekly basis?

When did you do it last before this time?

Did you change the workout this time, or do notably more?

What type of excersizes and equipment did you use?

Am I correct in assuming that you didn’t notice any immediate pain during the workout?

Is the “swelling” isolated to one region? If the entire body of the muscle is simply “fuller”, thats typical after a workout. If its isolated to the region near a joint, or has a pronounced inflamed location it could indicate injury.

Another possibility is that you pinched a nerve on the one side. The overall soreness could be typical workout pain, but the remarkable soreness on the one side could be a result of a pinched or irritated nerve.

Whatever the case, if there’s no discoloration, and the pain is tolerable let it go for a few days and if it doesn’t improve see a doctor.

5

thanks for the post, Omniscient.

I work out my chest pretty much everytime I go, which is 2-3 times a week.

The last time I worked this area was about five days ago.

Nothing in the workout was changed.

(Affecting the chest muscles) I do standing pulldowns, dips, bench, curls, flys, and presses.

No pain during the workout. Only at 430am the next morning did I feel soreness, which probably manifested while I was sleeping.

The swelling is (now) only in the right pectoral, but I think it’s gone down, just slightly.

Whatever it is, it seems to be receding slowly. If it’s still around tomorrow, I’ll repost here. Thanks for the advice. You can always count on the SDMB.

6

I think you’re over training your chest, 2-3 times a week is too much, but thats neither here nor there.

Can’t say I have a good explaination for it. My instinct would be a pinched nerve situation. There are cases where you can over develop a muscle group which would cause various types of chronic pain due to structural imbalances, but that’s impossible to diagnose without MRIs and X-Rays.

7

You sound like you’re overtraining. If you’re not overtraining, you certainly overtrained last night…

Rest, Ice, NO HEAT, NSAIDS. Heat will make it feel better, but will also cause it to swell more.

Sam

8

To avoid some problems in the long run, throw in about as much back work as chest work. This’ll also make it easier for your chest to grow.

9

You did a pretty good job of describing your condition, and of course common things like workout injury are always most likely. However, if a patient came to me with your complaint, I would ask quite a few more questions before immediately reaching that conclusion. Among the questions I would ask are:

How would you describe the pain? Sharp, dull, burning, stabbing, throbbing, etc.?

Have you had a blow or injury to the chest in the past 48 hours? (Think carefully. A blow to the chest that doesn’t seem to cause any immediate injury is easily forgotten. Did you get caught in a door? Take a fall? Almost get knocked over by a [helmeted] bicyclist?)

Is there a rash? Surface redness? If you gently rub a finger over the affected region, is the sensation normal?

Does the pain spread into the arm, neck or back?

Any tightness or difficulty breathing? Cough? Pain on deep inhale?

Any fever, chills or vomiting?

Is it getting better or worse? Is there anything that makes it better or worse?

If you palpate the region (and can feel the structures well) do you feel any firm masses or fluid/soft regions?

Of course, there are many other questions, but this is no place for a doctor to conduct a diagnosis or give specific medical advice [laymen can do so freely without repercussions] I think you see where these questions are headed, and perhaps note if something is out of the ordinary. I hope this helps.

10

To lay this thread to sleep:

The symptoms are subsiding. Thanks for all the feedback.

11

I had a similar pain a few weeks ago and put it down to returning to my workout after being out a week due to a cold. Wrong. I had pleurisy.

Glad to hear you’re on the mend.

12

Perhaps you are not having enough sex!