Advice needed - shoulder/pec muscle injury

[beltic caldy]

Hi all,

Hoping to get some advice from tennis players, rather than the stuff I can get from google.

So, I've started playing tennis, kinda properly for the first time in about 30 years - I'm 44 soon, and have been very inactive for about 10 years.

All been going well, and have been getting a bit of coaching - playing about twice/three times/week, and this had been going on for about 6 weeks.

3 weeks back, rather than the normal mid-power serves I was doing, I decided to try a bit of a power-effort...and probably used my arm/shoulder, more than transferring weight/rotating upper body - and hurt my shoulder/chest quite badly.

It only hurts when I try to serve or hit an overhead - forehand/backhand groundstrokes - no discomfort/pain at all.

I gave it 2 weeks off - no tennis or anything else, but when I came back, it still hurts - not as bad as originally, but it's reasonably bad.

So - I'm not sure if it needs rest, or someone can recommend a course of action - light exercises of some kind to strenghten it up? Any/all suggestions gratefully received!

The image I've attached shows the area where it hurts marked in red.

Thank you in advance

[Ali-Iqb93]

Pectoralis major muscle.. Is it some sort of muscle pull? Try visit a doctor. He ll recommend you some pain killers or muscle relaxants I guess

[beltic caldy]

pull or a tear or something, i don't know. I saw the doc - she said to rest it - i iced it up at the time, and took ibuprofen (anti inflammatory), and used deep heat/wintergreen ointment. Problem is, just resting it doesn't seem to have done all that much good - it may be that I have to rest it for much more than 2 weeks....just hoping not.

anyone else have any insight/thoughts?

[djarvik]

2 weeks may not be enough if you are not active. I would give it 4 weeks.

I don't think it is your pec, they are rather strong muscles and not easy pull/strain, although not uncommon in tennis. I would go with a shoulder, maybe a front shoulder head pull or even a rotator cuff. The pain might be resonating into the chest a bit.

Any pain in your arm at all? ...or tingling sensation?

Being you are not active mainly, I would not worry about it and give it enough time. If you would be active, athlete etc...I would definitely recommend to go to the doctor and figure out what exactly is injured and go (or even do yourself at home) to the physical therapy. Rest is good, but active rest and therapy is way better. Thankfully, our body has tons of muscles that are ready to jump in and help when one of them is in trouble, but it also puts a strain on these muscles and if a proper care is not taken - they can start breaking down one by one. Been there with my knee injury. Ended up in pain from pretty much the whole right side, back, oblique muscles, hip, hamstrings, shoulder, neck and ankles. It didn't come on all at one shot, but over the course of 10 years. No I am teaching my body to use other, smaller muscles to compensate....not fun (well, maybe a little)...otherwise I will start breaking down and will be in a really bad shape in a few years. But I am very active.....for an inactive person, this may not be needed.

[djarvik]

I saw the doc - she said to rest it -

You saw the wrong doc. Go to a sports medicine guy, or a very reputably physical therapist. In about 10-15 min they should be able to figure out what EXACTLY is pulled or torn and in another 5 come up with a short daily program routine to strengthen the supporting muscles.

Your regular physician is likely to give you pain killers and send you home. They not worried about 10 years down the road. If this is a rotator cuff, I would have it taken care of properly. Pecs is a large strong muscle, it will recover on its own. Doubt you could have torn it, you would have noticed it in the mirror and would have had nice swelling going on. So if this is a pec - a mild strain.

It could be a smaller muscle too.

[beltic caldy]

Thanks for this Al, much appreciated man

The doc I saw was indeed just a GP (general practitioner), not any kind of sports specialist.

No arm pain at all, no - no tingling or anything like that - I wouldn't have thought pectoral muscle either, except that's where it hurts (as shown in the diagram).

I played high level (national team) volleyball for about 10 years, and never had a hurt like this (plenty of ankle injuries, and other things).

The good news is that the club I've joined has an on-call physiotherapist - my next step is to book a session with him, again as you suggest.

It's hard, because I've been going to group lessons once/week, and can see myself improving....to have to stop is sooooooooooooo frustrating!!!

Thanks again though man - your's was the opinion I was really looking for, without any intended disrespect to anyone else.

Rich-the-injured