During a decline bench press two years ago with more weight than I could handle, I felt a sharp tearing sensation in my shoulder and pectoral muscle. There was no bruising but my lower pectoral muscle immediately looked slightly disfigured in the armpit. Since it did not look near as bad as any pec tear that I had seen online while researching them, I felt it unnecessary to see a doctor just so he could tell me to rest. After a week or two of resting I began to do light dumbbell work and it felt a little awkward, but seemed okay. As soon as I got to heavy weight though I felt another sharp tear. I visited an orthopedic surgeon who said my pec was partially torn, but should heal fine conservatively. I spent one year trying to rehab it with a physical therapist, but it constantly felt awkward with a constant numb pain. I revisited the surgeon insisting that surgical intervention was necessary (one year post injury), but the MRI came up normal. I got three more opinions after six more months with no progress. One said that nothing was wrong, just a pec strain, one said there was a tear at the muscle-tendon junction but surgery would be ridiculous since sutures don’t hold in muscle and the MRI showed the structures appeared to be intact, and one said that even though the MRI didn’t show much he believed the muscle-tendon junction was partially torn and surgery was necessary. The final doctor is in Boston though and the expenses are extreme making this not seem like a feasible option since three others recommended against it.
I am just curious why I would be feeling such constant pain and discomfort and be having trouble weightlifting during chest and shoulder exercises when the MRI didn’t show anything? This happened two years ago and it bothers me all the time. It is really effecting my life negatively and I am at a loss of what to do.