Pain
Chest pain is, especially with older men, a very explosive topic. A painful chest is often associated with a heart attack – which is the case in many cases. However, it is also possible that the cause of the pain comes from somewhere else, namely from the major or minor pectoral muscle.
These two important pectoral muscles are tense, shortened or simply insufficiently developed due to our daily stress and the often unhealthy posture of many of us. Due to the frequent sitting at the computer, one easily tends to let the shoulders hang limp and unconsciously pull them forward, the back collapses, so to speak, and the chest muscles atrophy with time. But excessive training, as bodybuilders do, can also lead to chest pain.
Often, for supposedly aesthetic reasons, too much emphasis is placed on training the back muscles and the pectoralis major muscle is neglected. As a result, the pectoral muscles tense up and over time react increasingly sensitively to pressure of any kind. Of course, it can also happen that a sore chest is caused by an inflammation of the pectoralis major muscle.
This pain is then often felt by those affected, especially when moving their arms, the chest feels soft and sensitive overall and movement and breathing are sometimes restricted. Normally, however, inflammation of the pectoralis major muscle occurs rather rarely. Nor does it start suddenly, but develops slowly and insidiously.
In most cases, it is caused by an (unnoticed and therefore untreated) injury to the rib cage, for example in the case of a contusion or rib fracture. Or an injury to the major pectoralis muscle occurred unnoticed during surgery. This can happen, for example, during a breast cancer operation where extensive surgery is required in the area of the breast muscles.
The musculus pectoralis major can also itself be affected by cancer metastases and thus hurt or be affected as a consequence of a rheumatic disease. While it does not concern a bare strain of the chest musculature a treatment-needy problem, since the complaints usually disappear again completely by themselves, one should be more careful with an inflammatory procedure however and visit a physician. If the inflammation is then caused by a bacterial infection, the doctor can prescribe antibiotics to contain it, whereupon the inflammation usually subsides after one to two weeks without complications.
Here, good cooperation of the patient is indispensable, as he or she must strictly spare the affected musculus pectoralis major and consistently refrain from sports activities. As soon as the jokes subside, the patient can begin with light gymnastic exercises to slowly restore the mobility of the pectoralis major muscles. Do not exaggerate and overload the muscle too early, otherwise this will only prolong the regeneration time unnecessarily.
If there is an acute rupture of the pectoralis major muscle, as is very rarely the case in aggressive martial arts or other extreme sports, this is a case for the surgeon. The surgeon can then surgically restore the affected part. With good physiotherapy, it is also possible to survive the injury without further consequences. Of course, it is then recommended to reconsider and possibly limit one’s own lifestyle and the practice of martial arts/extreme sports.