Pectoralis

The pectoralis is a thick muscle that makes up the bulk of the chest muscles.  Three weeks ago, Lee's left pectoralis muscle tore during training, and for several days, his range of motion was extremely limited and he was in a great deal of pain.  When, after five days, he was still unable to bench press even light weight, Lee called the doctor and, eventually, had an MRI (if you want to hear a funny story, ask him how many attempts it took for them to get a good MRI picture - he was in the machine for a very long time!).  The next day, they called to tell him his pectoralis was indeed torn and that he already had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.  The ortho has an excellent reputation and we were lucky to see him, but our biggest concern was that Lee would require surgery, which would really be a devastating development for his powerlifting career.  Luckily, the tear was located in an ideal place and Lee needs 6 weeks of rest and 3 weeks of physical therapy.  It's still a tough pill to swallow, but so much better than the alternative.  As it turns out, the 6 weeks is up on Lee's birthday, which is pretty much the best present he could get.  This injury has messed up his competition schedule, but we are just grateful that it is not worse.