PECTORALIS MAJOR RUPTURE
- 2 days ago
- 12 min read
Over the last two decades, the popularity of fitness and strength sports has increased dramatically. Bench press, powerlifting, and high-intensity resistance training are now part of the weekly routines of millions of people, not just professional athletes. However, this development has also had a significant consequence for sports medicine: some muscle and tendon injuries that were previously quite rare are being reported increasingly frequently.
Before continuing, it's important to state that it's incorrect to say that weight training alone causes muscle and tendon tears. The vast majority of these injuries are related to using weights above physiological limits (ego lifting), incorrect form, and the use of anabolic steroids ( anabolic steroids increase muscle strength but may not increase tendon endurance at the same rate ). Therefore, training with proper form and weights appropriate to the individual's physiology is highly unlikely to lead to these types of injuries.
One of these injuries is a pectoralis major muscle tear . The pectoralis major is one of the largest and strongest muscles of the anterior chest wall and plays a critical role in movements such as adduction , internal rotation , and, in certain situations, raising the arm forward. When the tendon of this muscle tears, not only does pain occur; it can also lead to a significant decrease in arm strength, noticeable deformity in the chest area, and significant losses in athletic performance.
Historically, pectoralis major tears were considered quite rare. One of the first medical descriptions was made in 1822, reporting that this injury usually occurred in people who performed heavy physical work. Throughout the 20th century, only a limited number of case reports were included in the literature. However, the situation has changed with the rise of modern sports culture. Today, the majority of these injuries occur during sports activities, and especially during weight training .
The most important reason for this change is that exercises that intensely activate the pectoralis major muscle, especially pushing exercises like bench press , are performed under high loads. During these movements performed with heavy weights, the tension placed on the muscle and tendon can lead to a tear at the point where the tendon attaches to the bone or at the muscle-tendon junction when a certain threshold is exceeded.
Interestingly, this injury often occurs unexpectedly. Even strong and well-trained athletes can experience a sudden "tearing" sensation in the chest area during a single repetition. Therefore, pectoralis major tendon injuries are frequently considered one of the characteristic injuries of high-performance athletes in the sports medicine literature.
