Sternum sore after cutting wood

[canon4me]

I went out and cut wood with the chainsaws with wifey last Saturday and Sunday. Some pretty heavy logs. Today we finished stacking all the wood. Some big pieces weighed close to 150 lbs. tonight my sternum is sore when I reach my arm across to the opposite side. Ex. With left arm reaching across the front of my body to the right side and vice versa. Do you think this was just over exertion on my part? My AVR w/full sternotomy was on 6/5/13. Thanks for your insight.

Jon

 

[Agian]

Good to hear from you!!!

Must feel great to be out there with your chainsaw again.

 

[ski girl]

Yep, overexertion on your part! The good news is the sternum is healed so you won't have done any damage, and the soreness may well be muscular. You'll know for sure if it's worse two days later, that's DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)!

 

[Freddie]

Yep, you could have very well have over done it.
Take a Tylenol as directed for the pain for the next 3 to 4 days, if it hasn't subsided call your doctor.

 

[Agian]

that's DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)!

Did you just make that up?

 

[dick0236]

I agree that you overdid it......but I can understand.

 

[ski girl]

Nope Agian DOMS is a very real thing! Wikipedia even says so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness

 

[epstns]

canon - I'll have to agree with the others -- you definitely over-did it! I'm sure, as has been said, that your sternum is not the issue. There is, however, a lot of muscle and tendon involvement when we have OHS, and at least for me, that took longer to heal. A lot longer. Before surgery, I used to do a lot of pushups. I did not feel comfortable doing them again until about a full year after surgery. My chest muscles were just too sore. I'm now, more than 2.5 years post-op, just trying to get back into upper body exercise. It just takes a while.

 

[clay_from_nj]

Don't worry too much. One thing I've learned over the past few months of strength training, is that muscle soreness, as long as it isn't too bad and only lasts for a couple of days, is a GOOD thing. It sounds like your pectorals got a really good workout. Use this as a jumping-off point and you'll develop an awesome chest, like this: