Injury Question

About 2 weeks or so ago I was doing squats and there was a sharp pain in my chest muscle. There was moderate pain for about a week and a half, the main pain being when I first woke up in the morning and right before I went to bed. (My bed sucks, I'm getting a new one tomorrow or Sat.) So then I played a game of basketball and fought through some moderate pain. Right after the game and the following 2 days I was in extreme pain. I could hardly breath, hell it even hurt driving my car.

Fast forward another week and I feel at about 95% with virtually no pain. So my question is, when do you know you are ready to start working out again? How much more time should I give it being pain free, and how should my first couple of workouts be when I start back?

The longer you wait the better.

You'll probably end up going back a little too soon so my recommendation is if it starts to bother you don't "fight through the pain", instead stop and wait till the next day and see how you feel.

I actually had a similar experience:
I strained something in my neck doing rows, continued, was really sore for a few days. Then I decided to go do to the batting cages and "fight through the pain".

I could hardly move my head for about a week, and for the first few days sitting in my computer chair was excruciating and I'd have to lie down 4 or 5 times a day. It took over a month before I was 95%.

3 or 4 months later it's just about perfect, but I can feel it doing barbell rows.

If it's in the back it'll take a long, long time to fully heal. I've been lifting with a mild strain in my mid-trap for probably 6 months. I went back after 2 weeks when the pain was no longer interfering with my ability to lift properly. It wasn't a ver yserious injury though. Try some light sets and see how it feels.