Over a year with Chest tenderness, rib popping... extremely frustrated

Hello, first let me say I'm sorry you're going through this also. I was diagnosed with costochondritis last October. I was lifting something and heard a pop in my right chest area, I had instant pain. When I went to my doctor I was lucky enough that he was familiar with costochondritis, and after an exam he was pretty sure that's what I have. Although some have said that it does not show up on an MRI or x-ray my doctor was able to determine that no Costa cartilage where my ribs connect to the sternum actually had a couple tears. He diagnosed me with acute costochondritis he said that surgery cannot be done to fix it I have to let it heal on its own. He said it will take a long time. Since then I have been on 500 mg Naproxen twice a day, and a low-dose muscle relaxer at night to sleep. He told me a opiate pain pill will not help me. Nothing takes the pain away but I'm learning to live with it by watching how I move and careful what I pick up. I have a back massage cushion that hooks to a chair that does a couple different massage settings this helps me a lot and I also use icy hot with lidocaine when the nerves keep firing off. This condition is definitely a life changer. I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.

Hi , I'm now if I remember properly in my 5th year of having this condition which started after 2 years of disc related problems.

If I'm truthful I think the UK Drs don't understand this condition but in New Zealand they class it as an every day condition?

I've just had my final dose of cortisone injections and Botox in spine and chest and ribs.

Yes it does help and yes it's very painful!

I'm on a cocktail of drugs also and will be on them for a while.

Just as I think it's going it's back again .

This time I'm also doing specific excersize sand physio to include ultra sound.

I hope you manage to get well soon and if you do find a magic cute please tell us all .

So sorry you are going through this!!! I was diagnosed with Costro as as well in December 2015. After 6 ER visits. For me the pain comes and goes. And I'll take Advil and ice it and get some relief if i rest as well. but recently, a new DR told me I need to see a rheumatologist and go to a pain management dr.

I'm calling today to get appts. Hope this helps you. Goods luck and hang in there!!!!

papibor1cua68, I just replied to your other post, but I see this one has more details.

Lord knows I'm not an expert but I have been researching this for 21 months since a similar injury happened to me. I will offer my two cents for what it's worth: In my experience, when doctors don't know exactly what is wrong with your rib and you are in pain, they will call it "Costochondritis."

Costochondritis is sort of a blanket term meaning "your rib hurts, the cartilage or tissue is inflamed, and it may or may not get better."

In most common cases of Costo, there may be miniscule tears or damage to the rib cartilage or muscle, and pain strikes near the heart like having a heart attack, then it subsides. Pain is sharp but intermittent, and usually goes away with rest, ice, and avoiding activity.

Then there are more severe rib problems like you and I have, that are likely a pulled ligament or something that wreaks havoc and takes FOREVER to heal, and causes pain 24/7. Nothing shows up on a CT, x-ray, or MRI because these types of injuries are difficult to see on scans. Doctors are quick to lump these injuries into the "Costochondritis" family, but this is confusing and inaccurate because it's a very different situation than the Costo I described above.

This is my experience. My dr prescribed Voltaren anti-inflammatory topical gel to apply to the painful area front and back, and this is the only thing that has helped the pain. Butit has not gone away. (I refrain from taking oral NSAIDs because they are hard on the stomach & liver.)

I also recently had a PRP injection -- platelet rich plasma. During that time I have stopped using the Voltaren gel because it interferes with healing. Now I am on nothing, no meds of any kind, waiting to see if it will heal. I will post an update when I have more info.

In your case papibor1cua68, I wish I had more answers but am struggling with the same thing (or similar). The docs that have helped me the most have been the rheumatologist and the orthopedic surgeon, believe it or not. Finding the right doc is the hardest, and no doc specializes in rib injuries so we're kinda screwed. But keep trying until you find one that helps. Wishing you the best.

 

Bro, I feel you. I’ve been dealing with this exact same issue for 4 years. It all started with lifting weights. It has progressively gotten worse where my chest pops whenever I stand up, stretch, or fix my posture. What I hate most though are the negative aesthetics of it. My chest protrudes now. You can see the sternum/ribs sticking out. After all the research ive done and doctors I’ve seen, the best I’ve come up with is a “subluxed rib.” There is apparently no cure for our condition, but I am going to get a chest tat to cover up the inflammation. If by some miracle you find a doctor that knows how to put our sternum/ribs back into place, please let me know, and I will do the same.

Best wishes bro, 

Blake 

UPDATE – After 3 years of hell, the rib seems to be about 80% better. On a good day, it feels 99% better, though I am still working on regaining strength in my abs and back. I’m just starting gentle physical therapy, small movements so I don’t re-injure the rib. I still have slight pains in the area, and bouts of worse pain, especially when I’m very active or try carrying heavy bags, etc.

I have a congenital connective tissue disorder, or Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, so this is the root of my problem. Though nothing shows up on MRIs, CTs or X-rays, my doctors and I came to the conclusion that I pulled the ligament/cartilage that connects the rib to the sternum. This area can take a long, long time to heal. Meanwhile the rib was slightly unstable.

I want to share my protocol and hope it will help encourage other Slipping Rib/torn cartilage sufferers. I know all of these things may seem hard to do. It was sometimes difficult to do because of the demands of work and financial limitations. But I tried everything possible to get my health and my life back. I was afraid I would be in pain forever. I’m so happy to report that I am much, much better.

I’m not a doctor and am not recommending any treatment. Everyone’s injury and everyone’s body is different. But this is everything I tried and it seemed to work for me:

1.      Refraining from all activity that hurts or makes the rib unstable. I know it’s terrible to think of quitting exercise, dancing, swimming, yoga, whatever you enjoy doing. But this is the most crucial part of treating Slipping Rib. I learned the hard way. I kept trying to go about my daily routine and the pain did not improve at all for 15 months. I literally wanted to die. I finally had to stop and treat my injury seriously. I had to change my lifestyle, making sure I sat in comfortable chairs with proper back support (and “sat back” against the chair, not forward), kept good posture, kept my pelvis straight (forward, not arched back) when sitting and walking, did not attempt to lift heavy items and absolutely NO OVERHEAD LIFTING.

2.      Rest. I got as much sleep as possible at night (8 to 10 hours). My rib only seemed to heal when I was asleep or lying motionless. During the day I would take breaks from work, lie flat on my back and remain completely still for at least 20 minutes. It was like meditating, and it also helped my stress. I did this as often as I could.

3.      Moist heat and occasional ice. Warm showers and baths helped a lot, and using a moist heating pad on the front and back of the ribcage. Sometimes I would follow this with an ice pack. Some people swear by ice, but I only used it occasionally and only for 10 minutes at a time. Over-icing did not help my pain or improve the condition. In fact, I would thaw my ice pack so it was more of a cold compress than ice.

4.      Voltaren (diclofenac sodium) topical gel. This is by prescription and comes under different names. It’s a powerful anti-inflammatory, so I used it with caution over my abdominal area or it would seep through the skin and cause stomach pain. I used it on a full stomach, and I used as little as possible. It’s not good to over-use because it can prevent blood from flowing to the area, and blood flow is necessary to heal the injury.

5.      Aleve (naproxen sodium) tablets. I have a sensitive stomach, so I can’t take oral anti-inflammatories too often. But two Aleves after a meal once or twice a week really helped the pain more than any other pain reliever except Norco (acetaminophen/hydrocodone), which I would only take when I was suffering with very severe pain.

6.      Deep breathing. It hurts to breathe deeply, so I had to force myself to relax and take deep breaths. I found that if I lay still for long enough, the pain would decrease so I could breathe more easily.

7.      Good nutrition, vitamin supplements, and plenty of protein. I decided to up my protein intake as much as possible since I was not building muscle working out. I don’t eat meat, but I made healthy protein shakes, ate lots of organic eggs, yogurt, green leafy vegetables, and fresh food. I also took fish oils, a good multivitamin, extra vitamin D, MSM, and Bromelain enzyme for healing. None of these things worked miracles for me, but I felt I was getting plenty of nutrients at least.

8.      PRP injection. My doctor talked me into getting this instead of Prolotherapy. It made it worse at first, and I had a bruise there for 3 weeks. You also have to stop taking any anti-inflams while you recover. But gradually it did improve, over several months.

9.      Prolotherapy. This is not for everyone. I only did it as a last-ditch experiment after everything else failed to heal me as much as I wanted. Others with Hypermobility issues told me prolotherapy seems to work better on us than on non-hypermobile folks. After I tried ALL the above treatments, I finally had 3 prolotherapy injections four weeks apart. It was difficult to find a doctor who would do these injections, but my pain management doctor came through. He used the latest ultrasound technology to guide the needle and was very gentle. The first two only seemed to inflame it, but the third one must have triggered some healing because that’s what got me 80% pain-free (as opposed to 50% better, which I was for about a year).

10.  Walking. For me, it didn’t hurt to walk as long as I didn’t “power-walk” using my arms. Walking was very therapeutic and about the only exercise I could do. I walked A LOT.

11.  No physical therapy in the rib/ab area. I tried physical therapy, but had to stop because it made it worse. In my experience, physical therapy is not effective for Slipping Rib. My muscles did get flabbier from lack of exercise, which does not help. It’s kind of a catch-22: muscle tone in the torso helps the condition, but you can’t really build muscle when your rib is unstable! I did exercise my legs, which was better than nothing. My rib only seemed to heal when I was not moving.

12.  For women: I noticed the rib became more painful coinciding with PMS every month. Hormones do affect it, because they make the ligaments looser. I had to be much more careful during this time of the month to avoid activity. If I had realized it sooner, I might have asked my doctor about regulating hormones. But it took me a long time to make this connection.

Hi there,

I realise this was along time ago. How are you doing. I have the exact same symthoms you mention about the back particularly inbetween the should blades