Costochondritis (chest cartilage imflamation)

[Brian SD]

Here's a wiki on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tietze's_syndrome

Has anyone had issues with costochondritis? I have it and it seems like it's never going away. I haven't been able to do a Flye or a bench press in ages because of it. It's really painful when its bad, and even when I'm off it for months at a time on NSAIDs and using heat patches as my doctor recommends, it still hasn't healed like I've been told it would.

The annoying thing is that it doesnt show up on X-Rays at all. My doctor cant see a thing wrong, my EMI/cardio/breathing is all fine, but due to my pain he's sure this is it.

Has anyone else suffered from this and gotten over it?

 

[kakemono]

I had this and I think I just got some anti-inflammatory stuff. It has been about 10 years so I am not sure what exactly I was given. That said, it came and went in about 2 days. I went to the emergency room when I first experienced the pain b/c it was while I was running for soccer practice and the pain just came up and I collapsed from it. They (and I) thought I was having a heart attack.

 

[kanye3000]

I konw chostochondritis is just like having tendonitis. I have chostochondritis, and my doctor says htere is a huge chance it will never go away, just like tendonitis. However, I can still lift and run no problem. I think you may suffer from a worse case than mine.

I would keep taking anti-inflammatorys and hope that it runs its course and simply goes away.

 

[imatlas]

A more drastic anti-inflammatory approach would be a steroid shot (not the Barry Bonds variety, I'm afraid). Probably would not alleviate the problem permanently but it might offer a few months of relief. Ask your doc if he or she thinks it's appropriate.

 

[hamm23]

Take a natural approach. The costovertebral joint may be misaligned causing some symptomatology at the anterior rib area. Aligning that joint at the vertebrae may help to alleviate the problems. I'm only a chiropractic student but I've actually had some positive experience with similar situations, there should be some info on the net also about chiro care and costochondritis. I would also check out fish oils and bromaline for there anti_inflammatory effects without any negative consequences.

 

[Thomas]

I had this years and years ago - my rib cartilage was tender where they met the sternum. My uncle (doctor) prescribed advil - 600 mg three times a day - moderate activity, and for God's sake I had to shake that persistent cough. It was the coughing / throat-clearing that did it to me. After a week or so it went away, once I lost the cough.

I think, though, that anything that expands your ribs (deep breathing) or sudden movements (coughs, etc) will re-aggravate this. IMHO, any weight or cardio training should be dropped for a time. It sucks, yes, I know.