r/costochondritis

I've been using the backpod and it does seem to be helping but it's changing the location of my rib pain. Some areas are more inflamed than others now that I'm loosening it up at the spine. The pain has traveled more to under the armpits and my sides. The ribs become tender in other areas as well.

Is this normal?

PS: I’d also like to add that I would really appreciate hearing how other people cope with this, or how they eventually solved it — whether through physical examinations, neurological evaluations, or anything else. I’m looking for something that can still give me hope… For now, it seems I’m not alone in this, and while I’m sorry that others go through it too, at the same time it makes me feel a little less alone ❤️

My name is Andrea, and I’m a 33-year-old Italian guy. For the past 7 years, I’ve been fighting with my main symptom: chest pain, along with everything that comes with it. Left arm pain, jaw pain, sweating, sometimes shortness of breath, stabbing pain in the center of my chest, sometimes sharp and sometimes crushing. Sometimes it gets worse when touched, other times it doesn’t. This happens every single day, in completely different situations — whether I’m calm or distracted, whether I’m thinking about it or not. This situation has psychologically destroyed me to the point that, at times, I’ve thought about ending my life.

My medical history is the following: in 7 years I’ve probably gone to the emergency room at least 200–300 times. I’ve had at least 50 cardiology evaluations with ECGs, more than 20 echocardiograms, and over 30 stress tests. I even had a bubble test because of a very minor atrial septal abnormality, and a coronary CT scan with contrast because one time the hospital became concerned despite negative troponins, since there were slightly peaked waves on the ECG.

The result of the coronary CT scan was: Agatston score: 0. Zero atherosclerotic plaques in my coronary arteries.

And yet I still have pain every single day. Sometimes it happens when I smoke, other times not. Sometimes during exercise (I’m slightly overweight), other times not. All of this has put enormous pressure on me. I ended up taking 90 drops a day and trying 5 or 6 different antidepressants, but nothing changes. My quality of life is now zero.

I have a business, a home, money, a partner, and a family who are always there for me — but I feel like I have nothing, because nobody can give me these years back. I used to be a high-level DJ, but this situation destroyed me.

Around me I only see people who don’t even know what it means to run to the emergency room, let alone what it means to go there 3 times in 2 days.

I need the pain to disappear, so that the anxiety can disappear too.
All of this has also led to problems with “arrhythmias” — except they aren’t really arrhythmias. Tachycardia, palpitations, and constantly feeling my heartbeat. I check my pulse or feel my heartbeat in my throat a hundred times a day. I monitor myself constantly, but it doesn’t work anymore.

I also have some stomach issues that sometimes make everything worse, although honestly I associate those more with burning sensations rather than actual pain.

Just for the record, in the next few days I’ll be seeing a pain specialist and a physiatrist. I’m tired of hearing that it’s fibromyalgia, that it’s all in my head, that it’s costochondritis or Tietze syndrome…

I don’t know if there’s anyone who could be worse off than me, but if there is, know that I understand you when you feel like life is no longer worth living.

I have been suffering from pain on my left side rib cage, the lower part, more underneath the bottom of the rib cage, but the pain definitely radiates across the front left ribcage and across the back. I would describe it as sharp, stabbing, aching. The area feels tender to the touch. I feel better when I'm up and walking around, but I can't be on my feet 24/7 obviously. It's the seated slouching position where I feel the pain and in some twisted positions in exercise when I can feel the discomfort. I was sure for the longest time there was something very wrong with me and I was dying. I was crying several nights, googling how much the hospital is, yada yada. The pain was mild in 2021, I thought my bra was just too tight, it didn't really bother me. (I'm a woman, now 45) I started seeing a new doctor in 2025 and the pain hasn't improved, honestly, it feels worse. So I tried to make it a priority to deal with it. We have looked at everything, I have a CT scan this Thursday but honestly, I am optimistic it won't show anything. Just based off everything I'm reading, being told, muscular skeletal pain (the umbrella term) was a broad term that seemed like it might apply. I have now been told about costochondritis. Do I sound like I might be one of you? Even today it hit me how my wire bras are so painful and make the pain on my ribcage flare up. (Yes, I have a large chest) Reading some tips like, treat it like a scab, when it gets flared it, let it heal. Is helpful....but the hard part is that it really feels like I deal with it all the time. It makes exercise difficult, some activities harder, some clothes are less fun to wear. It really sucks <3 But yeah, hopefully figuring out whats wrong, is a step is a right direction.

Hey everyone, I was recently diagnosed with costochondritis and would really appreciate any advice from people who’ve dealt with it before because I’m honestly struggling to get back to feeling like myself.

For some background, I’m a 23M and being active is a huge part of my life. I lift, run, play sports, or do some kind of workout basically every day. About 2 months ago, I strained my neck while lifting, and I think continuing to work out afterward ended up aggravating my chest and led to costo.

For the first month, the pain honestly wasn’t terrible. I knew lifting and sports probably weren’t helping, so I switched to light stationary biking every day for about 30–45 minutes around 70–75 RPM just so I could still move and sweat a little. Multiple times I felt like I was getting 80% better, but every time I started lifting again, I came back too fast and too heavy and ended up flaring it up worse each time.

At this point, my biggest issue by far is my ribs and upper back around my shoulder blades. The chest pain itself has improved a lot compared to the beginning, but now I constantly feel pain, pressure, tightness, and aching in my ribs, upper back, and around my shoulder blades basically all day. Even when I’m just sitting, I can feel the tightness and pressure in my upper back and ribs. Whenever I do almost anything, even something simple like walking, cleaning, or cooking, I feel pain in my ribs that can radiate up toward my armpit along with pressure and discomfort in my upper back.

One of the biggest challenges is that I work as an MBB consultant, so I’m on my laptop constantly, and I’ll admit my posture probably hasn’t helped. What’s frustrating is that even walking for 15–30 minutes can cause a huge amount of pressure and aching around my shoulder blades, upper back, and ribs, and sometimes it feels like it flares everything up just from that alone.

I recently bought a Backpod and have been foam rolling my upper back regularly, but I feel like I’ve hit a wall with progress. Right now it honestly feels like I can’t do anything without irritating it somehow, and I’m starting to feel stuck in a hole I can’t get out of.

Working out and being active has always been one of the biggest parts of my life, so not being able to train or even get a proper sweat in has taken a pretty serious toll on my mental health.

If anyone has gone through something similar and has advice on what finally helped them improve, whether it’s rehab work, stretching, posture changes, recovery timelines, or anything else, I’d genuinely appreciate it a lot. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this.

It's been years. Since 2019. Maybe even longer than that, when I look back at it, but 2019 was the first time I was diagnosed with costo. Since then, it's been chronic. Every few months I get a flare, and every few months I worry I'm having cardiac issues. Go to urgent care or the ER, just to be diagnosed with what? Costo. Spend hours awake after my whole family falls asleep, just feeling like I'm struggling to breathe. Trying every suggestion I see on the internet. Trying to correct my posture. And I'm just so tired of everything having to be a conscious effort, and very rarely feeling "normal." I'm young, I should be healthy. Instead I'm worried I'm dying every night.

Has anyone had costochondritis/intercostal/rib pain that’s lasted days? 😩

For about 5 days now I’ve had sharp pain around my upper left back/shoulder blade, neck, upper chest and under my left boob/ribs. It’s worse taking a deep breath and sometimes feels like a sharp catch/stab. Some spots are tender if I press them too.

I’ve actually been diagnosed with intercostal neuritis before, and I also have existing neck/back/shoulder issues, so my doctor mentioned inflammation/musculoskeletal causes and gave anti inflammatories + physio advice. But my anxiety is convincing me it’s something more serious because it’s lasting so long.

Did anyone else’s last days/weeks? And did you get the pain in the shoulder blade/neck/chest too? 😭

Listen a bit carefully here, because doctors are awful at explaining this to their patients:

Heart attacks feel completely different than whatever your costo feels like.

The reason your doctor is testing your heart is because they can't feel what you're feeling and won't take your word for it - patients are terrible at describing their symptoms. It's not because costo and heart attacks actually feel the exact same in reality. They are totally different.

Costo has specific points where it hurts to move and poke, and responds to topical pain medications like voltaren diclofenac gel or a lidocaine patch. Heart attacks don't. It's usually a crushing heavy chest pain that you can't really put a finger on, that will run down your arm, your jaw and to your back and have you feeling impending doom. You will know something is awfully wrong if you have a heart attack.

Not to mention you can't be having a heart attack for weeks and months and years. You'd be toast by now.

So pay attention to your costo and memorize the pain - if you understand what your costo feels like, that's your costo, and you'll know if it's a heart attack because it will be totally different.

With that being said, if you're young, and don't have the risk factors, and have been cleared by your doctor, you have zero reasons to worry. Should be more worried every time you step into a car, or cross the street. The odds are incredibly low that you'll suddenly drop dead from a heart attack. Not even worth you wasting your mental bandwidth on. Go live your life.

Now with that out of the way, you need to know something else: health anxiety surrounding costo is what actually magnifies the costo pain and can make it even more difficult to heal - you're basically training your brain to hyperfocus on it, and attach a fearful emotion to it. No good.

If you find yourself in this position, you need to unlearn this behavior by giving your mind and body evidence that it's costo with real world action - dull the pain with painkillers when needed + do costo oriented rehab that actually starts showing you results. Once the needle starts moving in the right direction, you'll get the mental peace you're looking for, and better yet, actually just beat it outright.

Hope that helps,

-Ned

(This was my reply to another user - of course not medical advice, just general info. Always speak to your medical professionals for your health issues. If you aren't diagnosed with costo, please get diagnosed without delay).

What does it mean if u get the urgency to crack your chest area ?
I saw a few notes on here advising not too.
Is there anything I can do to replace the feeling of cracking it? Usually it’s when I feel out of breath.

Hi everyone!

Before I begin, this post contains some details about my heart attack. I've marked it under the spoiler. Feel free to ask anything about what happened - the purpose of my post is to help other people who are constantly anxious and stressed about more serious conditions.

The idea of this post came from some conversations in another thread here and I'm hoping that my story can help others overcome their anxiety and fears of cardiac related pains. I've been suffering from moderate costochondritis and GERD since around 2019 and had my heart attack in 2023 at the age of 33. For reference, it was caused by a SCAD, which tend to occur in people of all ages, particularly women. I was in good shape at the time, not fit, but around 70kg at 185cm tall.

>!I'm more than happy to talk about the heart attack itself in greater detail, but for now I'll skip to how it felt. It began as a deep pain in the upper centre of my chest. It felt a little like GERD and costochondritis, but it felt weirder and deeper. It worsened with the intesity of walking and eventually started to radiate to my back and out to my shoulders. At its worst, I had this overwhelming dread sensation, that I've never felt before nor since. It just felt like something was seriously seriously wrong. Some symptoms of the same condition are quite different, people report intense sweating, jaw pain and similar. Chest pains are not as frequent an occurence. When I read about typical heart attack symptoms, or those that can be seen in movies and TV, I feel that they don't capture what I actually felt.!<

Since then, life has been a battle. It's likely that another event will happen and I don't know when. It could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. Maybe not for years, but either way, I'm forced to do my best to watch for it. This was a nightmare during the first year, where I was constantly in emergency with chest pains - most likely GERD or costochondritis. I had to learn how to differentiate these pains from potential cardiac issues to gain some control of my life back.

When I have a costochondritis pain flare up, I do my best to gently aggitate it. I don't aim to do damage, but merely try to observe how the pain changes. I gently stretch and pay attention to my chest. I sometimes lay on my back or my sides. I look for any position or movement that increases the pain in a way that convinces me that the pain is muskuloskeletal. Sometimes I gently massage my ribs or the cartilage at my sternum. For a few months, I still felt as stressed about a cardiac event, but over time, I started to learn these pains and what they meant. I still have times where I do get stressed about another heart attack, but usually only when my chest pain is different to the usual pain. For example, when my right side hurts it worries me greatly, as my right side is never really sore.

The GERD is more challenging to observe. I need to pay attention to what I eat and think about it closely when I have possible GERD pains. If it's noticeably bad when I lay down, or especially bad after food, then that helps me convince myself that it's okay. The main thing that I do is try to pay attention to eating habits and patterns with it.

As a final note, if you do feel concerned and aren't sure about your pain, then go to a hospital. It's not worth risking if you can't be sure, but if all of the medical tests (especially troponin) come back negative, then learning how to identify your pain a bit better might help take some stress away, which should ultimately help you too!

I have been experiencing persistent pain and discomfort in the sternum area for about 10 years. This issue began after I had been working as an IT professional for roughly 4 or 5 years, spending long hours sitting at a desk.

The discomfort feels like a sharp sensation or localized pressure that intensifies during deep breaths, sudden movements, or when stretching the chest. There is also a noticeable clicking or popping sound in the center of my chest during certain movements.

A particularly difficult part of this is a latent pain in the xiphoid process area. This specific pain is constant enough that it forces me to sleep on my side, and I often find myself driving in a slouched or hunched position just to find some relief.

I am looking for ways to manage these symptoms and would appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with similar long-term issues, especially those related to desk work or posture. Does anyone have experience with these types of sternum and xiphoid symptoms or recommendations for recovery routines?

I have been having severe chest pain that doesn’t get worse when I breathe and I can still take deep breaths.

I got so uncomfortable a night or two ago I went to the hospital.

They tested my heart enzymes, for blood clots, did an EKG and also a chest xray. Everything is perfect.

I just learned about this condition this morning.

I play video games frequently and bend over to do so, and am constantly on my phone. On top of this I smoke dabs (with a Puffco, on the lowest temp) and cough quite a bit.

Ibuprofen seems to help but Pepcid AC (thought it might be GERD) does not.

I’ve also had that radiating pain under my breast almost to my back.

Does this sound familiar to you guys?

At no point have I not been able to breathe, and sometimes the pain almost feels like anxiety pangs but not quite.

How do they even diagnose this? My xray was fine.

The pain comes and goes but I found the most relief after the shot of toradol at the hospital and after taking ibuprofen yesterday.

The only thing that freaks me out is that sometimes it does feel like chest pressure but it never affects my breathing. It feels more like a burning than a pressure but it’s very uncomfortable. It reminds me trapped gas but more severe and comes and goes.

I’m hoping this sounds familiar to you guys so I can put my worries to rest.

And yes, I have stopped consuming marijuana for now :)

I get the worst chest pain pretty frequently The pain is very sharp and is worse with breathing. It comes on pretty sudden and last for days. It’s so sharp that the average person would go to the ER. Speaking of, I’ve been to the ER numerous times and to the doctor. I’ve had all kinds of tests and they always come back normal. I don’t go to the doctor unless I really can’t stand it anymore because I’m tired of getting the diagnosis of nothing and have to pay all this money for nothing. I’m on HRT. It’s happened prior to HRT but still while in perimenopause. Anyone else have this and have any insight or anyway to prevent this? It’s really taking a toll on me. TIA!

Hey everyone, does anyone know a good physical therapist in Vancouver who actually understands and treats costochondritis? I’ve been trying to find one, but whenever I ask clinics if they have experience with costo, they never really have an answer. If anyone has personally seen a physio in Vancouver who helped them (or someone they know) with costochondritis/chest wall pain, I’d really appreciate any recommendations. Thank you.

I am a 23-year-old woman. I don't go to gym. I don't do any exercises regularly really. I've seen that most people here go to gym, but that's not my story. I live a mostly sedentary life, I guess. I don't go out that often. I used to play sports in my early teens, but not anymore. I usually just work at home on my laptop, and I don't have a proper chair and desk to sit on most of the time.

And there are some other things that might be related to this. For example, my mental health is not great. Before I got this pain, I would spend a lot of time crying in my bathroom. Prior to getting this pain, almost 12 days ago. I was having a really hard time. I would just cry all the time, and the only place where I can cry safely is in my bathroom. So I would stand at the sink and cry a lot. After that, I would have neck, eye, and head pain, but it would last for a short time. Maybe my shoulders would be hunched over while standing and crying for a long time. So maybe that contributed to this. I don't know. The issue is that right now, I couldn't get any proper guidance for my pain. 

Initially, what had happened was that we had a very hot day here, and there was no cooler available. So I just sat and worked for a whole day. After that, my feet were a little bit puffy, and I had pain in one leg. But in a few days, it got better. My feet were back to normal. But after that, I started getting pain in my left underarm area and chest. I was very scared because at first, I thought it was like a lump related to breast cancer or something. So I got very, you know, scared about it. I went alone to the doctor, and she said that it feels like normal muscular pain, and I did get my ECG done. So there was nothing wrong with my heart. That did make me feel better because the day prior to that, I had thought that I was having a heart attack, and I'm just going to die. So she prescribed me Ibuprofen and said I should rest, which I did for the next three to four days, but my pain was getting worse, actually. 

And by the next time I went, what I didn't realize was that my chest was feeling very hard and firm and stiff and slightly bigger than usual, but I couldn't articulate that because that seemed like a crazy and scary thought to me, that why would that happen. Is something growing inside me? What is happening? So throughout this time, I would mostly get dull or piercing pain in my left chest. And apart from that, I would sometimes, very rarely, get pain in my back. My neck would also feel very stiff while sleeping. I'm a very skinny person, so my collarbones were very visible. They are not anymore. And so the biggest way I would get pain is when I would try to sleep at night. I couldn't sleep because if I would lay flat, I would feel so much pressure and then pain on my rib cage. So the only way I could sleep was by half turning to the right side when I didn't have any pain on the right side. So I tried that, but I still couldn't sleep for three to four nights.

So I went to the doctor again for the second time, and she suggested that I get some blood tests done. I got them done, and the report was fine. The third time I went, that doctor wasn't available. So I went to another doctor and told her this senior doctor had checked me, and she is trying to investigate what has happened to me. She did a physical examination on me. And she said that yes, your rib cage feels elevated. That was the first time someone validated my pain. She referred me to an orthopedic. She said it's a skeletal issue, and she also said that we only have male orthopedics, so if he would want to physically examine me, I could ask her to be present there. She was very kind. She said I would come with you if you weren't comfortable with another physical examination.

 So the next day, I went again for the fourth time. This was 2 days ago. This is where my biggest disappointment lies right now, and I feel so lost. I don't know what to do. So I went to that orthopedic, and I thought that at least he would properly do a physical examination. At least he would listen to my symptoms. But he was just so non-serious, and he was like a senior doctor, yet he just started making jokes. He was just making fun of everything. He said that I'm just stressed out. He said that I'm stressed out over a boy. He literally said that. And he said it's just stress. And I know the culture I come from is very misogynistic, but I was not expecting that. I was in shock. I wasn't even triggered. I was just in shock. And my mother was there as well, and she kind of agreed with the doctor. But that female doctor, she went with me. She advocated for me. She said to him that I think you should at least see her chest, it's elevated. She said that to him twice or thrice, but he ignored her.

He just asked me, do you do exercise? I said, no. I don't do exercise at home. I just walk around after eating. And after that, he said that is why this has happened because you don't do exercise. He was so vague. He didn't even suggest anything. He said maybe this happened because you work on the laptop all the time, but he primarily blamed it on stress. He said that I'm very stressed out about something in my life, and I should confide in my mother about it. He didn't even let me talk. Every time I'd tried to talk and say something like how I struggle to sleep at night, he just cut me off. He said I should do exercise, but he didn't even recommend any exercise to me. And he said I shouldn't take any painkillers at all, no matter how much pain I am in. I was just in shock that day that I couldn't sleep at night, and I'm in so much pain, and the doctor just dismissed my pain. I had never been in a situation like that before. So I'm still confused about what to do. I do think this is probably costochondritis, but I don't know what to do exactly. 

I don't have much pain on the left side anymore, which is great, but the swelling is now on both sides, left and right, and the chest is still elevated, and any movement causes pain. I did take ibuprofen some days ago, and the voltaren emulgel gel helped a lot. I can sleep at night, but only in a certain position. And my chest doesn't feel as heavy anymore. But sometimes I realize it's still elevated. And my back also feels stiff, that's new.

So I am just anxious. I have no guidance. No one to help me. Everyone except that female doctor dismissed my pain as stress and a posture issue. Also, I want to acknowledge that my posture isn't right. It happened gradually over the years because of depression and fatigue. I just didn't have the same energy as before. And I guess, when you don't feel confident in your life, it just kind of happens over time. I did intend to work on it after I get some things in my life sorted, but I guess I'm paying a huge price for that if that is the only explanation for why this has happened to me within ten days or something. What should I do about all of this? I don't know. But I need help. I don't have much money of my own right now, so I can't go to another doctor soon. And, honestly, I'm kind of shocked by all of that. So I'm even scared to tell a new doctor about what I am going through.

So for now, I'm just at home, and I need to know, is there any exercise that could help me? I did try doing exercises and working on my posture, but that actually worsened my pain. Now I have back pain, and pain in my rib cage area, not on my left or right side, though. I just need to get better. I heard people saying that it never really goes away or it stays for years, or there's no cure for it, and you have to do everything on your own. It's just too much information to take in. I don't know what to do on my own. I just want my chest to go back to normal. I want it to look and feel normal. And I want to be able to walk around normally without any pain. Can it go away entirely? For now, I want to manage it so that I can work on my life. Could this affect other parts of body too like digestion, heart, etc.? Maybe it causes strain on other organs, too?

The shortness of breath symptom is by far the worst. Been dealing with SOB for well over a year. And it’s way worse than the pain. Yes, been checked, nothing else wrong with me.

Costo can suck it. That is all.

Hi all,

Im pretty sure i have Costo from either the pandemic or the pfizer shots. Before this time I never had these symptoms.

Anyway, does anyone else feel their costo flare up during or after intenae cardio sessions?

When ive been for a run the cartilage around my ribs is so sore and inflamed. I did 5 miles on Friday and I was my ribs felt awful. The pain from the costo was worse than the pain of gassing out from such an intense session.

Im 36 but feel about 56 at the moment. This illness is annoying af.

I made an account just for this, because I remember how desperate I was after finding mostly negative posts about this, so if you're in the same spot I'll try to give some hope.

For context, I've had costichondritis for roughly four months total, have been completely pain free for the past two months and completely able to workout again without any restrictions.

So, for the first few weeks, if you do workout, don't do anything at all. When the pain is almost constant, I didn't actively do anything aside from from sleeping on my back religiously and minding my posture. I also really recommend heat and gel against pain, mine was an extra strong diclofenac Gel. When the pain wasn't constant anymore, I started with a lot of stretching and mobility which helped a lot. People really love the back pod, and I'm sure it's absolutely amazing, but I personally couldn't afford it. So I strongly recommend either a peanut ball or a rolled and then folded towels, so that it's roughly the shape of a back pod. I did that morning and evening for a couple weeks and pain slowly started getting less. It takes its time, it feels hopeless, but it will go away.

Lastly, when I was itching to workout again and only had pain with specific movements, I started reintroducing all my exercises with a lowered weights. If an exercise hurts, stop doing it and try again a week later. It's better to start low and work yourself up again than to rush and flare it again.

I know it's not much and there's no secret to it, but while I was recovering, I was really worried because I didn't read much about people who did. So, take this as a sign that, if you're a little mindful, it'll very likely go away.

I may have missed in the sub but is there a compilation of the best thoracic mobility exercises?