Who has Recovered from Costochondritis

[granitepeaker]

I've had Costochondritis for 6.5 years now. The worst part is my old chiropractor gave it to me! Never in my life will I ever go to a chiropractor that manually adjusts you by harsh physical means. I go to one occasionally now, but he uses an activator, which I don't find aggressive. I initially went to that bad chiropractor for shoulder pain and may now have chronic pain for the rest of my life in my chest. I went back in and she said I had slipping rib, which then led me to self diagnose with Costochondritis or more precisely Tietze Syndrome. Anyhow, I've seen about 20 doctors and tried everything. Not a single one of them had hears of Costochondritis or Tietze Syndrome. Started with the cat scan, xrays, and mri and nothing was found. Started with anti inflammatories and no help. Had about 7 epidural steroid injection as well as nerve pain injections and that did not help. Have had all sorts of second, third, etc opinions. Some really unhelpful clueless doctors that have gone as far as to say that it's all in my head and to say a shrink. Then I tell them to look at my left side of my chest and explain the jetted out swelling and no answer. Also saw one of the best surgeons in a 5 state radius and he explained a possible surgery, but it was very invasive and might end up being worse. I've tried just about every cream and vitamin and no help. There have been periods of time in my life where it has not bothered me as much and the only things I noticed different in my life during those times were less stress, less/no caffeine, and not sitting at a desk chair... they were long vacations. Otherwise it's a constant dull pain. Almost like someone is constantly sitting on your chest and it feels like your breathing is affected. I would really love to find a permanent cure to this sometime in the next few years so I don't have to suffer my entire life.

[Kjetil1234]

Because it's an autoimmune disease, it may be linked to imbalance in your gut flora. I've seen similiar conditions, like rhematoid arthritis, cured from supplementing on probiotics and getting a healthy D3 level. It's cheap and definitely worth a shot!

[Saidin]

Hey guys I revived this because I have had Costochronditis for 5 years now. I've ruled out everything with the heart/lungs/everything else in that area from countless medical trips and EKG's/X-rays --- you name it. The ONLY thing that made it better was when I would ball up a couple of T-shirts and put it under my back inbetween my shoulder blades. My costochronditis wasn't sharp pains so much as a swelling that made it harder to breath.... That was until I thought about what could be making the situation worse. It got worse when I used to use pre-workouts (Jack3d, NoExplode, 1MR), so I swapped to energy drinks (Monster), then to coffee. Three weeks ago I decided to drop caffeine all together after doing some research online and literally the next day the pain/swelling was gone. It's been three weeks and though I still have the occasional irritation, it's not anywhere close to what it was before.

TLDR ? Drop ALL caffeine for 24 hours and see how it works. It worked for me.

[Strongerleaner9]

Hello people

I was religiously working out for a long time until i was diagnosed with Costochondritis about a month ago. I need not say anything about the pain as u guys already know what kind of pain it is. Anyways my doctor prescribed me NSAIDs which worked well. I dont have that kinda pain any more, but it still aint that comfortable. It doesn't pain that bad any more but it feels like there is some thing on my chest pressing it hard and it is felt staight up to the back. I went to gym lifting light weights (half of what i used to lift earlier) after about 3 weeks of taking rest. Though there is no pain like before but i feel its not cured completely. I will be visiting the doctor soon for a follow up. Lets see what happens. All I am scared of is the pain or this condition lasting for a long time like other people have posted.

Any tips is highly appreciated.


Thanks

[roc430]

My symptoms are quite minor compared to some of yours, however, I still get pain in the area after sneezing, sitting with poor posture, doing pull-ups, dips, or any flat or decline presses. I've taken a week off from the gym and taking anti-inflammatories but nothing seems to be helping. I feel like the rest is not helping because ill just sneeze or try to move something at a weird angle and the pain just comes back. Any advice would be appreciated.

[RustyPipes]

My symptoms are quite minor compared to some of yours, however, I still get pain in the area after sneezing, sitting with poor posture, doing pull-ups, dips, or any flat or decline presses. I've taken a week off from the gym and taking anti-inflammatories but nothing seems to be helping. I feel like the rest is not helping because ill just sneeze or try to move something at a weird angle and the pain just comes back. Any advice would be appreciated.

It can take a long time to heal - I had it for four years back in my mid-twenties. Even today my chest still "pops" when I stretch it sometimes, but I haven't had pain for years. From what I've read the inflammation is in the cartilage connecting the sternum to the ribs, and since cartilage doesn't get blood flow it takes a lot of time to heal up. I found that massaging the painful area lightly helped, as did using a heating pad. I'd also avoid dips and pull ups and anything that will aggravate it.

[kh971]

Mine was a major convulsion on my eso****us that landed me in the ER. I thought it was a heart attack, hurts like hell. It loosened up the last ribs, that are connected by cartilage. It popped for months and after a CAT scan, and was told there was nothing my orthopedic surgeon could do. A chiropractor SLOWLY helped me stretch and get it pushed back into place over two months, next I started back in the gym to strengthen the pec to hold it into place.

[terryscotttalor]

I have been off my workouts (which were purely strength workouts, very low reps, high weight) for about 8 months now and counting due to costo. My symptoms are oh so slowly going away, and on a good day I won't feel anything at all. I have tried to get back to working out slowly (just shallow dips and pull ups) and have found each time so far, that it becomes irritated and symptomatic again. Then I take a few more weeks off and re-evaluate. I have been able to do a pushup without triggering any symptoms (which for me they appear the day or two after generally and persist for about a week) so it's getting better. That's the best progress I've made in 8 months of rest. It's just painfully slow.

The biggest issue for me was that I didn't put the pain together with the activity and aggravated this for three more solid months after it first started; it wasn't until the pain got so bad that I could not miss the association between the pain and the exercises that were causing it that I realized the link. At that point I had thoroughly aggravated my condition, and ensured that I would be out for months/years as opposed to days/weeks.

If you think you have this you first off need to see your doctor(my first visit was to the ER for chest pains), they can clear you for all of the scary things that it could be very quickly (they say about 1/3 of 'heart attacks' in the ER are eventually ruled costo). It's a differential diagnosis, there is no positive test, so they test you for everything else that it could be in order of severity, and when that's exhausted they call costo. If they're good they'll test it with a strong anti-inflammatory to see if that eases the symptoms. That's the first order of business, make sure that you don't have something serious.

The next thing to do is to STOP!!! Don't work through the pain; costo is just your cartilage being a little bit cranky with you, and at that it really sucks and can take a very, very, very long time to calm back down. A true cartilage injury (as opposed to just some inflammation) may never heal. It resolves very, very slowly, and the pain and symptoms never seem to really fully go away, you just reach a point where you realize they're so much less that you don't notice them any more. I think it's like turning the volume on a radio down very, very slowly and very steadily. Eventually you realize that you don't hear it anymore, but you're not sure at all when the sound went away because it faded so gradually.

Once you don't feel it anymore, I would still wait a week or two before you try anything and go back slowly with 2-4 days off in between - not for you muscles to recover - but to ensure that you haven't triggered the costo again. I have tried to get back into my sport (I do the rings, so I can really control the speed and load just like you can with weights, would be much harder with a faster moving sport or a more dynamically loaded sport like football, wrestling, baseball, etc.) three times so far, and the biggest problem in the beginning was that if I worked too hard I would not feel it that day or the next, but the symptoms would come back a day or two later and would usually fade again after about a week.
At this point I have not intentionally done anything really strenuous for about 8 months. Many people who get this are back in 1-3 weeks, provided they recognize it early and stop aggravating it through strenuous activity.

That's the key, and what I hope everyone will take away, that if you miss three weeks of workouts now, it may in reality be saving you many months of truly not being able to work out at all, coupled with really nasty symptoms. The symptoms that I still have left are a far, far cry from what it was like at its height.

Also, if you do have it just hold tight, be aware of movements and situations that trigger the pain, and avoid those. There was a point when I couldn't even do cardio because it caused it to flare up (this was because of my chest bouncing as I ran, not so much from the deep breathing, but the jarring of the upper body on footfall). The less it flares up, the less it's going to be flared up and it will eventually, slowly, and quietly fade away.
The toughest part about the recovery is that while it recovers the actual state (how flared up it is) of the costo cartillage changed so slowly, there were times when I was certain it would never heal. It does, it just moves at a 1/10th of a turtle's pace. Stop aggravating it, and settle in if you have a bad case. If you don't have a bad case, don't be an idiot and give yourself one, I assure you that you will regret it if you do get a bad case.


What it felt like:
shortness of breath
pain around sternum (3-5 ribs), sometimes radiating to the arm
pain in the back in the same area (3-5 ribs)
pain would move around, frequently switching side in the same day for no apparent reason
pain in certain positions (sleeping on my side, sitting up in bed to watch tv)
severe anxiety, with some full blown panic attacks when the symptoms were really bad (this happens for some people, doesn't happen for others)
Feels like a heart attack to people who haven't had a heart attack, very unnerving


What made it worse:
Working out, certain specific exercises made it much worse, but almost everything strains your chest to some degree so you have to very cautious with this
Strenuous activity of any kind(moving furniture, heavy work or fast movement)
moving heavy things generally or light things too quickly
at its height steering a car (with power steering mind you) was excrutiating and would lead to sharp symptoms for hours afterward
for me the pain resulted in panic attacks, for which I used Atavan (lorazepam) to control, as symptoms faded these did also (but I know what this feels like now and I take something the minute I start to lose control of it)
the key on this according to my doctor (and I've found she was right on) is to not go all the way into an attack, it's like your nervous system has been trained to move into that state without reasonable cause, you have to retrain it by preventing it from getting there for a long enough period of time (measured in months or years)
The medication can help with that a lot, I never used paxil or any long term SSRI type of meds, I just used the atavan for the sharp attacks, and managed the moderate ones with breathing, cardio (helps immensely), and just calming myself down/removing negative trigger for a bit if there is one you can find



What worked for the pain:
Aleve(naproxin), ibuprofin
Orange Juice/vitamin C
Glucosamine


What worked to make the symptoms stop:
months and months of time without aggravating it further


Worst part of it:
Not working out at all for very long periods, and knowing that I would have been back on in a few weeks if I had realized that I was aggravating an injury
It gets better so slowly, sometimes it feels like it's not even changing, and if that's the new baseline, that's a terrible way to have to live. Resist these thoughts, it is getting better, it just gets better very, very slowly, too slow for you to notice

[terryscotttalor]

Hello people

I was religiously working out for a long time until i was diagnosed with Costochondritis about a month ago. I need not say anything about the pain as u guys already know what kind of pain it is. Anyways my doctor prescribed me NSAIDs which worked well. I dont have that kinda pain any more, but it still aint that comfortable. It doesn't pain that bad any more but it feels like there is some thing on my chest pressing it hard and it is felt staight up to the back. I went to gym lifting light weights (half of what i used to lift earlier) after about 3 weeks of taking rest. Though there is no pain like before but i feel its not cured completely. I will be visiting the doctor soon for a follow up. Lets see what happens. All I am scared of is the pain or this condition lasting for a long time like other people have posted.

Any tips is highly appreciated.


Thanks

Take it very slow, it sounds like you've done the right thing and stopped the problem early, making this a blip on the radar of your life, as opposed to a major event that lasts six months or more.

I'm just getting on the other side of 8 months off due to this. The reason for the eight months was at the very start I didn't realize what was causing it so I continued to push hard for an additional 2-3 months and really aggravated my problem.

[touches]

I started working out about a year go and with great difficulty and patience I started seeing some results and felt happy about my progress and it was during the start of this year I started feeling mild pain around my right side rib cage wall whenever I used to do pushups for warming up. I left it at that and after a couple of days the pain became so severe and I could not even do 3 reps of pushups as it felt like a 60lb iron was being thrust into my chest and it was impossible to continue with the pain. Its been almost an year now and I have been diagnosed with this dreadful disease and I am yet to see any relief from the pain.

I have stopped working out for the past 9 months as soon as the pain became unbearable and I have taken all kinds of tests which turned out to be normal. I am taking regular heat, ultrasound and laser therapy for treating the pain but to no avail. Unlike others for me the pain does not radiate to the arm or to the back, it is localized to the outer walls of my right side rib cage. Some of my symptoms include

Severe pain while standing up after sitting for few hours ( I am working in IT full time)

It feels as if my chest area is locked up and stretching it out would relieve the pain, but stretching is very painful despite the common popping noise that comes from it

It is painful when I take a deep breath and certain postures causes discomfort and pain.

Right now I can feel the pain on the borders of my chest on the right side. I dont feel any better after taking pain killers, so I would like to know is there any hope to come out of this condition. I was very lean and it took great patience and effort from me to put on weight the right way but it is all gone to waste because of costchondritis.

How long or is it even possible for me to work out ever again?? Its almost a year since I stopped.. any guidance or any other medical advice would be really grateful. I am right now going to a physiotherapist and am thinking of going to an orthopedic specialist.

[LP119]

Like many others that wrote here I'm also glad I found this thread. I started to get costo symptoms 3 days ago, not sure what caused it but it was certainly something I did in the gym...I tried workout the next day since it wasn't hurting that much, felt ok in the gym, even bench pressing didn't feel too bad, then sitting at work the same day it started getting worst, with pain on my right side, to my sternum and in my upper pec... again it didn't feel to bad so I tried working out yesterday, running was fine, no pain whatsoever, then did my back and tricep routine and I could definitely feel it now and at work the pain was getting worst, and now I feel more pain on the right side of my upper ribs than to my sternum or pecs...Is it normal that pain kind of changed location? At this point and after reading some of the post I believe the only smart thing to do is stop completely going to the gym and wait a week and hope the pain goes away. Should I take anything more than ibuprofen to help with the inflammation?

Also should I still go to the doctor because I really feel this is a typical costo and nothing more? Did any of you go to a physiotherapist and did it help?

Since I'm a little worried, would you consider my symptoms pretty mild since I only really feel pain when I move my arm quickly...also when lying in bed, whenever I tried to get up that's when it hurts the most, still tolerable pain but pretty annoying and scary.

Anyways I just wanted to get you guys opinion on my situation.

Thanks and hope you guys feel better soon!

Cheers!

Did

[granitepeaker]

For all those with chronic pain from slipping rib (tietze syndrome) has anyone every tried prolotherapy? I've had chronic pain (every single day in my chest) for a little over 6 years now. There is finally a place in my town that practices prolotherapy and I think it may be worth a shot.

[LP119]

Just to add to my post, I don't know how most of you felt the symptoms but when I'm sitting or up on my feet I can barely feel any pain, unless I take a really deep breath. But whenever I lye down on my bed and move around a little on my back I can feel the pain pretty bad, but strangely enough it now seems to be mostly located to my ribs under my armpits... I'm wondering if any of you experienced pain mostly to the side of the ribs, because I'm beginning to wonder if I didn't pull my intercostal muscle as well.... I have a an appointment to see a physio next week so I'll see what he thinks.... It's just really annoying right now because it feel pretty good during the day but as soon as I lye down the pain come back without any sign of improvement...mind you it's only been 3 days so I should really be patient at this point...

[LP119]

Well I finally saw a physio this week and apparently people are quick to think that they have developed costochondritis. In my case I tough I had all the symptoms but he diagnosed me with 3 misaligned ribs, the result of prolonged bad posture at work and by compensating for that bad posture in the gym I developed the pain that I have now...to be truly honest I'm not exactly sure how posture could cause such sharp pain. I would think the pain would slowly progress not just be sudden like that..I'm not a doctor anyways...so my ribs that are misaligned are creating a lot of discomfort/pain in my torso/upper chest area...So it's been a week now of not working out at all and the pain, mostly when lying on my back and moving is pretty bad. I know it can take some time to heal but does anyone have tips for me to keep sane ?? The physio told me I could start any cardio activity if it doesn't hurt but at the same time I do not want to hinder my healing time....Anyways, I need to be patient is the bottom line. Has anyone here been diagnosed with misaligned ribs first then got diagnosed with costo afterward ?

Thanks !

[granitepeaker]

I'm going to give PRP injections a try next week. It's a little expensive since it's not covered by insurance, but I've been suffering with this chronic pain for over six years now.

[BluBlaDe]

Acupuncture was miraculous for me. Was in pain for 5 months and nothing I did could change anything, icing helped a little, physio and kiro didn't that much but three acupuncture sessions and I'm almost pain free, although I still have trouble breathing if I exercise and I'm not 100 % healed yet but getting there.

Good anti-inflamatory diet and good supplements like zinc, magnesium, fish oil, vitamin B6 helped too.

[granitepeaker]

I had my PRP injections and Mesotherapy done this morning. Platelet rich plasma to lower left ribs using platelets and procaine. The needles inserted ranged from 1-inch to 1.5-inch and were inserted 8 times. It was very painful, but not near as painful as what was about to come. After the PRP the doctor asked me if I wanted to also do mesotherapy at no cost. Well who can turn down free? So Mesotherapy was done to the same area for additional healing using procaine, b-complex, and traumeel. The mesotherapy was small needle pokes under the skin, but there was roughly about 70 of them done in rapid succession. This procedure was about a 13 of of 10 for pain whereas PRP was a 8-9. The mesotherapy is a slow release under the skin that I believe is supposed to help within hours whereas PRP will be at least 1-2 weeks before noticing and upwards to 8 weeks. I will keep you all posted in the week to come.

[jonasandersen98]

I got Costochondrtitis 3 months ago and it is the worst injury I haver ever had. Since I started lifting, gains were acquired weekly and the weight were always progressive. i was gaining multiple kg's a month and stretchmarks were so visible, that it looked like i have been cutting myself in the arms lol. I was the biggest most muscular dude in my school and pretty much builded a reputation as "the big guy" (always been skinny as hell lol)
I felt on top of the world and looking back now, just being able to lift is a privillige and I would do anything to get back again. Anyway, I did weighted dips on my chest day and I kinda felt discomfort in my "inner chest" when I did my dips. The last set i was maxing out and heard a very loud pop in my sternum. I was in shock, I had never heard anything like that. I have never got any injury in my lifting carreer. Being the idiot I am, I trained for about a week but every excerice hurt and I decided to push my ego to the side. I stopped but I did train for about 1-2 times a week to maintain. Now I do not train only doing some bicep curls at home and so on. I am in pain now and I hate it. I have gotten use to the fact that i am injured and accepted it.

How long will it take? Months or years? I have litterally searched everywhere on the internet, but I keep finding chronic cases of this. I have not heard one succes story yet that someone actually got over this injury in months, and got back to using the same weights as before. I would also like to know if this is common to get this injury? Thanks

[BluBlaDe]

Got mine by overdoing chin ups. By overdoing I mean doing them thrice a week, I guess I was destined to be a chump.

I will probably never train again, acupuncture was the only thing that really did help me, now the pain is manageable for the first time in 6 months, I felt like I was getting there but suddenly for no reason it got worse.

No one knows how long it will last, the doctors and all the specialists are all completely useless. Nobody understand your pain and they all think you are a pussy. My parents think I'm faking it and using it as an excuse to not work.

I just wish I had lost a finger or something else instead of getting this.

This injury is so rare that nobody ever tried to understand/cure it. That's why there's the bull**** '' lol u heal in 8 weeks'' all over the internet. Plus it won't kill you so it isn't dangerous. Well if I still have it after one year I don't think I will want to keep on living, just sayin'

Maybe your case isn't bad Jon, in mine I have had trouble breathing if I walked more than 3 minutes and have been in pain in the chest area for 6 months. Now I can walk around 20 minutes without being out of breath and the pain has lessenned.

[Brozef]

I think I might have Costochondrtitis on my right side. I thought it came out of no where but I think I remember the cause now.

About 4-5 months ago I was diagnosed with Scoliosis, and was told my posture needed work. After doing chest stretching 3x/day (ordered by a PT) I believe I developed Costo OR misaligned rib(s). Also, all my adult life I've noticed clicking/popping ribs on my right side

I have been working through the pain at the gym for months now, not knowing what it was, but after reading some replies here I think quitting the gym is the only smart thing to do (even though the pain is less than when it first appeared). I think I may have a mild case, I don't want it to get worse since it sounds like it can be absolutely dreadful.


Thanks to all for sharing you experiences and tips.

[jonasandersen98]

I cant run, but I can still walk without being in pain just no twisting, bouncing etc... I freaking have no clue how long this will take. Of course you cannot have a injury-free lifting career. It is part of the game, cause you are tearing down the body. Maybe it is not that rare because there are so many different cases of getting costo. I dont care about losing muscles no more, I just want to be pain-free. The only thing I am looking for is answers..... I am just worried of this is chronic and it will not fully go away.

[Bazan27]

I cant run, but I can still walk without being in pain just no twisting, bouncing etc... I freaking have no clue how long this will take. Of course you cannot have a injury-free lifting career. It is part of the game, cause you are tearing down the body. Maybe it is not that rare because there are so many different cases of getting costo. I dont care about losing muscles no more, I just want to be pain-free. The only thing I am looking for is answers..... I am just worried of this is chronic and it will not fully go away.

Well There are different cases of Costochondritis, the one thing that is all similar is that it evolves the Cartilage. From Research, what I think I had got was Tietze Syndrome. My left side of my chest had an inflammation with like a pointy feel like bone sticking out in the sternum connected to the cartilage, I had it for months and needed to stop working out. Wasn't recovering by itself and i heard a Anti-Inflammatory Diet would help, but after two weeks of it I didn't feel any improvement so I Stop. My mom found this medicine that after just 1 week, the inflammation was already going down, the pointy bonelike sternum went down and i was able to do a few push ups again. since i just started to take them, Im still not fully recover but it seems very promising. Its called :[[Flex-a-min by Nature's Bounty]]
Hope it helps and stop doing any exercise or anything else that could put stress on it. Being Stubborn by still working out made it worse for me. Just Rest and Recover and Don't test it too much.

[jonasandersen98]

Well There are different cases of Costochondritis, the one thing that is all similar is that it evolves the Cartilage. From Research, what I think I had got was Tietze Syndrome. My left side of my chest had an inflammation with like a pointy feel like bone sticking out in the sternum connected to the cartilage, I had it for months and needed to stop working out. Wasn't recovering by itself and i heard a Anti-Inflammatory Diet would help, but after two weeks of it I didn't feel any improvement so I Stop. My mom found this medicine that after just 1 week, the inflammation was already going down, the pointy bonelike sternum went down and i was able to do a few push ups again. since i just started to take them, Im still not fully recover but it seems very promising. Its called :[[Flex-a-min by Nature's Bounty]]
Hope it helps and stop doing any exercise or anything else that could put stress on it. Being Stubborn by still working out made it worse for me. Just Rest and Recover and Don't test it too much.

Wow that's amazing I will try it out for sure. So did your costochondritis come from an injury or did it just come out of the blue? Mine was from really bad form on dips causing a pop and then just imflammtion as hell. Actually my costo was not that bad in the beginning. It could still do very heavy overheadpresses without pain. But then it got worse probably from traning. I just think the imflammtion spread and I startet getting it under my arms and yeah everywhere. It is at it's peak the pain now, but it is still manageable.

[Bazan27]

Wow that's amazing I will try it out for sure. So did your costochondritis come from an injury or did it just come out of the blue? Mine was from really bad form on dips causing a pop and then just imflammtion as hell. Actually my costo was not that bad in the beginning. It could still do very heavy overheadpresses without pain. But then it got worse probably from traning. I just think the imflammtion spread and I startet getting it under my arms and yeah everywhere. It is at it's peak the pain now, but it is still manageable.

Yeah, it was from an injury doing decline presses, the last rep was the trigger, I had push too hard. From what I read, exercise for the lower chest like declines and dips are the main cause of it. And exactly like you, it wasn't bad at first so i still worked out but then it was completely F****. Everywhere I went, doctors just told me in due time but it was taking way too long heal. This medicine seems to be speeding the process. Just work your self up again but not until your positive you full recover, In time we will get back to the point we were. Just don't start too soon. Really hope the medicine helps you out. I know the pain.

[jonasandersen98]

Yeah, it was from an injury doing decline presses, the last rep was the trigger, I had push too hard. From what I read, exercise for the lower chest like declines and dips are the main cause of it. And exactly like you, it wasn't bad at first so i still worked out but then it was completely F****. Everywhere I went, doctors just told me in due time but it was taking way too long heal. This medicine seems to be speeding the process. Just work your self up again but not until your positive you full recover, In time we will get back to the point we were. Just don't start too soon. Really hope the medicine helps you out. I know the pain.

It has to be a common injury cause there are so many ways to get this, it's crazy. Shrugs, pullups, benchpresses, from sports etc.... Almost every case of Costochondrtis is different on this thread. I definitely think that if the Costo came from an injury like ours, it is gonna heal. Also I keep finding only women with costochondritis. I don't think it is normal for a male to get this **** lol... I just hope to recover from this, I have hopes in bodybuilding and to build an nice aesthetic body. Thanks mate

[Bazan27]

It has to be a common injury cause there are so many ways to get this, it's crazy. Shrugs, pullups, benchpresses, from sports etc.... Almost every case of Costochondrtis is different on this thread. I definitely think that if the Costo came from an injury like ours, it is gonna heal. Also I keep finding only women with costochondritis. I don't think it is normal for a male to get this **** lol... I just hope to recover from this, I have hopes in bodybuilding and to build an nice aesthetic body. Thanks mate

Like you said, its different for us cause is an injury and I have read that it is more common for women. But overall Lets just hope for the better.

[terryscotttalor]

how soon after working out did the symptoms come up? the reason I ask is because I did weighted dips yesterday and I started having similar symptoms tonight, so I'm just curious if its possible for the inflammation to be delayed by almost a day?

I've had costo for about a year now and it's slowly clearing up (note that I aggravated mine for a bout three months of very heavy strength work before I understood what was causing it and stopped) ; that's a year with no strength work whatsoever. Had I stopped sooner, I probably would have just been out of the gym for a few weeks. It is very hard to tell what brings it on or doesn't, I think this is because the cartilage has a delayed reaction (very slow, very very slow) to any stimulus or to rest. So you'll rest one day and then feel it the next, but not realize that you're feeling it because of something you did three days before. It's very slow to go away, you just have to be very patient and suffer through it until it's gone.

Once it's gone it should stay gone for the same reasons. It's a problem that I think gets built up and aggravated over a period of time until it presents symptoms. Once it's calmed back down fully, it should be difficult to cause a flare up again. That is what I tell myself to keep my sanity at least.

For me the symptoms post exercise (I have tried to get back several times) happened in the 1-3 days following. As it has calmed down more, that time has gotten reduced (sometimes right after an activity too strenuous, or in the next day).

At this point, I am still not able to get back to anything even close to a real workout, just half dips, half pull ups, or other very minor exercises cause it to flare back up. It takes forever to go away, and takes very little to flare it back up before it has calmed down. It's kind of like having a staring contest with a block of ice in the early spring, you know it will eventually melt, but it's not going to blink first. You just have to be smart, let it calm back down and not aggravate it.

Worst year of my life, at least from the internal how I feel day to day perspective. Worst injury I've seen.

My advice if you have it is to stay out of the gym, try the OTC stuff (glucosamine for the pain and Naproxen worked best for me), and avoid any activity that aggravates it at all. Now that mine is starting to recede, I am starting to stretch again to try and keep things moving. If that hurts I would avoid that as well personally.

[terryscotttalor]

Like you said, its different for us cause is an injury and I have read that it is more common for women. But overall Lets just hope for the better.

Generally woman get this, and in most cases (it's really unfortunate) I don't think they have as good of a prognosis because it's due to *ahem* different weight distribution in the upper body and the postural differences it engenders, as opposed to a specific activity or training regimen that has just strained the connective tissue in this part of the body too much. I feel terrible for these people, because this is a really nasty thing to have, especially if there were no end in sight.

For most on this forum, it's probably the strain related variety of costo which has a good prognosis as long as the individual stops aggravating it and let's the cartilage calm down. For the former case this is more difficult because there is no overly strenuous activity to point to and avoid to allow the cartilage to calm down.

Generally this is a problem for people that are upping their weight a lot too quickly, or who are just starting strength training. I was about three years in when this happened to me, and it was associated to one particular exercise that I wasn't strong enough to do. It's a problem of strength in the connective tissue causing inflammation in the cartilage. Can happen to anyone at any level, but generally to relative beginners (including experienced folks who are shifting from a body building regimen to a strength building regimen since they stress the body differently) at strength training.

[terryscotttalor]

Got mine by overdoing chin ups. By overdoing I mean doing them thrice a week, I guess I was destined to be a chump.

I will probably never train again, acupuncture was the only thing that really did help me, now the pain is manageable for the first time in 6 months, I felt like I was getting there but suddenly for no reason it got worse.

No one knows how long it will last, the doctors and all the specialists are all completely useless. Nobody understand your pain and they all think you are a pussy. My parents think I'm faking it and using it as an excuse to not work.

I just wish I had lost a finger or something else instead of getting this.

This injury is so rare that nobody ever tried to understand/cure it. That's why there's the bull**** '' lol u heal in 8 weeks'' all over the internet. Plus it won't kill you so it isn't dangerous. Well if I still have it after one year I don't think I will want to keep on living, just sayin'

Maybe your case isn't bad Jon, in mine I have had trouble breathing if I walked more than 3 minutes and have been in pain in the chest area for 6 months. Now I can walk around 20 minutes without being out of breath and the pain has lessenned.

Mine was the same, when it's severe it's really bad. Trip to the ER since it felt like a heart attack, tietzes syndrome symptoms that lead to panic attacks (since the inflammation was not just on the outside of the chest where you can feel it but also on the inside, where it presses against the heart and lungs - something that the human body and nervous system don't appreciate). I had the same shortness of breath for about 4 months or more, total nightmare. And I also got the disbelief from my wife until she heard a doctor say it. It's real, and it really sucks if you've managed to aggravate it (or in my case just kept on working out because you didn't realize the workouts were causing the problem, or that there was any serious problem).

This was by far the worst injury I've seen, and takes forever to heal. I'm about a year from my last true workout and it's worlds better, especially from 6-8 months ago. I take Naproxin for the inflammation and used glucosomine for the pain when it was really bad. Now I am almost symptom free in normal life, but still haven't got back to any work outs.

Hang in there, try not to aggravate it (I only do the stair stepper to try and keep some weight control, running aggravates it for me and weights are not even a possibility without a flare up yet), you're chipping away at a mountain with a spoon every day that you rest. If you've made yourself a big mountain, that mountain doesn't go away fast. When you work out you're heaping dirt back on with a shovel if you haven't given enough time for the cartilage to calm down.

[terryscotttalor]

I got Costochondrtitis 3 months ago and it is the worst injury I haver ever had. Since I started lifting, gains were acquired weekly and the weight were always progressive. i was gaining multiple kg's a month and stretchmarks were so visible, that it looked like i have been cutting myself in the arms lol. I was the biggest most muscular dude in my school and pretty much builded a reputation as "the big guy" (always been skinny as hell lol)
I felt on top of the world and looking back now, just being able to lift is a privillige and I would do anything to get back again. Anyway, I did weighted dips on my chest day and I kinda felt discomfort in my "inner chest" when I did my dips. The last set i was maxing out and heard a very loud pop in my sternum. I was in shock, I had never heard anything like that. I have never got any injury in my lifting carreer. Being the idiot I am, I trained for about a week but every excerice hurt and I decided to push my ego to the side. I stopped but I did train for about 1-2 times a week to maintain. Now I do not train only doing some bicep curls at home and so on. I am in pain now and I hate it. I have gotten use to the fact that i am injured and accepted it.

How long will it take? Months or years? I have litterally searched everywhere on the internet, but I keep finding chronic cases of this. I have not heard one succes story yet that someone actually got over this injury in months, and got back to using the same weights as before. I would also like to know if this is common to get this injury? Thanks

First, if you have any of the symptoms of heart attack (which most people with this do), see your doctor and get cleared of any worries around that. You need to be very cautious with those symptoms and a doctor can positively tell you whether you have serious problems from a heart perspective. They generally can't tell you that you have costo, but they can tell you that you're not having a heart attack which is important to know.


Mine has required a full year of no activity to get to pain free normal life (no strength/weight workouts of any kind, and very little cardio as well).

I aggravated mine pretty severely, doing very heavy strength work for three months after start of symptoms, so I really aggravated mine and did myself a huge dis-service. Probably would have cleared in a week or two if I had just stopped and let it rest.

My advice is to stop, figure out how you can move that will not cause pain (this includes posture like hunching forward); once the cartilage gets inflamed it is very, very touchy and things which were once normal will cause discomfort and aggravate it. Once you understand what movements cause problems for you, then I suggest anti-inflammatories (like naproxin or aleve) and rest. You can't work out through this one, you have to let it rest and you will lose some mass. I was never that big, but my wife get's sad that she can reach all the way around my upper arms now. The muscle will come back once you can get back to the gym, you need to concentrate on getting yourself back into the gym and not making it worse.

If you haven't been seen by a doctor you should if you have any symptoms that mimic heart attack (which most people do) to ensure you don't have anything serious going on. Once you're cleared for that focus all your energy on moving in ways that do not lead to any feelings from it at all. It needs to rest for the cartilage to calm down. I have been to doctors and what I've seen them best for is letting you know you're not crazy, and re-affirming the regimen of no strenuous activity coupled with anti-inflammatories and heaps of patience. If you've gotten yourself a bad case it takes a long time of really miserable (like I don't like life anymore miserable) symptoms before it turns around and gets better.

But it will turn around.