rib/upper abdominal injury leg press

[Strngth2Strngth]

Sounds exactly like what happened to me. I hope you heal faster than 4 week too... I kept going to the gym, but the first two weeks I had to switch to cardio on the recumbent bike because jogging was uncomfortable. And then I also did some weight as was comfortable. by the 3rd week I was able to do most weights in some way. And this week I have gone back to full force at the 3.5 week mark of my injury.

Good luck on a speedy recovery. It's hard to break up your progress by 3-4 weeks for healing.

I'm wanting to say thanks for your post. Sounds very similar to my experience, it's been 1 week for me, doing my best to keep up the weights and training program, but struggling with the pain. Can't jog, ab work is almost impossible, leg press out of the question.

In fact, almost every exercise I do seems to cause pain to this area (right side under lower rib cage) so it's been interesting to see how all the muscles combine in some way to support each other.

So I'm going to focus on cardio and upper body for now, and keep up a very light program for legs and abs until recovery. I can also relate to having low core strength so will bring that more into focus as well. My Dr. confirmed no broken ribs etc, purely muscle related and not much to do except wait and take it easy was the advice.

Still pumped, with a slow leak on the right side !!

[WillieDaniels]

Thanks to everyone who posted on this thread. I had the same injury yesterday on incline leg press. Same left side lower rib area. Like several others have said, I think I dropped too deep as my knees were almost touching my chest when I felt it pop. Pain isn't too bad for me, and from reading other reports nothing too much too worry about. Lesson learned!!

[ArmageddonN]

I have been reading tons of posts on this forum about rib pains. Some from actual contact sports injuries that were often confirmed as broken or fracture ribs. And others that hadn't been to the Dr yet (like me) that felt the pain when doing exercise like Squats, Leg Press, or Bench, etc.

Just a few days ago, Wed (now Sat), I did some squats, then hamstrings, and then decided to finish off legs with the Leg Press. Did much more weight than I usually do. 320Lbs. (I am just a beginner). And at about my 5th push, I felt some kind of pop or tear on my bottom left rib. I stopped a sec. And then pushed a few more reps at 295. But then had to stop because of the pain.

I don't see any visible issues. No swelling, no bruising, no bumps or lumps when compared to the right side, etc. I have medical insurance and so if it still feels like it's not improving by Monday or Tuesday, I will likely see a Dr.

Obviously the best thing to do is see a Dr. But we all already know that, so no reason to tell people online to go see a Dr. Anyway, I was hoping to find more people that had a similar injury from Leg Press. This thread is the perfect match for me.

Though the author didn't come back to tell us how their experience ended. Hopefully I will.

I think I wasn't breathing properly when it happened. I will give some basic symptoms. No pain when breathing. No pain when lifting my arms or doing lat pull downs. Most of the pain seems to be from direct pressure to the bottom left rib. So sleeping on it is painful. Sitting while leaning forward puts pressure on it. Pushing on it with my hand of course hurts, etc.

But otherwise it's not generally painful when walking around. Other than it taking a seemingly long time to heal, it doesn't feel like it's serious enough to rush to the Dr. But I wanted to see if I could get more responses from people who had the same injury from Squats or Leg Press. And how it ended for them. More specifically, how long they had to not do weights.

Thanks Xenon. Last week I did leg press and I thought I broke something in my left lower rib region. But my trainer said it will fade away. I was a bit anxious as it hasn't faded yet. Your posts really helped me to understand.

[Bigfrog789]

I just had this exact same thing. Was using the leg press (because I'd strained a muscle in my back moving a box with a ride-on tractor for my 3 year old's birthday) instead of doing squats. I was going really deep and heavy to try and get a decent burn (I've found in the past I never feel my legs that sore after the leg press vs squats a day or two later). Anyway, on my last set on about rep 7 I felt a pop around my bottom left rib when I was pushing the weight back up. Wasn't that sore at the time, but 2 days later it's now pretty tender, especially when I jog, and quite uncomfortable to lie on. It feels muscular rather than the ribs themselves, so assume it's some deep abdominal muscle injury.

Funny how it seems to be on the left for everyone though. :-/

This just happened to me over the weekend doing incline leg presses, however all the pain is on my right side just underneath the rib cage instead of the left. Was on my 4th or 5th set I think so just about done. Guessing this has to do with the fact that my left leg/side is stronger than my right and most of you guys are probably the opposite. Very uncomfortable indeed. Hope it heals quickly so I can get back to it.