rib/upper abdominal injury leg press

[intermilan]

I was doing a leg press and I felt a sharp pain in my upper right abdominal and rib, the next day I could hardly get out of bed, my right side hurts when I breath, but nothing is broken, I think I strained my rib or abdominal.

Has anybody ever have the same experience, it hurts like hell.

You feel it when you breath and it is not comfortable to sleep.

any help??

[mike_d]

sternum?

[dano104]

If it is hurting when you breath, and nothing actually contacted your ribcage, I would be more leaning to a problem with your diaphragm.... just an idea

[xenon2000]

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.

[xenon2000]

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.

So I saw a Dr yesterday about my rib and back pain. I didn?t really think anything was broken or fractured, and it was nice to get confirmation that nothing was broken. I was told the rib pain was costalchondritis. Which seems odd since everything I read online says that is from unknown causes. Never once mentioned as an injury or from exercise. But oh well. I just need to heal and regroup.

Back pain is just from the sudden Deadlifts and then healing was aggrivated by the heavy leg presses. But it?s feeling a lot better now. I should be ready to go as soon as my rib pain goes away.

[xenon2000]

So I saw a Dr yesterday about my rib and back pain. I didn?t really think anything was broken or fractured, and it was nice to get confirmation that nothing was broken. I was told the rib pain was costalchondritis. Which seems odd since everything I read online says that is from unknown causes. Never once mentioned as an injury or from exercise. But oh well. I just need to heal and regroup.

Back pain is just from the sudden Deadlifts and then healing was aggrivated by the heavy leg presses. But it?s feeling a lot better now. I should be ready to go as soon as my rib pain goes away.

The Dr didn't tell me how long to expect for healing, but it's been a week since the Dr visit and 12 days since the injury. And it's still painful. The pain is less during the day. But still very painful to lay straight on my back on the floor or on my side. And it still aches a ton when I first wake up.

I wonder how long it's going to take to heal. I really want to lift again and avoid the injury this time!

[xenon2000]

The Dr didn't tell me how long to expect for healing, but it's been a week since the Dr visit and 12 days since the injury. And it's still painful. The pain is less during the day. But still very painful to lay straight on my back on the floor or on my side. And it still aches a ton when I first wake up.

I wonder how long it's going to take to heal. I really want to lift again and avoid the injury this time!

Today it has now been 3 weeks since my injury. Sadly I am not healed. Though this week I am finally starting to feel some improvement. Still painful to sleep on my left side where the injury is. I will try to remember to post when I think it's fully healed so others can see how long this can take. I need to work on my core before I start trying to do heavy lifting/pushing again. Heavy for me anyway.

[Vovin]

Do you know if you have been favoring one leg over the other while executing the leg press? Uneven distribution could cause an injury. I do not have a whole lot of knowledge on this injury but once healed I would definitely look into increasing core strength on top of making sure your breathing and form are proper.

Good luck on a speedy recovery!

[xenon2000]

Do you know if you have been favoring one leg over the other while executing the leg press? Uneven distribution could cause an injury. I do not have a whole lot of knowledge on this injury but once healed I would definitely look into increasing core strength on top of making sure your breathing and form are proper.

Good luck on a speedy recovery!

Thanks for the comment. I likely favor my right leg. But looking back. I think 3 things lead to my injury. Which is exactly what you just said.
1. Core strength. Lack of.
2. Form. Dropping too deep. My legs were touching my ribs with each drop. Can't be good.
3. Breathing. Found myself holding my breath at the bottom of the drops.

[xenon2000]

Update: Today it has now been 4 weeks since my injury. I feel significanly better. I can sleep on both side fine. Pain is not intense in the mornings anymore. It doesn't hurt for most exercises. And is only slightly tender when presses directly on it. I have gotten back into my routines. Sad that it took 4 weeks. But glad it wasn't longer. I am sure in a few more weeks it won't be tender at all.

[Vovin]

Glad to hear it's going better, good luck on getting back in to your exercise routines asap :P

[ripsnub]

Hey Xenon2000
Did the same thing my self on Monday. Incline leg press. I usually lay the backrest a bit more parallel, but it was moved a bit more vertical a bit this time, I was just doing some warm down sets as I did legs Sunday...last rep, of 3rd set as I lowered the weight, felt a very strange pop in lower left rib area, like the ribs had crunched and rolled over each other. Today, Thursday is very sore, does hurt to take a deep breath and sleeping on that side is painful. Sounds pretty similar to what you did. I would consider myself advanced, but I guess we are all subject to injury at anytime. Sounds like you are mended at this time...hopefully I can get through it faster than 4 weeks....frustrating indeed.

[xenon2000]

Hey Xenon2000
Did the same thing my self on Monday. Incline leg press. I usually lay the backrest a bit more parallel, but it was moved a bit more vertical a bit this time, I was just doing some warm down sets as I did legs Sunday...last rep, of 3rd set as I lowered the weight, felt a very strange pop in lower left rib area, like the ribs had crunched and rolled over each other. Today, Thursday is very sore, does hurt to take a deep breath and sleeping on that side is painful. Sounds pretty similar to what you did. I would consider myself advanced, but I guess we are all subject to injury at anytime. Sounds like you are mended at this time...hopefully I can get through it faster than 4 weeks....frustrating indeed.

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.

[ripsnub]

Thats cool.
Yes, seems like whenever you begin to make some progress, something happens to set you back...been recovering from partial bicep tear and shoulder issue the last year, lost so much strength, then really been getting gains back then this rediculous thing with the ribs....Probably just hit the ellipical tonight and maybe give some light weights a test on what causes rib pain and what doesnt...blah ! Oh well.

[Al Swearengen]

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 for the comment. I likely favor my right leg. But looking back. I think 3 things lead to my injury. Which is exactly what you just said.
1. Core strength. Lack of.
2. Form. Dropping too deep. My legs were touching my ribs with each drop. Can't be good.
3. Breathing. Found myself holding my breath at the bottom of the drops.

i would venture a guess it has far more to do with the above i bolded, in any case i hope it heals fine for you but yeah all the rookies make this mistake including myself a time or two. never ever do a weight that is a lot more on any lift than you normally do it's just begging for injury's.

[ripsnub]

i would venture a guess it has far more to do with the above i bolded, in any case i hope it heals fine for you but yeah all the rookies make this mistake including myself a time or two. never ever do a weight that is a lot more on any lift than you normally do it's just begging for injury's.

My Update...
Well it has been just over a week since the rib/cartilege popping incident...rib pain is mostly gone - with a couple tender spots, been hitting the weights pretty much normal this week with some rib discomfort, can do about 90% of my routine with a few exercises left off the roster - maybe next week...so good news it did not take 4 weeks....but will probably be that long before I go the incline leg press again, just need to lay the back rest more horizontal to the floor like I normally do...less compression on the rib cage.
Steve.

[Kangwel]

I had the same issue today, it really irked me. I was working through a pyramid at my second to heaviest weight, 810 LBS, got a pop. I leg press really deep, always have. It happened on rep 8, I got up and did leg extensions and came back. I couldn't even complete a rep. I dropped two plates and tried again, pain was persistent. I dropped to two plates, four total and the pain persisted. My abs are fairly strong but an obvious weak point on my body so my first assumption was I strained an oblique or upper abdominal muscle. There was a distinctive pop when it happened. So I don't know what to make of it. This just happened to me today so I will try to repost tomorrow after I lift. I have always understood if it burns push, if it hurts stop.

[sherryboyer5]

I have been experiencing some intense left sided rib pain since leg day on Thursday. I didn't notice it until after I finished and returned home. It's more upper and to the side. It is extremely painful to pressure so I can't sleep or lay on my left slide, bending over at times takes my breath away and sudden movements cause the pain to be extremely intense. No obvious breaks, no bruises, no bleeding and breathing does not hurt. Coughing sneezing and laughing is unbearable! Hoping for insight other than the obvious---go to the doctor👍

[xenon2000]

I have been experiencing some intense left sided rib pain since leg day on Thursday. I didn't notice it until after I finished and returned home. It's more upper and to the side. It is extremely painful to pressure so I can't sleep or lay on my left slide, bending over at times takes my breath away and sudden movements cause the pain to be extremely intense. No obvious breaks, no bruises, no bleeding and breathing does not hurt. Coughing sneezing and laughing is unbearable! Hoping for insight other than the obvious---go to the doctor��

Well for me, it eventually went away and I haven't had it happen again since then. I have since gone way over 320 Lbs on the leg press over the years. I don't go as low angle as I did when this happened to me. So not sure if that caused it in the first place. Since I never went to the Dr to check it out, I am not sure what exactly happened. But it did go away with time and hasn't been an issue. Like any general advice; I only have the same "wait and see" or "go to a Dr." I personally waited and since it started to be better, I didn't go to the Doctor. Given the time passed, I don't think I did any actually damage. Looking at my previous post, it looks like it took about 3.5 weeks to heal. Good luck.

[sbj1229]

I have been experiencing some intense left sided rib pain since leg day on Thursday. I didn't notice it until after I finished and returned home. It's more upper and to the side. It is extremely painful to pressure so I can't sleep or lay on my left slide, bending over at times takes my breath away and sudden movements cause the pain to be extremely intense. No obvious breaks, no bruises, no bleeding and breathing does not hurt. Coughing sneezing and laughing is unbearable! Hoping for insight other than the obvious---go to the doctor��

Well Sherry,

Im sure you're all better but I'm replying to you because you're the only one to post in 2015. I just had mine pop for the first time in my life this morning during my workout. So I decided to do a little research. I've noticed a consistent theme throughout the post I've read. So far it's happened to everyone on leg day. (some with leg press, I was doing deep barbell squats). So far most have been saying that they were going really deep during reps, as I was I squat all the way until my hamstrings touch my calves. Lastly I've noticed the location and symptoms are quite similar. I have a degree in physical therapy, I've been a certified personal trainer since 2008, and I coach high school football and wrestling. I've been working out for over 30 years. I seem to think with all my knowledge injury can't happen to me, but I definitely felt a pop and sharp pain at the bottom of my squat. If I were talking to a client or a patient I would tell them see a doctor for anything greater than a 5/10 pain on a scale of 0-10. Less than 5/10 wait a day or so to see if it gets better or worse and act accordingly. I'm currently at about a 2-3/10 at rest, its there but nothing excruciating. And finally after all these years I'm probably not going go past 90 degrees when I'm squatting :'-(

[eliseocortes]

Today i feel the same excruating pain in my left low rib cage, i feel like an oblique get kink with my floating left rib..is awfull, i think the weight belt could prevent the injury....but yes was in a angle leg press, and was the way down knees touching chest.....

[eliseocortes]

Spleen...

I went to look for my lab works and i find a high basophills, what that means, splenectomy i think the pain i have is cause for an injury to my spleen, cause by leg press....

[kimanimacharia]

I'm glad it's a common injury... Was beginning to get worried. I normally take pain killers before training. Reduces discomfort. It's been a week for me already. It should heal already... Very annoying

[xenon2000]

I'm glad it's a common injury... Was beginning to get worried. I normally take pain killers before training. Reduces discomfort. It's been a week for me already. It should heal already... Very annoying

Yeah, it took a long time for mine to fully recover. But I just don't go as low and it hasn't happened since and my weights are much heavier now on the leg press. I basically imagine how long I go with barbell Squats and that is how far I go with the seated uphill leg press sled.

[jcwild]

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. :-/

[xenon2000]

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. :-/

8 years later and this hasn't happened again since I stopped going so deep and the weight I use is way heavier. Likely also because I am not going so deep. If you have the same thing, it seems that it takes a good 3-4 weeks to fully recover from this. Mine was about 3.5 weeks.

[salduvas]

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.

This just happened to me today! It hurts really bad

[Stalzy]

Wish I read about this earlier. Happened to me today. I'm a novice lifter. My leg press has a flat and an upper bent platform. I tried to go on the higher one for some reason to test it. As I sunk down, it was way too inverted. Squeezed so much pressure. Felt the button left rib pop/roll out. I expect a lot more pain tomorrow. That being said I put in a killer leg day though.

[CapricornMe]

I am lucky I found this thread. I have the same rib area pain on the left side and it happened after leg day although I don’t recall feeling the pop that some of the previous posts mentioned.

Can anyone who experienced this tell me if they took any medication? And did you stop going to the gym all together until you healed?

[CapricornMe]

How was your recovery from this? Did you completely stop working out? If so for how long? I so need to go back to the gym but am scared to delay recovery if I do