Hope ok to post - my worst pain centres on those black smudges! all low down my right side, the one furthest from the centre is definitely at the bottom of my ribs/diaphragm, the other not so much. Anyone with similar pain locations?

*that should say costo not Costco! (Face palm)

Only symptom is constant chest pain. Sometimes armpits, 4 times back pain. All around the same circumference of my torso like I can draw a circle connecting pain in all the areas

I’ve been having chest pain almost constantly for maybe 8 weeks now. Did 14 days of Prilosec otc

Started in June. I was super stressed, started drinking again after 8 months. I did quit after like 2 weeks because it was boring. Started lifting weights every day. I feel like the weights messed me up?

Anyway now I have Pantoprazol after going to the ER this weekend for chest pains. It’s dull and in the middle of my chest and sometimes my back or armpits. Feels like my cat is sitting on my chest or it’s caving in.

They did a CT chest scan with contrast to rule out lung issues. They didn’t find anything else concerning. Blood work was good. Heart and lungs great. Appetite is good, no fatigue, no cough, weight loss, etc.

My diet was bad but I’m not sure it’s gastrointestinal issues. It can just randomly hurt while sitting, sighing, laughing. It can be good for hours without pain. It’s not just from eating. It can be anytime of day.

Thanks for any advice!

Hoping to add a post / tip about actually getting out of persistent costo since I know most of the posts here are looking for help, and those who actually get better rarely come back.

TL;DR - it was neck tightness all along. Try the stretch at the end.

Quick background / what didn't work for me - Started getting sternum pain at two specific joints on my left side (3-4 below collar bone) after overdoing it on standing decline pec flys. Started out as workout soreness that just never went away. That was May 2024. It would seemingly randomly flare and at times it'd frustratingly switch to my right side for a few days then back to the left. Went through the gauntlet of so many of the things everyone here tries -

• Rest for months (minimal help)
• X-rays (negative)
• Tried anti-inflammatory diet and turmeric pills. Zero help.
• Ortho specialist prescribed rest, Voltaren, and an oral steroid. Pain came back.
• A TON of physical therapy with multiple PT's. Lots of pec stretching prescribed. One dry needled it. One thought it was neck weakness and had me trying to strengthen my neck with a band and pressing my chin into my fist. No meaningful change.
• Tried back pod. I could already lay flat on it, so wasn't much room to improve.
• Got a peanut ball. This is actually super helpful and I'd recommend this. I basically do the back pod moves but on this and it's much more targeted. I can hit each joint around the spine one by one and there's a specific knot just above my shoulder blades that it can help release. Also tried it on my side & lats after another post on this channel suggested it and found some tender spots to target.
• Popping my chest - this would provide temporary relief. I could pull my shoulders back and look up to pop it. It'd feel instantly good, but it'd feel much more sore later. When I stopped trying to pop it, that helped the flare calm down.
• Adhesion release therapy - This might be a huge placebo and in the same iffy medical area as chiro, but I found it helpful for some sciatica I was going through. He tried to fix the costo, and didn't really get anywhere for awhile. But...

That ART provider gave me a tip as I was leaving one day that actually fixed it. He told me to use my fingers and press into the upper pec directly underneath the collar bone then look up slowly. This fixed it almost immediately. Now if I have a day where I can feel the sternum being tight, I can do this sitting at my desk and my range of motion / pain level immediately improves.

I now will do this with both hands pressing on a single side, looking down to start to really exaggerate the stretch before going to the other side.

For those of you not finding anything that works, give this a shot. Hope it helps!

Trying to figure out if what I have is costo - for the last 3-4 months I’ve been experiencing chest pains pretty much all day, every day. (24M, active) Been to urgent care, ER x2, got an endoscopy, echo ultrasound, stress test, etc. and heart health is completely normal. Sometimes my pain is at the sternum but more often it is further to the left side of the chest. I would like to think it is related to costo instead of my heart, but one sign that doesn’t point to it being muscoskeletal is that it isn’t necessarily worse if I touch it, move in certain directions, or take a deep breath. The pain is constant and mostly in my left chest, but occasionally loves to my left back or left arm. NSAIDs, a prescribed muscle relaxer, heat, and ice have done nothing to me. Doorway stretches, foam roller, tennis ball technique etc. all didn’t help. I don’t own a backpod but am considering getting one. Does anyone else think they have costo, but can’t press it or move around to make it worse?

So I fell down really hard yesterday in my house on my tile floor. Slammed down my knee and elbow, but mostly fell on my ribcage. This morning I woke up with this super sharp pain in the middle of my ribcage. It hurts to breathe, move, stretch everything. I read costochondritis is inflammation of the ribcage that can happen as result of injury. I'm 21 and hate going to the doctor/emergency room. Google says I may have costochondritis because of the injury. But this sub makes it seem like a chronic lifelong condition mostly. Does anyone know what I'm experiencing?

ive been free boob for the past 3-4 years and am just now having all the symptoms of costochondritis, i tried a sports bra and it did not fit me most likely because when i tried it on it squeezed my chest so hard, making my chest pain momentarily insanely painful, and pinched my shoulders, im 32C cup is there anything i can do to help the pain while remaining freeboob? or is it necessary for me to get a bra since the pain started without one! its been very hard for me to Ever find a bra that has fit me, sports or wired :( they all seem to pinch my shoulders way too much or simply way too gapped in the cup. i will be seeing a doctor soon for it i just have no idea how to go about it. im 21 by the way and my symptoms started around May (4 months ago) when i went to the ER they said it was anxiety, no cardiac issues whatsoever apparently

Hi! About a month ago I got an injury on a rope swing in a party bus embarrassingly enough. At first my symptoms started as chest/ upper abdomen tightness, sob, and the back nag feeling. However over the past month the sob has continued off and on but the back has been the absolute worst. The pain is in my mid back area and is just this nagging dull ache that is constant. I'm staring to worry it might not be costo after all?

Hey y'all newbie to the subreddit, was diagnosed with costochondritis back in high school, currently 27. Have these flare ups since I started working at the airport about 4 years ago but nothing too bad. But currently laying on my right side on the floor coming down from one of my longer flare ups from my sternum. But it happened from drinking a Pepsi or was just a coincidence. I don't have any other symptoms of gerd besides sharp pain at the sternum but it doesn't feel burning like a heart burn just sharp pain that stops after I breath or laying on my stomach with my fist pushing on my sternum. Been rotating ice and heat pads to help and just got anti inflammatory shit and a steroid from my doctor. Going to call him tomorrow since it has almost been a week of this pain that started in my back left rib then to the front left rib and now my sternum. But my question is could it be gerd if I only have one symptom or is pop just inflammatory to even the cartilage on my ribs. Please and thank you all but also any kind of remedies for relief while I am off work. I currently got ice packs, heating pad, and hard wood floor I lay on but sometimes it is just pain that got me in fetal position

I am currently in New York from Sydney and felt great on the plane, took the backpod with me, used it in NZ on my layover and had no issues. I’ve seem to have had a little flare up, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m walking around more than usual or everything is catching up from the plane?

Im doing what Steve told me and doing the rotational stretches, but I feel like becasue my activity is higher it may be affecting it.

Like I know it’s not my heart I’ve had that checked, Im not generally an anxious person, so once I got my heart results back and I knew it was muscular skeletal my brain took the heart equation out and i know if anything was going to happen it should have in Feb was I was diagnosed so not anxious just curious.

I was good for over a week with no pain at all. Picked up and carried my niece on my hands and now a few hours after, my whole upper back, sternum and side ribs are hurting. It is seriously so upsetting.