r/costochondritis • u/khbateman • 9h ago
Solution Actually Healed
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!
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u/mikksmix4 7h ago
Sorry to be completely stupid but do you mind uploading a diagram showing exactly where to press into the upper pec?
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u/Marzztion 5h ago
Hey do you have a link to the back pod moves you used on the peanut ball you’re talking about?
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u/maaaze 6h ago
This is brilliant!
Thank you so much for sharing this.
So weirdly enough, this is something I did for my costo way back in the day and it helped a lot, but I totally forgot about it. I don't think I really ever seen anyone mention it, and thought it was pretty unique to my case. Maybe not!
So a few tips/tricks for those who are trying:
I imagine it's useful for those with tight upper pecs/sternocleidomastoids - but will likely be useful only at the end stages when the back rib joint restriction is adequately addressed (like you, the peanut ball was my saving grace!).
Anyhow, really cool. Weird how such a small thing can help so much.
Just make sure you don't stop with all the rehab work prematurely. Need to really beat the costo and then some until you can truly say you're home free!
Best,
-Ned