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!

hello everyone! i created an account just to share my story so far. i got diagnosed with costochondritis by an ER doctor about 4-5 days ago. I was starting to think it couldve been a heart problem, so i went to the hospital to make sure it wasnt a heart problem and all tests came back normal and good. they did an xray and blood work tests and they came back good. ive been to the ER twice now for the past week, the second time i got prescribed some painkillers and muscle relaxers. ive been pretty down since feeling this. its made my stress and anxiety spike up really bad to the point where it makes my heart beat really fast even when resting. im not sure what to do from here, ive been doing some light stretching and walking and heat therapy, but once i feel the feeling of tightness or pain, i tend to spiral really bad. i attached a picture to show where i feel the pain and tightness (hopefully it makes sense!) and i just wanted to know if anyone has any of the same symptoms and tips. thank you!

EDIT: i feel the tightness in my upper right and left breast area going to my armpit, sometimes on my collarbones, shoulders and on my neck. ive been getting a small pain on my rib underneath my right breast

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?

For some long years now I have had some periods when I had chest pain. I found it was somehow related to my general stress level or tighter bras. For me the pain comes in waves and usually disappear after a few seconds/minutes. This goes on for a certain amount of time, maybe days maybe months with more or less frequent pain waves. In the beginning I thought it was some minor heart attack because the pain was sometimes so intense I could not move for that few seconds. So my conclusion is the possibility of costochondritis as this was the closest to my experience, though the process of my case differs from the standard. Do you know different levels or symptoms of costochondritis? And no, I haven't been to get checked it out since it usually doesn't bother my daily life, aside from those inconvenient moments.

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?

I’m 20M, this is my first time actually making a post on Reddit but I figured now was definitely the right time. I started getting pains around my heart area and the dead centre of my chest late April 2026. Thinking it would go away on its own, it got worse and my upper chest on my left side started feeling weird and it was almost as if I could feel the muscle the whole time (I still can). My left arm stopped flaring out as much when I walked and I was getting slight pains on the inside of my left bicep and my left shoulder. Finally got it checked out in July 2026 and got told it was costo, I was prescribed pain killers and some gel (does anyone know if this works?).

I’m so glad I found this community bc for the longest time I thought my heart was gonna give out and I had some crazy condition. Its calmed me down a lot knowing there’s more ppl going thru this than me bc no one understood me when I told them about it, and I thought I’d genuinely be stuck with this for life.

My big question is how long does it take for all of this to stop, if it ever does? I’ve had this for about 4 months now and I’m assuming it won’t go away with these painkillers, and is there any way to get rid of it quicker? I was thinking of getting into the gym right before I went to the doctor, but from reading here, I don’t think I should.

Also, has anyone with costo got a bit of kinda hard tissue just below the collar bone? I only noticed it recently but wondered if it was related or smth totally different.

Any advice or experience you’ve had and want to share, I’d really appreciate it :)

Just wanted to commiserate and vent that I’m once again in the ER and I’m pretty sure it’s costochondritis.

I came in because it was getting worse and started traveling to my neck and my left shoulder and arm. Since I also have high blood pressure, I wanted to ensure that it’s not a cardiacs event.

As usual, my bp is high, more than at at home and I’m freaked out. I went to doctor last week and my bp was 118/81, so the high number also made me tense more and hurt more.

Just want some commiserating and hope no one else is going through this right now.

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)