Week 10 (2014) – Get It Off Your Chest

Health News (Week 10 – 2014)
By Robert Redfern

It may be that we have an epidemic of costochondritis, judging by the number of questions I am getting.

What the heck is this I hear you say?

It is cost = rib, chond = cartilage, itis = inflammation of the cartilage that attaches the ribs to the breastbone. It may be caused by exercise, being banged in the ribcage or as the result of a viral infection – in fact anything that results in inflammation. It can even be a cracked rib. The cause is frequently unknown, especially if it is an infection. It generally goes away within six months to a year but it can remain a chronic condition. The good news is that costochondritis is more painful at first, but usually the pain eases after a while.

In the beginning it can feel like there is a huge weight pressing on your chest making it hard to breathe. You may also feel like you are having a heart attack (obviously this needs ruling out). Eventually it might go down to a dull ache and different motions such as picking a weight up from the floor can cause a flare-up with intense pain.

You obviously need to breathe to heal the problem but with costochondritis there is the swelling and when the lungs expand they press up against the joints where the ribs meet the breastbone. So the body is trying to heal itself but in doing so it doesn’t allow the lungs to breathe properly.

All the doctors can offer for it is anti-inflammatory drugs or cortisone injections and these have been helpful to some people. They are however a temporary measure to kill the pain and reduce inflammation, and not a cure. The help some people get from them may be too little to be considered worth it. There has also been some discussion about cortisone weakening the cartilage.

The following plan is what I recommend for costochondritis and it can be used whether the cause is a bang, infection or a cracked rib.