Causes Of Sternum Pain

 

Physical Workouts Can Be A Cause - Another source of sternum pain is stretching, especially stretching with free weights during a workout. When the arms are stretched back and the head is also, a pop in the sternum is sometimes felt. There is not necessarily any pain accompanying the pop, but if the stretching exercise is continued, sternum pain may result. This is seldom serious, and is in reality muscle soreness as the result of an excessive stretch. If such a problem persists, a doctor or chiropractor probably needs to be consulted. Treatment may be nothing more than easing up on the particular exercise for a time. Sometimes, the problem can be traced to a misalignment of one or more of the ribs, which can cause inflammation in the vicinity of the sternum, and subsequent sternum pain.

Costochondritis  - Body workouts, or a number of other types of activity can cause a condition known as costochondritis. Costochondritis may well be one of the more common causes of sternum pain, and is an inflammation of the bones and cartilage in the chest. The inflammation normally affects the junction of one or more rib bones with the sternum. Costochondritis is believed to result from muscular activity causing an overuse of the tissues associated with the rib and sternum connections. The term microtrauma, applies here, where small areas suffer injury from overuse.

This condition can be quite painful, and is experienced mostly by young, physically active, adults who may creating an overuse situation through repetitive movements involving the chest muscles, like rowing as one example. Costochondritis is usually felt in the upper part of the chest, and can easily be confused with a heart condition, especially since the pain may radiate to the shoulders and arms, which is often the case with a cardiac incident. Treatment of costochondritis often involves nothing more than resting the chest area, and avoiding for a time the types of activity that brought the condition on. This can of course be at times difficult for active people, who may have a tendency to substitute stretching for their usual exercises, which may only make matters worse. Sometimes, we just have to do nothing. Anti-inflammatory medications and pain relievers can also help get through the condition.

Sternum pain therefore, unless the result of an injury, is generally harmless. Even if you've had open heart surgery, the pain experienced is a symptom of the recovery process, and not a symptom of something getting worse. There is always the chance of course that sternum pain could result form an infection, or pressure caused by tumors in the chest wall. In the latter case of course, it needs to be determined if a malignancy is present, and a biopsy would definitely be in order. If you do experience sternum pain and it does not go away, or becomes progressively worse, by all means see a doctor. Even if the chances of there being something seriously wrong are really quite small, your body is trying to tell you something, even if the something is "give me some relief". Let's hope that that is all that there is to it.