Mid Back, Rib and Chest pain
Sayer Clinics London Rib pain, chest pain and intercostal pain :
Severe referred rib pain to the side and front of your chest can be caused by nerve and muscle inflammation in the facet joints, rhomboid muscles or ligaments of your back or lower neck. It can be aggravated by inhalation, forced inspiration, lifting, twisting or side-bending of the spine and ribcage
Chest pain is often referred from the lower neck or upper mid-back causing local pain as well as a deep ” hot knife or deep burning ache” referred intercostal nerve pain into the ribs at the back and to the breastbone and costal rib cartilage at the front of the chest. This referred rib pain can also be felt in the arm and hand. Computer and laptop work with long hours and poor posture is a common cause of this chest pain syndrome.
Patients with fever, severe cough or breathing difficulties and frontal chest pain should consult their medical practitioner.
Consulting us includes a full case history and an examination of your heart and lungs to rule out a lung or heart condition. We examine and detect mechanical sources of pain, take digital computed x-rays, if indicated, and aim to successfully treat the musculoskeletal rib or referred pain condition physically .
Treatment with Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Medical Acupuncture, Physical Therapy and Therapeutic Massage
- Chiropractic or Osteopathy treatment – specific, gentle spinal manipulation to mobilise and normalise spinal joint function
- Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy – laser, ultrasound, electrotherapy, massage, exercise and rehabilitation
- Medical Acupuncture or Therapeutic Massage can help relieve chronic neck and shoulder pain
- Postural training and advice on correct ergonomic seating and computer screen height and position
- Medical treatment of mild muscle pain includes non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). These can help in the short term.
Rib and chest pain
Rib pain is often a deep ache or sharp, stabbing pain.
Many middle aged men spend a lot of anxious time in hospital having extensive heart tests when they have a simple but excruciating intercostal neuritis or referred dorsal rib pain radiating into the chest and ribs as well as into the neck and arm.
Traumas, falls and fracture are obvious causes of chest and rib pain whilst costo-sternal pain (Tietze’s syndrome) or intercostal neuralgia feels more like a heart attack but usually follow hours of inertia on a laptop rather than over-exertion.
Rib pain may be called costochondritis, intercostal neuralgia, intercostal neuritis or costo-transverse sprain and can be caused by heavy lifting, a sustained awkward posture, sleeping on your front or the ‘wrong’ pillow. It can be felt as a deep chest pain as if from the heart, lungs, stomach or oseophagus or cause pain on deeply breathing in.
Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Physiotherapy experts successfully treating musculoskeletal rib pain.
Rib pain can be due to years of poor rounded posture where the middle thoracic spine becomes rounded (kyphotic) with the chest dropping vertically while slouching at desks, laptops and sofas.
People typically try to ‘’stand up straight” by pushing their shoulder blades up and back and poking or jutting their chins up and forward. This not only looks awful but loads huge strain into the supporting muscles and ligaments which hold up your head and worsens the muscle and joint pain in the middle-back, chest and neck. Scoliosis or sideways spinal curvature aggravates these stresses and pain.
When rib pain becomes chronic, recurring and longterm, medical treatment with painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or steroid injections into spinal joints is often of short-term or limited help.
At Sayer Clinics we can take diagnostic digital computed x-rays of the spine and ribs and treat spinal, rib and chest pain conditions with spinal manipulation, long-term postural rehabilitation and core muscle exercises.
Treatment with Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Medical Acupuncture, Physical Therapy and Therapeutic Massage
- Chiropractic or Osteopathy treatment – specific, gentle spinal manipulation to mobilise and normalise spinal joint function
- Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy – laser, ultrasound, electrotherapy, massage, exercise and rehabilitation
- Medical Acupuncture or Therapeutic Massage can help relieve chronic neck and shoulder pain
- Postural training and advice on correct ergonomic seating and computer screen height and position
Sayer Clinics Chiropractors and osteopaths are trained in medical diagnosis and will check for and rule out more serious medical conditions before starting physical treatment. If we suspect a heart or lung problem, fracture, osteoporosis, rib infection or cancer we will refer you to your medical practitioner or hospital without delay.
Rib dysfunction can result in agonising pain rib and chest pain when the joints between the rib and thoracic spine lock or jam with associated sharp protective muscle spasms and pinched or trapped nerves. The upper ribs form attachments for neck muscles where acute spasm can constrict nerves and blood flow causing numbness in the arm and hand. The shoulder blade (scapula) should glide smoothly over the ribs but rib dysfunction causes restricted scapular movement with pain on shoulder and arm movement and can cause the ”hot knife” agony pain of rhomboid muscle spasm as well as longer-term levator scapulae shortening, rotator cuff injury and ’stiff chest’ syndrome.
Sayer Clinic Chiropractic and osteopathic treatment of rib pain involves a detailed examination of the joints and muscles and assessing movement of individual ribs. Treatment aims to restore movement and reduce pain and muscle spasm for chest, shoulder or arm pain.
The sooner you address your posture, exercise and fitness the better you will feel in your future.
There are three Sayer Clinics across London :
- back pain clinics
- lower back pain treatment
- neck pain, stiff back, intercostal pain, rib pain and chest pain
- neck pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, headaches
- treatment of chronic back pain, pelvic and coccyx pain
Treatments include Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Medical Acupuncture, Physiotherapy, Physical Therapy, and Therapeutic Massage.
To view patient’s testimonials for Sayer Clinics London, please click here.
