Rib Pain – It’s Not A Heart Attack But It Sure As Hell Feels Like One!

We get a lot of patients coming to see us with sharp, severe chest pains.

“It feels like a knitting needle stuck in my back.”
“It’s like a knife wound to the chest.”
“I feel like I’m having a heart attack.”

Rib Pain can be extremely painful and genuinely alarming. This is why many of these patients have already been to the ER for an ECG before they come to see us, especially when the pain has affected the left side of the chest.

This is what sets off fears that it might be a heart attack. In reality, the pain can be isolated to a particular joint or joints on the back, front or both sides of the chest. We encounter these problems regularly because we treat a lot of sport injuries. It is very common for people to twist or strain the joints that connect the transverse processes on the back. This is called a rib head lesion or injury.

When the rib heads lock out of place, it causes severe rib pain.When you suffer an injury to the chest, the joints between the chest wall on the front and the chest wall on the back can be pushed out of position. The cause for this is usually some kind of collision whether it’s a tackle on the football field or an accident in the car. We have twelve ribs on either side and, if any one of those ribs gets jammed out of position, it can cause the most severe pain. In many cases like this, taking a deep breath can be extremely painful.

People suffering from this have medical tests, hospital tests and yet the problem still persists. What makes the problem especially acute is that the ribs have to move for breathing and so they remain inflamed. Yet the treatment for this condition is quite straightforward. It involves finding what we call the ‘hypo-mobile’ joints that we find on the front and the back of the chest wall by ‘springing’ the chest. Springing is a method of pushing down on the joint itself and feeling for the movement of that joint.

Then we use gentle mobilization techniques to unlock or free up those rib heads and how they connect to the chest wall. Once we do this,improvements are rapid and frequently occur on the first visit. So if you have scary chest pains that have no medical cause, we can identify and solve the problem simply and quickly.ribs have to move for breathing and so they remain inflamed. Yet the treatment for this condition is quite straightforward. It involves finding what we call the ‘hypo-mobile’ joints that we find on the front and the back of the chest wall by ‘springing’ the chest. Springing is a method of pushing down on the joint itself and feeling for the movement of that joint.

This kind of problem can be extremely painful and cause a great deal of anxiety and yet few people are aware of the chiropractic solution. This is why we offer a guarantee to any one suffering from rib pain and chest pains to come and see us.

If you don’t feel an improvement after three treatments we will give you your money back. Any way you look at it, that’s got to be better than thinking you’re having a heart attack. Contact us to book in an appointment.