Costochondritis is a painful inflammation that occurs in the chest, where the ribs meet the sternum. The pain can typically persist for weeks to months, but can last longer for some people. Costochondritis can be treated in a number of ways, including pain medication, natural remedies, physical therapy, and more. Costochondritis can also be treated via stretching and exercises, which has been shown to be effective by this 2009 study. In this study, 34 patients were treated for costochondritis by prescribing simple stretching exercises and the results showed a reduction in pain over time compared to a control group.
Exercise and stretching have a number of benefits that can reduce the symptoms of costochondritis. Stretching can relieve tension around painful areas, while also increasing blood flow and helping injuries to heal. Exercise also releases endorphins (a hormone secreted by your brain often called the “feel good”chemical) which can decrease pain and make you feel more relaxed. Stretching also improves mobility in the joints and muscles, and some believe costochondritis to be caused by “locked up” costosternal joints in the back.
Make sure you speak with your doctor or a physical therapist before starting any new exercises. Be sure to stop if you feel any intense pain. With costochondritis, you’ll typically want to avoid any exercises that strain the chest muscles and rib joints. Avoid any stretches or exercises that make your symptoms worse. Start with small, gentle movements to loosen up your muscles.
Doorway Pectoral Stretch
One stretch that has proven effective for costochondritis pain is the “doorway pectoralis” stretch. To perform this stretch:
- Stand facing an open doorway
- Raise your arm with your elbow bent 90 degrees
- Rest your forearm against the wall with your elbows at shoulder height
- Lean forward to gently stretch your chest muscles
You can move your arm higher or lower to stretch different parts of the chest. You can see an example of this stretch in the video below.
In the aforementioned study patients performed a similar “Bent Arm Wall Stretch” against a wall or doorway, holding the stretch for 30 seconds. Patients were instructed to perform the stretch 20 times per day, eventually increasing up to 60 repetitions per day. After 90 days, most patients had reported a reduction in pain.
Chest Out / Arms Back Stretch
To perform this stretch, keep your elbows at your side while breathing in to expand your chest as much as possible. Then, rows your arms backwards while keeping them against your side. You may feel your chest bones crack or pop doing this stretch, which can help relieve pain. You can see an example in the video below.
Scapula Squeeze / Row
Scapula squeezes can help strengthen the upper back, which can reduce pain from the chest area. These stretches can be done with or without a resistance band. You can sit on the floor or in bed for this stretch. It’s recommended to perform this stretch 10 times per day to start, eventually increasing up to 25 repetitions. To perform this stretch:
- Wrap the band around your feet
- Hold the band with your thumbs facing upwards
- Keep your arms at your side with your shoulders down and relaxed
- Pull your elbows back squeezing the shoulder blades together toward the back
You can see an example of this stretch in the video below.
Equipment for Stretching
While you don’t especially need to have these items at home to perform your stretches, they can certainly help make some of these stretches more effective and easier to perform.
Foam Roller
While foam rolling was a technique mostly used by athletes and trainers in the past, this technique is becoming more mainstream. Foam rollers are light foam tubes that can be used to improve flexibility as well as for self-massage. They can be used to roll out tight muscles, which relieves tension and speeds up muscle recovery. This type of self-massage is called myofascial release.
Backpod
The Backpod is a device gaining in popularity that can be used to treat costochondritis among other conditions. The device was invented by Steve August, a New Zealand-based physical therapist. The Backpod is a small device made of rubber in plastic that is used to stretch out and unfreeze rib joints in the back that can exacerbate costochondritis. To use the device, patients lay on the device with it positioned in the upper back, between the spine and shoulder blade. Many patients have reported success with the Backpod device.
Stability Ball
Stability balls are also called exercise balls, yoga balls, pilates balls, and swiss balls among other names. These balls are made of rubber and filled with air and can be used in many different exercises. One key benefit of using the ball is that it requires more muscles throughout the body to engage to correct against the instability of the ball, which strengthens your core muscles and improves balance. Some experts even recommend sitting on a stability ball instead of an office chair in the work environment.
Rubber Resistance Band
Resistance bands are a simple and low cost tool that you can use to stretch and exercise almost every muscle in the body, and they can be a great alternative to heavy weights. They are typically made of strong rubber and sometimes have handles on the ends to make them easier to grip. Sometimes the bands are made of a rubber tube, and come with a handle for gripping. Other tubes are more like a giant rubber band. The best aspect is that they are portable, and take up little space, so you can travel with them and exercise at your hotel room for example.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19827277 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19817327 https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/5657/5-chest-stretch-variations/ https://www.openfit.com/chest-stretches
Have you had success in using stretches and exercises to treat your costochondritis symptoms? Please feel free to leave a comment below.
The Costochondritis.com writing team works hard to provide you with fact-based, properly researched information. Some of our staff actively work in healthcare, providing care to patients at some of the largest hospitals in their countries. Our team includes physicians and surgeons as well as specialists with experience in nutrition, exercise, and mental health. Please note: Our writing team does not provide medical advice or treatment.
Door frame chest feels good!
I am desperately trying to get a diagnosis of costochondritis and some idea of treatment. I am a runner and have had really bad chest pain near or behind sternum that radiates to back and ribs. All other tests to rule out heart and lung problems have been done. Every time I go for a run, I am left with debilitating pain a few hour afterwards and lasts for days. I have had this for months. I am taking meloxicam to reduce inflammation, but it does not seem to work well. Desperate!
For what it’s worth , I have the same thing and am as desperate as you are , Annie . I’m a yoga practitioner and haven’t been able to practice for 5 months now . The pain is absolutely debilitating and painkillers stop doing it after a while , if at all … For what I know so far and as devastating as it is – there’s no real treatment for this . Mainstream science as well as alternative , from what I’ve been searching so far , don’t have real answers as to its causes or treatment .
Running aggravates it greatly .
I clean houses for a living , which aggravates it too . Been working with painkillers for the past 5 months , until this past weekend . The pains have become so severe that I can’t go back to work . I woke up and couldn’t move without screaming … if not for covid I’d be in the hospital by now .
So be careful , as at some point it might catch up with you … you can’t keep on aggravating it , it’ll get worse . At least that’s what is happening to me right now … and I feel like my life is over … total despair and misery , even suicidal at times .
There are all kinds of alternative treatments – osteopathy , acupuncture etc. but they’re quite expansive and this is so acute that way more than one treatment would be needed , and no guarantee …
I pray for us ….
I am 16 years old and have had costochondritis since I was 8. I used to wake up in the mornings and not be able to walk or move my muscles without screaming. I am here to tell you that it does get better after a while. Staying in one spot and not doing anything will aggravate it even more even though you don’t think it does. There are no treatments for everyone however I have found that medical creams work best because they target the pain where it is happening. When you are having the pain try not to lay down, try to sit in a chair or stand up because it will help with the severness of the pain itself. There are certain treatments that you can look into however none are guaranteed to relieve the pain. My main suggestion is try not to overwork yourself, however you do not want to underwork yourself by staying in bed all day because these both lead to the pain getting worse.
Try the Steve August back-pod, really helps clear mine up fasts when I get a flair up… re diagnosis it’s more about elimination than a doctor saying haha, it’s costochondritus. So I went to A and E, thought it was heart related, they did X-ray, ecg, all normal, bloods normal, then the doctor pressed my rib cage and I nearly flew of the table in pain. the real give away that’s it’s Costo is if you put your fingers on the bottom of your sternum and work your way up each rib joint, gently pushing and probing with your finger, you’re searching for a bruise like pain where your ribs join your sternum. It’s a good indicator. Things that help.
Backpod
Hot Bath
Voltarol ibroprofen cream on my chest
Cold compress on bruised area for 5-10 mins
Hot water bottle on chest
Gentle… and I mean, gentle stretching, loads of Costo recommended stretches on the web
Paracetamol and codeine, or co codamol when in real pain
Stop sitting on chairs and sofas looking at iPad, phone etc…
most important of all… if you have had the pain longer than 2 days, it’s unlikely to be heart related (not 100%) so get checked out but most likely not so don’t panic and worry, it makes it worse…..
Good luck…
You need to just take 2 weeks off, the first few days take ibuprofen and use a heating pad for 20 minutes 3x a day and do chest stretches every day. Worked for me.
I have costochondritis…and it sounds like you have it as well. You cannot run for a while. Wait for the inflammation to go away. It’s a waiting game…stay positive.
I read these comments and wanted to give a little bit of hope to everyone out there. I am 16 years old and have had costochondritis since I was 8. I was unable to get out of bed some days and my muscles stopped working to the point where I felt like I had to train them to work every morning. I was diagnosed at 9 years old and pain killers in pill form definitely do stop working after a while. I suggest trying a medical cream that targets the area directly. Medical creams definitely do work better than pills for costochondritis. The doorway stretches have also seemed to help me throughout these many years. As I know of there are not many options for cures that will necessarily work. There are options like acupuncture, osteopathy, etc. but they aren’t guaranteed to work. I will say that you need to stop laying around because that will make it worse even though you don’t think it does. Also, too much activity isn’t good either. I suggest slowly easing back into activity by slowly going on walks and getting out and about by just walking and over time you will be able to be very active again. I am a soccer player so I know all to well what it’s like not being able to do what you love because of costochondritis. I hope that my response can help people other than myself.
If you are not already a part of the Costochondritis Support Group on FB, you should join. Great group with people just like us. We all respond different to Costo and treatments so it’s a matter of finding what works for you. I am still not healed after months of this caused by Covid.
I was recently diagnosed with costochondritis. I’ve had the pain for three weeks now. But it got so bad four days ago that I stopped working. Two days ago, I went to ER (yes despite COVID). I thought I was having a heart attack. The Er doctor ruled that out and any problems with my lungs. My PCP diagnosed me and I was happy to know what it is and I e been reading everything I can find on the internet. Stretching does help but the pain is pretty much constant and I miss running and working out.
I have tried some of the exercises and they definitely help. The one thing I find strange however is that right after I do these stretches I get all these burps which will go on for an hour or so. They don’t actually hurt and in fact it feels like a release ( a bit embarrassing 😳). Is this normal?
YES. Me too!
Me too lol
I’m so glad I discovered this site. It is so helpful. The exercises help a lot!!! I’ve had 2 back surgeries for spinal stenosis and a shoulder replacement. So my muscles are weak and I’ve noticed I am starting to bend over. I believe these exercises are really going to help me. Thank you so much.
This is hurtful it got me depressed and scared to live life dont know what to do.any good feed back
Is there anyone get releif through any method? I consulted almost all doctors still it is with me for years. I cant get rid of it. Plz anyone help
Hi. Second week in to my new found ailment to which we are all aware, costochondritis.
Wow, what a learning experience. Has anyone felt discomfort from talking while in a flare up? I’ve basically needed to stop for the most part as it can cause lots of pain afterwards. Maybe I’m not giving costo enough respect.
I ended up in emerg 2 weeks ago with intense chest pain after lifting something awkwardly.
Any thoughts?
So glad I found this site. I was diagnosed with probabl costochondritis. Ruled out just about everything else, cardiac, abdominal scan, etc. etc. But did anyone ever have someone say it could be GERD instead? Based on symptoms dr. doesn’t think that is it, but some of the symptoms I see I have, but some not.
I so appreciate everyone’s advice. I was diagnosed 3 weeks ago. I am a 57-year-old yoga teacher—I teach therapeutic yoga! My presenting issue was a sharp stabbing pain when I went onto my chest on the yoga mat. I thought my dog must have left a pointed stick or sharp dog bone on my mat. There was nothing there. The pain was intense and I went to my doctor that afternoon—docs will get you right in when you are experiencing chest pain. X-rays showed no problems. She diagnosed costochondritis, prescribed naproxen and flexoril and a steroid series. I am still hurting. I ditched the meds as they did not agree with me. I am doing gentle stretches daily. I ordered the back pod from Amazon and use it every morning. I think it is helping. I use heat maybe 3-5 times a day. My pain is no longer stabbing, but feels like I am bruised in the front of my right ribs. I am pretty surprised how looooooooong it is taking to heal. It is getting better every day, but I am taking it super easy AND it is a slow recovery. I recommend watching the backpod guy, Steve August, on YouTube and trying the things he advises. He demonstrates exactly how to massage this area and why he thinks costochondritis occurs. This helped me to understand and to get a professional to massage the area. She watched his video and did exactly what he prescribed. This brought me a good deal of relief. I gently pull my ribs apart as he demonstrates, and this also seems to help. Very best to all.
I discovered this case study out of Baylor Medical University suggesting Colchicine can treat long-term sufferers. I’ve had it for almost two years now from catching covid in February 2020. Thoughts on Colchicine?
Hope it’s ok to share a link? Here it is-
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477585/