Abdominal pain feels like muscular cramps when bending over to tie my shoes.

Hi Kelsey,
For the last several years I have pain under my right rib cage. I also feel like something is stuck there and have right back and shoulder pain. The reason I found this thread though is that I was searching for the charlie horse symptom. I get charlie horse (severe cramping) to the right of my stomach under my rib cage when I bend over. It stops me in my tracks and I have to do the quick breathing like I'm in labor and wait for it to go away. It has happened when tying my shoes or relaxing in the bathtub when I sit up to turn the water on or off. I have had an ultra sound and a CT scan of my gall bladder and Dr says all is normal looking. The only thing they found was a very small kidney cyst. If anyone has solved this frustrating issue please let me know. This morning it woke me up at 2:00 am and I'm just about to get online and request to see my GP. I'm going to ask to be referred to some kind of internal medicine specialist or something.

I have been told that these cramp are called fat cramps, sounds about right cause I'm fat and don't exercise

How did it go?

I've been having these same issues. I've ran across a video that says stress pan can muscle spasms. I also have a lot of stress and adrenaline fatigue I think this is actually what is going on here. The pain on a scale from 1 to 10 is a 20 it's something terrible.

omg that's exactly the same thing i feel too. it scares the f**k outta me cause i feel like i'm gonna stay that way.

I agree it is from a hiatus hernia I have one and have to be careful when bending down as it will go into spasm.

Same here...My doc says it's vit E deficiency and to drink lots of water.. I still get cramps but little less

Hi Everyone - this has been a great thread to read.  3 years ago I was on a flight cramped up in coach, bent over to untie my shoes and experienced the spasm/pop that most of you described.  Like many of you, I felt like my PCP was playing whack-a-mole trying to figure it out.  Ultimately they couldn't pinpoint it (CTs, MRIs, Ultrasounds, X-Rays, etc.) and the best advice they could give was to lose weight.  I'm a 50+ male, weighed more 10 years ago than I do now, and knew it had to be something else besides my weight.  I decided to just deal with it for the time being.  Well, I spasm'd twice last week, decided I needed to do something about it, and found this thread.  I contacted the GI team at UMass Medical Center in Worcester, Ma, and they got me in today.  When I explained my symptoms, the Dr (and my new best friend!) knew instantly what I had.  It's called Anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES).  You can find it on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cutaneous_nerve_entrapment_syndrome).  After we laughed at his description of the transformation of my "6-pack" to a "half-keg" over the years, within 10 minutes, he painfully poked his way to isolating the exact spot where the nerve penetrated my abdomen lining, gave me a steroid shot to reduce the inflammation so it can heal, and I was done.  The pain is gone and I haven't felt this way in 3 years.  I hope this helps some of you.  I'll let you know if things change but I cannot believe the difference from this morning to right now.  

Wow thanks so much for the information on ACNES. I have been experiencing the same symptoms as others for the last two years. Four years ago I developed Cauda Equina Syndrome a rare neurological issue, when I had a very large central disc herniation at L4/ L5. This crushed my spinal cord and I needed emergency decompression surgery otherwise I'd be paralyzed. Although I can walk a little, I have severe nerve damage in my pelvic area and in my legs. I cannot feel pain or temp in my right leg and have drop foot and a wasted left calf. After lying down or sitting, my whole left side from chest to toes on left completely spasms and I cannot stand up. I get this several times a day, and have done so for the last four years since my first spinal surgery. I have had three major spinal surgeries in four years. As stated I have had the sharp pain when bending over to pick things up etc for the last two. It makes so much sense that this is somehow nerve related. It reminds me of the pain I experienced when I had spinal injections, a deep almost electric shock like pain, which didn't last very long. Thank you so much !!!!!

After running (once or twice a week) the right hand side of my abdomen cramps up every time I bend over to tie my laces.

Imagine an abdominal 6 pack and think of the top muscle, that's where I feel the pain.

It's been happening since I got back from holiday last November (2017) and I figured at first it was down to the extra 10lbs I was carrying post holiday.

It has happened every run since where I have tied my laces after getting showered and changed. I'm back down now within in my normal weight range. I'm 36, 6' 2", 183 pounds and 12.5% body fat. I do weights at the gym 2 or 3 times a week and never experience this then - It's only ever after running.

It was something I could live with by standing up immediately and breathing deeply for a minute, however today it lasted for a good 5 minutes, and then returned 10 minutes later for a few minutes.

I was in so much pain today I felt it was the closest sensation I will ever feel to a contraction!

Interestingly after reading about ACNES, I've had shingles on 2 occasions (which causes nerve pain) and I had night time back pain for months after. I was never a massive drinker but drink less now as removing alcohol from my diet for 3 months helped to stop the back pains.

Could they be connected?

I asked the Dr about alcohol as I do enjoy a drink (or 2). He told me to go and enjoy myself. I guess after 3 years of thinking the worst thoughts that I had kidney stones, gall bladder problems, a tumor or some sort, or liver disease, he probably felt the stress around that was worse than the others. Ironically, I was going out of my way to drink a glass of water every time I had a drink as I was concerned it may be something with my liver. This was actually causing more pressure on the tear, making feel like I was hurting my liver more. Crazy....

I do believe that for some of you it may be a hernia which if mild it can be treated with PPI's (proton pump inhibitors) like protonix, nexium etc. That being said please go see your doctor! I am surprised the doctors have not suggested costchondritis. It is an inflammation in the sternum or lower rib cage. Anti-inflammatories and/or steroids can help.

I'm in the same boat bending or bathing sometimes even making love . My whole stomach suck in and have to put hands over my head to ease pain.
Another area is my feet they cramp as well on the instep.I'm 51 110kilos heavy smoker and drink.
My job is heavy goods driver so probably worst job for putting weight on belly.
Thanks for reading any help appreciated

This morning when I got up to go to work I bent down to pick up a sock I got a sharp pain which felt like a strong indigestion pain in my upper stomach , it got stronger for about 10 seconds then eased off, I still have a slight discomfort and I hadn’t had any food at that time

I recently started having pains on my right side, just under the rib cage. I too have to straighten up and push my abdomen out for the pain to subside. I think that it may be "gas" but then ....I'm not a doctor....