My Sternum is cracking!!!

i was trying to find some info toda on way my husbands chest pops and this thread is all i found. it sounds just like him. He'll stretch and then it pops and sometime loud. we figured he had something broken in there but looks like he doesnt. Thanks everyone for posting. It eased are minds.

im coming up on a year with my current company and im a web developer. not only that but 4 years of comp sci study all contributed to a bad posture in front of the computer. i recently started getting this cracking sternum condition. No pain at all, and it definitely is most akin to the relief of cracking my knuckles.

I'm a devout skateboarder and drummer, two activities that really work my shoulders and most likely stretch the sternum constantly. I think a new posture is in order. Might look into getting a better office chair to assist.

Well I myself, must say I was astounded to find a 10 page long forum in the vein of a drug rehabilitation forum.

Hi, my name is Tact, I am a sternum cracker.

Like most people here it started without incident that I can place the finger on, though I think its related to not warming up when lifting weights (bench press) when raising the amount of weight/reps after a fairly long amount of time off (2 months). Ever since then the poping was an annoyance, but this I believe I made much worse by trying to "work-out" through the pain in my sternum.

Unannounced to be Costo-Chondritis which this likely is is exasperated by further weight bearing of the sternum, and subsequently more pressure on an inflaming area (the cartilage connecting the sternum to the upper ribs). So I turned what would of been a benign finger popping ito a fairly, now painful chest pop. If the pops is not executed correctly it can hurt, and for a while. Other days it seems to not even be present.

The point is you should all treat this as an injury, and if it does not subside consider that it could be a now chronic response to a micro-trauma enacted on your body either overtime or in an event.

Look at this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tietze%27s_syndrome

The good news is this is a localized issue, it can never get worse beyond its location, just more acute. And while potentially painful, it will be passing. As far as treatment like I said the human body has a tendency to easily re injure areas that have been injured. Cartilage reacts to this as well. So if you work out, really keep your eye on it, from my observations it seems high pressure/intensity related cause it to 'flare' up.

While Non-Steroidal anti-inflammatory has been used to some effect it has not in others. With NSAIDs if you do not hit very close to the effected area, you will get potentially very little relief, and it can be hard to pin point, as it could be the cartilage over a wider-then-you-think area of your sternum.

Treat it like an injury and if it does not start improving within 2 months, OR it seems to be getting WORSE, consider the stress you are putting on the area. Also consider a vitamin pack, Glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate, which may aid in the healing of cartilage, and Omega 3 fats.


Sources for Diagnoses:

Orthopedic Surgeon

Hi all . well yes it sure is good to see so many people in same situation (although obviously wishing you all well) i have been seeing a cranial osteopath....And WOW its doing the job, for me HUGE stress , Anxiety, bad lifestyle and posture 4 sure are cause's its taking time but we ar e getting there...It goes way back ..this thing these problems take time to get there so will take time to go (with right TLC) i started swimming Not pushing it, just mixture of strokes mainly breast, and this been great too...Although i dont push myself, if i in lots pain i wont go, just rest.... but if little i do go but just take very very easy..always find next day is all good..Also using ALoe MSN Gel on Area , this great and msn complex tablets.. Aloe Vera Juice 30ml aday is great as well for all and of coarse if real bad some ant infalmatories........

hope this helped


most important TRY not crack, just take easy ...if sneez cross arms over to each shoulder n sneez


good luck

i have this sternum cracking thing too. i'm 23 and it only started a few weeks ago. i looked it up on the internet and found a zillion people having this thing and nobody said it was something to worry about, there are even persons that have had it for decades so i'm not worried.
the question is, i'm still young, and skinny, and i have met a nice girl that i really like and i wanna work out in the gym to make myself look better.. u know most girls love muscles. is there a problem if i work out? would it make it worse or break the bone or something? i'm so worried about the chest presses and the inclines. can anybody help me with any info- does anybody here work out and finds no problem with that? thanks

I cracked my sternum in a car crash 9 years ago - since then it has cracked when stretching - it does feel strange but not really painful - until yesterday when I moved holding my niece - the sound was the worst thing I have ever heard and everyone in the room heard it - I dropped to the floor - when I cracked it in the car crash it didn't hurt as much as this. The doctor has just told me its muscle - muscle doesn't crack. I have broken ribs as well and they were not as painful as this. Any suggestions?

I think most definitely this problem is related to bad posture. I'm an avid computer user and noticed my sternum cracking ever since the beginning of the year.

Cracking it is fantastic though, but I feel it can't be doing the cartilage any good.


It cracks very easily when squatting and after bending down to pick something up.

I am so relieved!! I began thinking I had a serious problem. I've been cracking for 6-8 months now. My preferred method is to try and touch my elbows behind my back and stick my chest out - great relief. Like some of you however; there are times when I can't get it to crack for a day or 2 and the pressure builds and can become quite painful until I eventually crack it. Anyhow, good to know I'm not alone and that it doesn't appear to be life -threatening! LOL.

I have a cracking sternum that is very sore, in some cases its painful to twist my upper body. the pain goes and comes but Ive been experiencing this since before May of this year. If I crack it it does not bring any type of relief, in fact I think I started cracking it because it was sore. Any ideas on why my sternum would just be randomly sore, its obvious pain not dull but not excruciating.

I've had this problem for 5 years now. What a relief to finally find others with the problem.

I agree that it is caused by poor posture and a poor bed.

I've seen many doctors about this and none had any clue. One did give me some NSAIDs which helped tremendously until I stopped taking them.

The problem is easily recreated by bending forward and then standing tall and sticking out the chest or twisting.

Some days the pain is worse than others. I find that if I avoid popping my chest for a week or two, the pain goes away slightly.

I have had the "cracking sternum" problem off and on for a few years now. I believe I may have a solution. I noticed that my sternum began cracking a few months after I stopped working out, and then the pain progressed as time went on. It was only when I started working out again that the cracking and pain disappeared. This has happened to me three times and always during the part f the year when I let myself go and my chest muscles shrank. I believe that the natural tension from the muscular tissue when I was younger may have helped form my sternum and rib cage. Since my muscles shrink faster than the bones and ligaments can keep up. The whole support system becomes warped and allows the sternum to "crack." i hope this helps. I am off to find a better answer to what is occurring during the cracking sensation, but take my word on exercising your chest. It may take a few weeks but the pain will disappear along with the need to crack your sternum.

My sternum is cracking too. One post mentioned a correlation with hitting the medicine ball at the gym -- same for me.

I think it has something to do with either increasing or decreasing the size of your pecks. The cracking started for me as I started getting bigger -- for others it seems to be the other way around. Not too concerned about it yet, but this is just weird.

I was in the gym the other day doing T-bar rows on one of those machines with the support pad against your chest and felt a big popping cracking sensation on the left side of my ribcage. It was pretty painful. That was five days ago and there's still a lot of tenderness in the ribs below my left pec over near my armpit. I'd just been getting back to lifting weights after almost two years and thought i was taking it pretty easy--I had some shoulder problems that ended up requiring surgery last year and have been recuperating and in physical therapy since. Have any of you experienced something like this?

I'm wondering if my natural balance between my chest and back muscles was compromised during my long time off.

I won't say anything more than the rest of the crowd, looks like there's lots of people with same problem and here I am one of them. It scares me and can't find anything to explain why is it happening.

Take care you guys.

Interesting to see how many others have this identical problem -- we should start a society to find a cure.
Five years ago in a martial arts class I injured my sternum pretty badly when someone heavy sat on my back and pulled my arm up until the sternum area cracked loudly and hurt so badly I couldn't touch it for a couple weeks. Ever since, I get this burning, incredibly uncomfortable pain in the sternum that can only be relieved by popping it. I do this by bending over backwards. Once it pops there's a feeling of relief and all is well.
Tonight though for the first time the bloody thing won't pop no matter how far I stretch, so I've come to the internet to look for answers. Unfortunately it looks like I'm out of luck and will just have to live with this. One note is that I've recently got into lifting, doing lots of heavy low rep dips and wide bench presses, and have put on muscle weight and gained strength. My feeling is that I can't pop the sternum because I've somehow made the chest more flexible and tougher.
I'm wondering if anyone out there has ever tried yoga or some other stretching regimen to good effect?

Best of luck to all with finding relief.