Same issue here, been happening for about 6 years. It started when I started to competitively cycle. I have had no luck with doctors or chiropractors. The only relief I have gained has been from changing the gemometry on my bike and the width of the handle bars, but it hasn't helped much.
It sounds to me like it might b e achronic ffatigue thing. THe only thing I think that would cause the pain to subside is if you stopped cycling. Does that make sense/
Hey all, sounds to me like many of you need to stretch your pec minor and majors among other muscles, your sternum is three different bones and many muscles attach to it as well to the ribs... which are attached to... the sternum. Regular stretching exercises for your neck- SCM in perticular, scalenes as well, pec minor and major are the big ones. As a few of you mentioned, pulling your shoulders back helps with the 'pressure', but for many that's when the popping or cracking or pain occurs especially when working out - this because there are many muscles hanging on to your ribs/sternum for dear life due to a weak back- between your shoulder blades in particular- and due to over use of those muscles that affect your sternum, so there is so much pressure tugging at your sternum that the moment you do exercise, especially if you are putting more tension on these muscles- they just tug at that bone or bones even harder till it has to give a little- hence the pop, crack or pain.
This may not be the cure for everyone as some people may have an actual genetic deformity, but again this would be easily diagnosed by a competent doctor so I would say this is your most likely answer. A regular stretching routine will help, try to de-stress if you can, don't breath so much with your chest as this puts a lot of strain on your neck muscles, try to breath more with your diaphragm and strengthen your back up a bit.
Hope this helps, take care all
This may not be the cure for everyone as some people may have an actual genetic deformity, but again this would be easily diagnosed by a competent doctor so I would say this is your most likely answer. A regular stretching routine will help, try to de-stress if you can, don't breath so much with your chest as this puts a lot of strain on your neck muscles, try to breath more with your diaphragm and strengthen your back up a bit.
Hope this helps, take care all
Stretching the lat muscles can help alleviate tightness in the chest suprisingly. I learned this from going to a physical therapist. When I went in I couldnt do pushups because of the pain. My doctor said it is costocondritis but it may be different. The PT found that there were knots in my back and we loosened them. I now do stretches every other day and it helps alleviate the tightness but I still get the popping after sitting hunched over. BTY dont punch a swinging heavy bag. That is the way I first developed the symptoms.
Wow - I thought I was the only one this happened to!! I've discovered that, for me, the link is an intolerance/allergy to corn. My husband and I are trying a celiac diet and have substituted corn pasta for wheat pasta. I made lasagna and the next day the pain in my sternum was incredible. I couldn't get it popped out for about a week. I thought I'd do a second test two weeks later and made shortbread cookies with a bit of cornstarch in them - same thing but not so acute. For me, corn on the cob is not a problem, just cornstarch. Have you tried an elimination diet to see if you have food allergies/intolerances? Worked for me.
I still have the problem. It doesn't crack it just hurts in my sternum and smoking doesn't help. When smoking I sometimes get a sharp pain in my sternum or in my side. I went to the ER awhile ago and got a chest x-ray. Came back fine. No Diagnosis. Went and seen another doctor who said I had a chest cold and a sinus infection which didn't help me at all... Finally I seen the last doctor who gave me a EKG to ensure it wasn't something serious and some blood work... everything came back fine and I was diagnosed with Chostrocondritis? I'm not sure if that is how it is spelled but look it up for more information. I got anti-inflamitories that worked great for the first couple of months now the pain is starting to come back but I guess after taking pills for so long twice a day my body can grow immunity towards it but other pain relievers can alliviate that pain...
Hope I helped.
Hope I helped.
I am also surprised how many people have the same problem with such similar situations. I have been able to crack my chest for about 3 years now and at first it was very rare but I am able to do it more and more now. At first I thought it was kind of cool because none of my friends could do it and it was such a rare occasion. After awhile though I started to feel pain when doing certain things. The worst being when I do dips, as others have mentioned. No other exercises have caused the pain. A similar feeling also occurs if I cross my arms with a hand on each opposite shoulder and lean forward and try to squeeze my chest together. I have been lifting for about 6 or 7 years and I consider myself in very good shape but never had anything like this before 3 years ago. Now it is a common acceptance that when I do dips it will hurt and feels like it needs to be cracked. I have also noticed that after I do dips it is VERY hard to crack it and I just have to let it go away. I did start smoking more heavily about 3 years ago which could have had some affects on my breathing habits and possibly contribute to this. I also have bad posture and spend most of my time in front of the computer and have done so for the last 10 years. I am going to try the breathing exercises some mentioned and see if that helps. Sometimes I just can't help cracking it and I've found the best way to get it to crack is to rest my arms at my sides and take a very deep breath as I try to use the air in my lungs to expand my ribcage as much as possible and then while using my lungs to push my ribcage out I will raise my arms above my head and lower them slowly as I try to push my chest out. If it won't crack by doing that I just let it go away naturally because I have tried other ways of cracking it before that haven't worked as successfully and I've found the more I try to make it crack unsuccessfully the more sensitive it will be. Its interesting to hear so many similar stories and yet no solutions even from people who have been to the doctor. I haven't been to the doctor in years and
I also have the same issue. And three days ago my sternum started to jut out! Like a central bump--of bone. And really sharp pain down the sides. I just went to see my friend who is a ND and massage therapist and she confirmed it is the sternum--and that there is actually a joint in the middle of the sternum (crosswise) and for some reason my second ribs are pulling on it somehow managed to push my sternum out---it is bent! Really not comfy at all. I am going to see a chiropractor to snap it back in place. Hope it works out.
i also crack my sternum... i thought it was weird. last night i felt like i needed to crack it and i couldnt seem to do it correctly. it kept me up and i got worried... i was thinking that maybe i was the only one who had this issue. its good to know i'm not the only one with this issue :-)
I just thought about looking up information on this after 9 years og going through it. Before and after this issue occured, pretty much the rest of my body cracks and pops on a regular basis.
I started skydiving in 2000. In 2001 I had what is called a terminal reserve deployment. This basically means, the reserve parachute opening FAST while still in freefall. Generally caused by a malfunction (such as bag lock or pilot chute in tow) where your main parachute doesn't even come out tangled up. At least that slows you down. In my case I had a pilot chute in to, froze in denial for about 10 seconds, and ended up pulling my reserve at right about 1000 ft. Just on time.
I was so high from the overload of adrenline I hadn't noticed anything for the rest of that day. Kinda like I was floating on a cloud. I thought I was gonna die.
I finally get home. I remember this sooooo well. I was sitting up stairs on one of those white plastic lawn chairs, on a horribly crappy (even for its time) computer I had got in 1998 playing combat flight sim online.
I was reaching back behind me to grab a drink that's when I first felt something.
It felt like a string tied from about the middle of my throat straght down to the bottom of my chest. All right down the center. I started to look back a little and lean back too. I realized this made the string feel tighter. I can't stress enough how much it felt like a string.
Anyway, I was wondering what the hell could be happening. So I slowly start to lean back. Part of this process was my mouth being forced open too. When it finally gave, it was so loud, it made a huge echo sound out of my slightly open mouth. And it left my body feeing a little stunned. It was sooo very odd
Since that day, starting from the bottom up, I've been able to (and sometimes feel I have to) crack my toes, ankles, both knees, but my right knee is crazy, (seriously if I want to about once every 10 seconds, no joking), around my hips, the area where my legs meet my body, fingers, wrist, elbows sometimes, shoulders by doing a (deep best way to describe it) shrug, chest, I don't know what the hell it is cracking in my check. It cracks from heavy breathing, twisting, stretching, or pushing, oh yeah and the left side of my jaw pops all the time too. Basically the only thing that doesn't pop in my body that technically can would be neck (i've done it before it creeps me out!) and my right jaw. I think everything else pops. Some more than others. My right knee has popped several times while writing this.
I started skydiving in 2000. In 2001 I had what is called a terminal reserve deployment. This basically means, the reserve parachute opening FAST while still in freefall. Generally caused by a malfunction (such as bag lock or pilot chute in tow) where your main parachute doesn't even come out tangled up. At least that slows you down. In my case I had a pilot chute in to, froze in denial for about 10 seconds, and ended up pulling my reserve at right about 1000 ft. Just on time.
I was so high from the overload of adrenline I hadn't noticed anything for the rest of that day. Kinda like I was floating on a cloud. I thought I was gonna die.
I finally get home. I remember this sooooo well. I was sitting up stairs on one of those white plastic lawn chairs, on a horribly crappy (even for its time) computer I had got in 1998 playing combat flight sim online.
I was reaching back behind me to grab a drink that's when I first felt something.
It felt like a string tied from about the middle of my throat straght down to the bottom of my chest. All right down the center. I started to look back a little and lean back too. I realized this made the string feel tighter. I can't stress enough how much it felt like a string.
Anyway, I was wondering what the hell could be happening. So I slowly start to lean back. Part of this process was my mouth being forced open too. When it finally gave, it was so loud, it made a huge echo sound out of my slightly open mouth. And it left my body feeing a little stunned. It was sooo very odd
Since that day, starting from the bottom up, I've been able to (and sometimes feel I have to) crack my toes, ankles, both knees, but my right knee is crazy, (seriously if I want to about once every 10 seconds, no joking), around my hips, the area where my legs meet my body, fingers, wrist, elbows sometimes, shoulders by doing a (deep best way to describe it) shrug, chest, I don't know what the hell it is cracking in my check. It cracks from heavy breathing, twisting, stretching, or pushing, oh yeah and the left side of my jaw pops all the time too. Basically the only thing that doesn't pop in my body that technically can would be neck (i've done it before it creeps me out!) and my right jaw. I think everything else pops. Some more than others. My right knee has popped several times while writing this.
Well if you consider that the joint has to be flexible to allow for expansion and contraction of the entire chest cavity during breathing or when there is any pressure, it is not surprising that there are so many joint problems relating to the sternum.
More often than not its a slight dislocation of the already strain (and 'stretched') joint. Has anybody thought of using a chest brace/girdle (yes, they do exist) for a period of time until the joint heals and the entire area (joint lining, muscles and connective tissue) tightens prevent this popping? It may be worth a try.
Anyway, you can read up more on the topic in this popping sternum article
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
More often than not its a slight dislocation of the already strain (and 'stretched') joint. Has anybody thought of using a chest brace/girdle (yes, they do exist) for a period of time until the joint heals and the entire area (joint lining, muscles and connective tissue) tightens prevent this popping? It may be worth a try.
Anyway, you can read up more on the topic in this popping sternum article
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
What a post. Welcome me to your club. Going on 3 years, tough to sleep, gave up on weights. Gonna try Yoga. Psychologically invasive. The worst.
i have the almost the same thing that you all have been discussing,
but for me
its focused on the left side of my chest , and sometimes i get a tickleling sensation or a very heavy pressure in my lower left chest.(quite an unsettling sensation)
generally relieved when i crack my chest/back. then returns minutes later ,
this has been happening periodically about every other hour today .
i have poor posture
but for me
its focused on the left side of my chest , and sometimes i get a tickleling sensation or a very heavy pressure in my lower left chest.(quite an unsettling sensation)
generally relieved when i crack my chest/back. then returns minutes later ,
this has been happening periodically about every other hour today .
i have poor posture
Ive had a similar issue with my sternum for about 3 years now and its getting worse, the pressure is on my right side right where my 5th from the top rib connects to the sternum it cracks every morning when I wake up and when I dont move for a long time, Its a constant need to stretch my ribcage and back to try to finally get that one pop the will relieve me from this pain forever, I need help, Its keeping me from living a happy life, It gets more intense during exercise, playing guitar effects my sleep and it is always on my mind I have seen a couple of chiropractors but they can seem to give me a real answer, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
I have had this problem off and on for 15 years now. My former family doctor said that it was inflamed cartilidge, which in my case is curved outward and when something rubs on it it causes it to get inflamed and hurt. I must say the pain is only getting worse? I am now ready to go to the Doctor again?