Tightness in Sternum and Tightness Between Shoulder Blades

has anyone found a solution? im 23, used inhalers for awhile now had a chest xray done. all clear but i feel somethings not right- upper chest discomfort and right between shoulder blades. thanks-

For about the last 4 months I have been having chest pains after inhaling exit mould while cleaning my bathroom. I have had a chest xray and it is all clear and my doctor is at a loss as to what it can be. I get a tightness/knotty feeling that feels like it is in my spine between my shoulder blades and a few inches below my shoulder blades.This tightness is accompanied simaultaneously by a tightness/knotty feeling in my sternum.  It feels like stabbing pains in my chest and my heart and little shocks and my ribs hurt and deep beathing is painfulThis problem is there almost 100% of the time. 90%of the time the pain is about a 3 on a scale from 1 to 10.About 10% of the time this tightness in my spine and sternum increases to about a 5 or 6 on a pain scale of 1 to 10. As the pain increases it begins to radiate across my shoulders,in my neck and down one arm.  The pain is somewhat relieved by very hot showers or sleeping on an electric blanket or massage but begins again after the shower or massaging stops and worsens throughout the day.. Any thoughts please?

I have this same problem. I've tried 2 different chiropractors and neither of them helped me. In fact, my pain worsened after the chiropractors stretch me all over like a pretzel. So.....this is what has helped me..... My solution was to get an ice pack, NOT HEAT. Heat temporarily provided me with pain relief, but when the heat was removed, the muscles re-tightened  TIGHTER than they were to begin with. Ice doesn't feel as soothing as heat but the muscles DO NOT tighten back up like when I used heat.. I have found that the best way to solve this constant pain is to lay on the flat hard floor on top of the ice pack. Make sure when you go to purchase an ice pack, that it is very flat so that it does not dig into your back too deeply. So....lay on top of the ice pack so that the area where you feel the most pain is directly on top of the ice pack. After a while you will feel numb and the muscles will be completely relaxed. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that you stay on the floor and stretch the muscles for a while. This stretching is what is going to reduce the amount of muscle pain you will experience in the near future and in addition....if your pain is anything like mine.....this is when your back is going to crack like no other because the tension on your spine has been reduced. I know chronic pain is a life altering thing......have faith you can heal yourself. SO Remember.....NO HEAT!!!.....LOTS OF ICE!!!!

I have exactly what you described but the pressure is also by my breastbone! I have breast implants and was thinking there may be problem with them! I too feel a little relief from a hot shower but the relief doesn't last long! Please give me any news or updates! I was wondering if the pain runs down to your ribcage and across your back!

I saw that someone earlier mentioned Costochondritis and I seriously recommend looking into this! I suffer from it myself and have for about 8 years now since my final year of high school. It can be caused by a car accident, over use of muscles from sports or stress among other things. Stress is actually a major trigger for it (which happens to be mine) and it's extremely hard to deal with, but luckily it's not life threatening or too serious. Extremely painful yes but not dangerous. It is basically severe inflammation of the muscles and tissue connecting the ribs to the breast bone and connecting the ribs to each other. Anti-inflammatories are used to help with the pain, sometimes nothing works but prescription anti-inflammatory/pain killer combos. It can get so severe that I can't even swallow without extreme pains and I would go a week without eating before ending up in the emergency room. If you press your fingers on your sternum or along your chest and you get sharp pains where you press, same goes for the rib cage, this is a very strong sign that you could be suffering from Costochondritis. Best ways to help it heal is to keep yourself relaxed, remove as many stressers from your life as possible and rest. For me this has meant leaving a very stressful job that I happened to love because it just won't calm down....I really hope that this helps!

Go to a chirpractor. I have the same issue, and it's approx. 6-8 treatments, and then it leaves and feels amazing. Don't worry, it feels really good after they finish.
Also, don't get into the habit of cracking your back. The pain is caused from an unaligned segment, they'll push it back into place, then when you crack it, the segment moves back into it's original painful position.

I have the same issues my shoulders blades feel "tight", like they are being constantly pulled together. My sternum also hurts right at the xiphoid process, never even new it existed till it started hurting it feels like its swollen maybe if that's even possible( it feels like a golf ball)my chest also feels tight.I've never had heartburn before but I think I have it now,I've always been gassy so I know that feeling and that's not it. This has just come on in the last few months it comes and goes, the shoulder blade pain is the worst when I get up in the morning and while it never fully goes away it does get better as the day goes by. My stomach does feel "off" kind of a dull pain, I'm a 34 year old male i'm at the gym daily and eat pretty healthy (beer drinker though but don't smoke).

I had the same problem. My Dr. told me for years it was my fibromyalgia. On Feb 1st. I went out to eat with my family after getting home I got a feeling in my throat that just did not feel right. I went to the ER. After having blood test and EKG the Dr. said although the Heart test were all ok he wanted to observe me. About 2 hours later I had pain in my throat again this time feeling like a charlee horse. I told the Dr. he did another EKG this time the EKG showed I had a small Heart Attack. They took me to the cardiac floor and while I was answering all of the questions they ask, I got the pain again. This time it felt like labor pain in the throat. I had a second heart attack. This one being massive. My Dr. says" The widow maker". After calling a code and my being revived I was rushed to the Cath lab where I underwent a heart cath. My aorta was over 99% blocked. I had 2 stents put in my aorta. The everyday chest and shoulder pain that I had everyday of my life for the past year or two is now gone. If you have not had extensive heart workup please insist that your Dr. check you out really good.

Both my son (age 22) and I both have this same tightness and pain in sternum and between/across shoulder blades. Pain varies day to day but some days are really bad. He was prescribed Naproxyn and has sternum popping/cracking. Naproxyn doesn't really help him. We are both high energy people who some might describe as high strung (LOL). I really think this is caused by long term stress or tension (sitting in front of a computer, being stressed out or anxious, or anything that causes tension). 

Hi my name is Jayson Im 37 and I have the same exact pain from c7 between my shoulder blades that radiates to my sternum. the pain is constant and unbarable at times. I had a car wreck in 94 hit a tree head on doing about 50 or more. the airbag failed to deploy and my head bent the steering wheel to a 90 degree angle. shortly after the accident I started having a burning, sometimes a deep iche,or ache. After dealing with this for years and a number of drs. I was referred to a dr dean in Hilton Head Is. Sc. he said I had snapping scapula syndrom, which I didnt have, but he was a dr and i trusted him so he did a sugery called scapula birsosopy. After that surgery i was in just as much pain as before if not more. So I delt with the pain for years more, my right shoulder started dislocating. It

dislocated it over 300 times and finally had a complete shoulder reconstruction done. Now my shoulder says in place now, but I still have the pain between my shoulder blades mostely on the right side radiating to my sternum this sucks so bad. I am so depressed with horrible anxiety, Im now off all pain meds. At my worst the pain management drs had me on 300 10mg methodone, 180 30mg oxycodine, roxys and 120 xanax. Was on that c**p for years but the side effects became so bad. Mentally I was in bad shape, now that I am off them. I dont feel near as bad mentally, But the pain is so bad I got referred to neurologist in Jacksonville Fl. he ordered a new cervicial MRI and found the disk at c6,c7 was collapsed or hern. or whatever. He said he would do a fusion at c6,c7 and told me to get an eppidurl at c6,c7 and if I got any relief that there was a 95% chance that after the surgery I would have complete relief. After the eppi I got complete relief for about an hour or two.

this is good. So Im having surgery to do the fusion tomorrow. Fingers crossed I feel the this is my last hope. Im so scared that it wont work, but he is a great dr and I do trust this one.







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I feel your pain.
I am 62 years old and you are describing almost to a "t" of what I am having.
The doctor put me on Methylprednisolone which at the point of time has not done anything but cause me trouble sleeping.
Gads! the only thing I have been able to do is go through my junk mail and of courtse be on my computer.

I got a diganosis for these exact symptoms of Costochondritis (Chest Wall Inflammation), and if there is swelling involved with it, it is then referred to as Tietze Syndrome. Hope that helps. The only medication that has given me relief is Aleve, if I feel the pain coming on I will take 4 Aleve, or Prednisone.

I realize that this is a reply to an enquiery that has been placed 6 years back.. A lot of changes must have had happenned since that time.. While reading your very well description of the pain, I had many thoughts.. In our part of the world about 95%of the people have low vitamin d which can cause all sorts of musculoskeletal pain, so I thought you might have had vitamin d deficiency.. Another thought was a rheumatoid disease, esp that you are young relatively and get relief with prednisolone in addition to the mild arthritic changes on the MRI that might or might not be normal for your age, so I suggest visiting a rheumatologist for both suggested differentials (vitamin d deficiency and rheumatism).. Another less likely thought is an increase in the parathyroid hormone which should be expected to be detected, the symptoms of hyperparathyroid hormone includes: moans (psycological disturbance as anxiety or depression) groans (GI disturbances) and bones (skeletal pain) . You might benefit of suggesting this too to your doc.. Wish you luck

I am a 38 year olf female. I ended up in the emrgency room in march of 2012 with what I thought was a heart attack. Chest hurt and I felt dizzy, sweaty and had burning in the center of my chest. The ER docs did an EKG and found nothing so they sent me by ambulance to another hospital that specialized in heart problems. They kept me over night and monitored me and did a stress test and echo first thing the next morning. Stress test and echo came back fine. Was sent home and the next day went back to ER with the same pain. They did a CT scan of my lungs looking for a pulmonary embolism. Thery found nothing there either, although they did mention a fatty liver. The pain has continued ever since. I have had a barrium swallow test done for acid reflux, and that was quite nasty I have to admit. They found nothing there, but my doctor keeps insisting that it's reflux and gave me Nexium anyway. I had a scope done on my esophagus looking for acid reflux, barretts esophagus and esophageal cancer with negative results all the way around. I had an abdominal ultrasound done looking to see if it was a gall bladder problem, they did find one gall stojne and sent me to an appointment with the surgeon, who says it is not a gallbladder problem. I have had numerous cvhest Xrays done and all are negative. I even had a mammagram done to make sure that it wasn't some type of breast cancer, and that was negative to. I went to physical therapy and they think that it's a muscle problem. I have no idea what it is but it's very painful and has limited my daily activities for the most part. I have pain in the center of my chest and in between my shoulder blades, the burning is still there at times and can get really bad. I have the pain into the back of neck sometimes. It is worse first thing in the morning and gets really nasty towrds bedtime. Seems like it's hard tog et a full breath at times and the chest is very tight. I have read numerous posts on this and found that I am not alone in this ordeal. Was wondeing if anyone has posted on this recently and if they have found an actual cause for this chest pain and discomfort. Seems like my doctor doesn't know where else to look and it's getting really bad. I have email notification set up so if you reply it will get sent directly to my email address. I am hoping that someone out there knows what this could be and that maybe I can get a general idea for my doctor to look into. I do have some degenerative discs and have joint disease in one hip. Not sure if that could be causing all this or not but it's always a possibility at this point. I have a crunching noise in bewtween shoulder blades when I stretch my back out in the mornings. I take Klonopin and Nortriptolyne as well as Percocet for the pain. I also take Metformin for pre diabetes issues. Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give.

Have your doctors check for Costochondritis, I have been to the ER for the exact same pains several times, I was told it was Costochondritis by a very good doctor. After being told it was acid reflux, gallstones, heartburn ect. They give me a shot of Torodol 60mg in the ER and within 10 minutes the pain is gone. Costochondritis is known as chest wall inflammation as well. It is when the costo-sternal joint where your ribs meet your sternum becomes inflammed. And it's symptoms do mimic those of a heart attack. Hope that helps.