Sternum Pain (possible Injury?)

[Nilan]

Hello all,

 

I have a small but pertinent query.

 

My sternum has been hurting badly since my last workout on Saturday, 16th march. 

The pain is largely concentrated around the middle of the sternum, where the chest muscle inserts into the sternum bone.

 

From what I tried searching for online, the pain seems centered around the insertion points of the 3rd and 4th ribs.

 

Have I injured myself? Has anyone else experienced similar pain? If so, what did they do and how long did it take to subside?

 

I must mention here that this pain did occur on and off after doing tuck back lever. Especially when I started hitting the 50s-60s mark.

 

But the pain would subside in 1-2 days and I would be all ready for my next workout session ( I workout twice a week, one on Tues and second on Sat)

 

Now, however, the pain is not subsiding. In fact, I recently (~ 3 weeks back) started to incorporate XR Support Holds. Last saturday, I held the position for 20s with locked arms and I experienced a really strong contraction of my chest. The pain happened during the contraction and has persisted ever since 

 

What possible course of action should I take vis a vis my workouts? Should I suspend all workouts till the pain disappears? 

 

My routine was like this when this happened :

 

1. Warmup ( dynamic stretching)

2. Prerequisites ( hollow hold, superman hold, front plank, reverse plank, pronated grip dead hang, supinated grip dead hang: all for 60s continuous)

 

3.L sit-PB Low-20s + L sit PB Tuck-40s ( 2 weeks ago began incorporating PB Low as I could hold tuck for 60+s)

4.Dips-1x8 ( Reduced the volume from 3x8 3 weeks back when I began incorporating XR Support Hold)

 

5.XR Support Hold , 3 sets of ~10s

6. Tuck FL-2x30s

7.German Hang-60s

8. Tuck BL- 50s, 30s

 

9. Wall handstand- 3x10s

 

 

I'd be grateful for any tips and suggestions.

[Tyler Gibson]

This sternum pain is called costochondritis and is not uncommon among beginners to GST. The cause of the pain is a swelling of the costal cartilage where your ribs attach to your sternum. Most people experience this when they start doing heavy bench press, heavy dips, or back lever training, usually when they do not have a lot of experience with the movement.

 

I struggled with costochondritis for six months starting in August of 2012. The best thing you can do for yourself is to 1. Rest, and 2. see a physical therapist. People here could tell you what worked for them to get over it, but costochondritis can be caused by a number of different things so what worked for other people won't necessarily work for you. See a physical therapist so they can diagnose what is causing your costochondritis. In the mean time, avoid any movements that aggravate it and take advantage of an opportunity to shore up some weak spots.

[Nilan]

Unfortunately you need to suspend the majority of your training as it seem anything shoulder girdle oriented will make it worse. Anything that will stress the chest directly or indirectly will need to be cut if not used in the lightest fashion for rehab purposes. I'm sure Josh will have better advice if he interjects. 

Thank you Zach for taking the time to go through my issue and responding.

 

To suspend the majority of my training does sound disheartening 

 

I await Josh's response on the matter...

[Nilan]

This sternum pain is called costochondritis and is not uncommon among beginners to GST. The cause of the pain is a swelling of the costal cartilage where your ribs attach to your sternum. Most people experience this when they start doing heavy bench press, heavy dips, or back lever training, usually when they do not have a lot of experience with the movement.

 

I struggled with costochondritis for six months starting in August of 2012. The best thing you can do for yourself is to 1. Rest, and 2. see a physical therapist. People here could tell you what worked for them to get over it, but costochondritis can be caused by a number of different things so what worked for other people won't necessarily work for you. See a physical therapist so they can diagnose what is causing your costochondritis. In the mean time, avoid any movements that aggravate it and take advantage of an opportunity to shore up some weak spots.

Hello adidashred! Many thanks for your response.

 

My internet search did reveal the medical term of the pain to be costochondritis. 

 

I am interested to know how you managed to overcome your pain, what all things you did to aid in your recovery.

 

Also, as you say, it is common amongst beginners of GST. So, really, I do hope more people chip in and contribute their tips. I do hope the veterans and mods post their views. Perhaps, Coach himself might have a few words of suggestion, but I don't know if it'd be polite to request his views on the matter, given how incredibly busy he is.

 

As far as going to a physical therapist is concerned, it isn't possible at the moment due to financial constraints ( my grandma had a fracture so a lot of money went towards her surgery and recovery)

[Tyler Gibson]

If you're interested, I wrote a detailed account of how I got over my costochondritis here:

 

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/10511-costochondritis-rehab/#entry101491

[Joshua Naterman]

This post is for educational use only. This is not a prescription, and I am not your doctor. By reading this, post, you release me from liability for any injury incurred by anyone as a result of implementation of anything mentioned in this post.

 

Something that I always recommend, that seems to rarely get utilized, is:

 

1) Take 3-5 days off, and let the excess inflammation die down

2) Start off with something so easy that the pain never manifests, like incline push ups. Slowly increase reps, and eventually work up to 2-3 sets.

3) start exploring other shoulder movements, and scale them so that they never hurt. Adidashred's experience with german hangs is a good example of this. You can start off with feet on the ground, and over time remove assistance. No matter what you do, you'll need to stretch in a way that does not cause pain.

4) SMR and cross-friction massage are good self-treatment options to include in your protocol

5) Eventually you'll need to start with a simple dip bar support. This may have to be self-spotted to make it pain free. If so, that's fine!

6) When you build up a 60s of pain free support, start doing the first 2-3 inches of the dip. Add an inch each workout, making sure it's pain free. If it hurts, you're going too far too fast.

 

When you get back to doing pain free dips, you can play with the idea of a self-spotted ring support.

 

You can see where this is going... take it slow, but use progressive resistance. Stretching and strengthening are both important parts of rehab.

 

The term "pain" means "OUCH!" and represents a 5 out of 10 on a 1-10 pain scale. You need to keep whatever you feel to a 1 to 4 out of 10, and you should not have pain afterwards, either immediately OR the next day. Do not move on until a 2, for example, has become a 1. Always stick with the same resistance, stretch, sets/reps, etc until the pain has diminished to a 1 out of 10, which means you might feel SOMETHING, but it's very faint and can't even be described as a strong tension. A 4 represents a strong stretch, with moderate discomfort, but nothing that resembles injury. You do not have to take things this far, but you should take them no further than this. When in doubt, go easy.

 

Two important notes:

 

1) Sticking to H1 and F1-4 will alleviate the issue of doing too much too soon, and pretty much eliminate this kind of injury. The programming will actually take you through good rehab in the pressing department, and in general get you back on track. It is a good investment.

 

2) Please see a professional.

[Nilan]

This post is for educational use only. This is not a prescription, and I am not your doctor. By reading this, post, you release me from liability for any injury incurred by anyone as a result of implementation of anything mentioned in this post.

 

Something that I always recommend, that seems to rarely get utilized, is:

 

1) Take 3-5 days off, and let the excess inflammation die down

2) Start off with something so easy that the pain never manifests, like incline push ups. Slowly increase reps, and eventually work up to 2-3 sets.

3) start exploring other shoulder movements, and scale them so that they never hurt. Adidashred's experience with german hangs is a good example of this. You can start off with feet on the ground, and over time remove assistance. No matter what you do, you'll need to stretch in a way that does not cause pain.

4) SMR and cross-friction massage are good self-treatment options to include in your protocol

5) Eventually you'll need to start with a simple dip bar support. This may have to be self-spotted to make it pain free. If so, that's fine!

6) When you build up a 60s of pain free support, start doing the first 2-3 inches of the dip. Add an inch each workout, making sure it's pain free. If it hurts, you're going too far too fast.

 

When you get back to doing pain free dips, you can play with the idea of a self-spotted ring support.

 

You can see where this is going... take it slow, but use progressive resistance. Stretching and strengthening are both important parts of rehab.

 

The term "pain" means "OUCH!" and represents a 5 out of 10 on a 1-10 pain scale. You need to keep whatever you feel to a 1 to 4 out of 10, and you should not have pain afterwards, either immediately OR the next day. Do not move on until a 2, for example, has become a 1. Always stick with the same resistance, stretch, sets/reps, etc until the pain has diminished to a 1 out of 10, which means you might feel SOMETHING, but it's very faint and can't even be described as a strong tension. A 4 represents a strong stretch, with moderate discomfort, but nothing that resembles injury. You do not have to take things this far, but you should take them no further than this. When in doubt, go easy.

 

Two important notes:

 

1) Sticking to H1 and F1-4 will alleviate the issue of doing too much too soon, and pretty much eliminate this kind of injury. The programming will actually take you through good rehab in the pressing department, and in general get you back on track. It is a good investment.

 

2) Please see a professional.

Hello Joshua!

 

Many thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to write a detailed response. It is highly appreciated! In fact, I think we are all very lucky that we have such experienced and knowledgeable people like you on the forum

 

That being said, I will try to follow your advice to the letter. A lot of it is simple common sense....but as they say ...common sense is uncommon lol

 

I haven't done any exercise/mobility/stretching in almost a week, primarily due to fear of aggravating the condition further. Tomorrow perhaps I will gingerly try to perform simple arm rotations and stretches and see how that goes. I might also try the superman and hollow holds, but I think I will avoid the planks for the time being.

 

Financial hiccups mean investing in F1-4/H1 is out of my reach at least for the next 2 years. So I would have to try and listen to my body as astutely as possible and pay attention really...

 

Also, one suggestion. How about stickying /making a thread of all possible injuries which could happen in the beginner trainee? If costochondritis is indeed common, I think it will help everyone if they knew about it beforehand and hence could take appropriate precautions beforehand?

[Nilan]

If you're interested, I wrote a detailed account of how I got over my costochondritis here:

 

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/10511-costochondritis-rehab/#entry101491

Read it. It's really incredible how you managed to recover completely! I will be posting a few things I'd like to ask in that thread soon.

[Samuli Jyrkinen]

I used to get some sternum discomfort but F1 & H1 have helped me tremendously. The mobility drills are really vital.

[Nilan]

I used to get some sternum discomfort but F1 & H1 have helped me tremendously. The mobility drills are really vital.

Hello Samui! Thanks for your input.

 

It's great to know that F1 and H1 are doing a great job for so many beginners like us.

 

I really wish I could afford the courses but they are simply beyond my reach at the moment. F1 alone costs half of my family's monthly income.