Overview:
- Pain from the ribs. How’d it happen?
- Why does it hurt so bad?
- Painful but fixable
“It hurts right here (points to
middle of back), especially when I take a deep breath in.”
“It’s like someone is poking a knife
in the middle of my back”
“Every time I try to stand up all
the way, my back spasms.”
“I just want to crack this pinch in
my back.”
There are times when pain can
literally take your breath away. That sharp, stabbing pain coming from a
very pinpoint spot in the middle of your back. Sometimes it’s just a
really annoying feeling that won’t go away, but other times it can make you
feel crippled by back spasms.
In many cases, this pain comes from
the joint where your ribs connect to your spine. Sometimes people will say
that you have a rib head that’s “out of place”, misaligned, or sprained. For
the sake of today’s article, we’ll just call it rib pain.
It’s a frustrating problem because
it can happen out of nowhere. Sometimes you just wake up with the pain, other
times it’s from twisting or turning too quickly. Fortunately, even though we
don’t know much about the pain, we do have effective strategies to help manage
it when you feel it.
Why
Does It Hurt So Bad?
The interesting thing about pain
from a rib head is that the intensity and level of annoyance is really high for
a problem that is pretty harmless. It’s not like a herniated disc where you may
have other serious complications that arise, but the pain can sometimes be as
debilitating.
Although this joint won’t result in
pinched nerves that can cause muscle weakness or loss of feeling, it is
extremely dense in pain generating tissue.
The ligaments shown on the image
above, as well as the direct connection of the rib to the vertebra can be full
of pain fibers called nociceptors. This joint is not supposed to have very much
movement. If the joint gets overloaded and sprains the ligament, or if there is
too much friction between the joint surfaces, then it stimulates an aggressive
pain response in the brain.
When the pain response is initiated,
the nervous system often looks to brace an area of injury, this typically
comes in the form of muscle tightness and spasticity. As the muscles tighten
around your ribs, it limits your ability to breathe in deeply. The muscle
spasticity may also compress the nerves, arteries, and veins passing around the
curvature of the ribs causing additional sources of pain and discomfort.
Unlike other parts of the body like
the hand, shoulder, and low back, you don’t have a choice in moving your ribs.
Your ribs move whenever you take a breath, and breathing is a little bit
important to the maintenance of life. The more it moves, the more it can
agitate the painful joint even if there’s minimal tissue damage.
How
to fix it?
For most people, this pain will go
away within a week without any treatment. However, if you have the pain for
longer, you may need a little bit of outside help to correct the problem.
Most chiropractors can address the
pain with a spinal adjustment to the thoracic spine or rib head. Typically
patients will feel a substantial amount of relief within a few visits. When
combined with some corrective exercise, you probably won’t have any further
issues unless you reinjure the joint.
Whether your problem is brand new or
chronic, a Structural Corrective approach to the spine can lead to substantial
relief.
