Is it possible to crack a rib in your back?

[Megaflow]

Hi People

On Saturday evening I started to develop a pain in my back, slightly below and to the centre of my right shoulder blade, I put this down to over exerting myself in the gym on Friday, and assumed it to be a pulled muscle.

During Saturday night, as the rugby beer wore off, the pain became worse to the point I couldn't sleep and was awake from 6am and lay there until 8am when I gave up and got up.

The pain is an ache most of the time, but if I take a deep breath, sneeze, cough, turn over in bed, etc it's like somebody has put a knife between my shoulder blades. So I am now wondering it is something more.

Is it even possible to crack a rib in your back?

TIA

PS: I have been down the walk in centre and it's a 2 hour wait! Sorry but some of us have work to do...

[goldblum]

Some kind of strain anywhere around where the traps/rhomboids and lats meet. What was Friday's workout?

[Manicminer]

If you can live with it, why not book an appointment with your doc at a time that suits.

I don't think it's a rib if you did it just exercising. Have you tried some gentle stretching to see if it helps.

[Megaflow]

goldblum said:

Some kind of strain anywhere around where the traps/rhomboids and lats meet. What was Friday's workout?

Bench press, leg press, shoulder press, pec deck, lat pull down and a back machine where you pull towards you in a seated position. Vary weights, 3 x 12 of each.

Plus some medicine ball and power bag.

I couldn't get a proper grip with my left hand on the bench press for some reason, and was probably taking more load on the right, hence the assumption.

[Hoofy]

If you crack a rib, they'll just give you painkillers so that you can breathe more easily (if breathing is difficult or too painful to do).

I've landed on the coping when skating and cracked a rib. It hurt to drive and breathe but I just ignored the pain and it eventually healed.

IANAD!

[goldblum]

Sounds like a back muscle issue. Can be very painful, as you've discovered. If you had no sudden sharp pains whilst you were training that's the option I'd go for. No numbness in your hand/arm/neck?

[Megaflow]

There was no sharp pain during training, it built up over a period of 6 hours, 24 hours later. There is no numbness either. I have some lower back issues from time to time, but this is in a different league in terms of pain.

[Spice_Weasel]

The symptoms sound like those I had back in the autumn. I do a mix of gym and triathlon training and now I am getting on a bit (43) I find the DOMS and muscle aches combine with more minor injuries.

Hanging my laptop backpack over just one shoulder has not helped matters!

[mattikake]

Iliocostalis strain possibly. It's fairly common. A thin and often an unbalanced muscle, so is easily done. Vasalva effects (holding your breath and straining hard) can often overload the areas around the muscle, even though the exercises you did may not tax the muscle directly. It starts at the base of your spine and inserts (attaches) into your ribs right up to your neck. So breathing hurts too.

[Driller]

Megaflow said:

Bench press, leg press, shoulder press, pec deck, lat pull down and a back machine where you pull towards you in a seated position. Vary weights, 3 x 12 of each.

Plus some medicine ball and power bag.

I couldn't get a proper grip with my left hand on the bench press for some reason, and was probably taking more load on the right, hence the assumption.

You pull the bar down behind your neck don't you?

[Megaflow]

Driller said:

Megaflow said:

Bench press, leg press, shoulder press, pec deck, lat pull down and a back machine where you pull towards you in a seated position. Vary weights, 3 x 12 of each.

Plus some medicine ball and power bag.

I couldn't get a proper grip with my left hand on the bench press for some reason, and was probably taking more load on the right, hence the assumption.

You pull the bar down behind your neck don't you?

Nope. Always in front.

I'm now quite sure it is a muscle strain/pull, I had a look and feel when I got home and there is noticeable swelling starting just below the shoulder blade and just to the right hand side of the spine going down to the small of the back, it is also absolutely solid to touch.

Some online research reveals Syndol pain killers have a muscle relaxant in them, I have taken two of them and it has taken the edge of, something the ibuprofen failed to do yesterday.

[Driller]

Ah, I was sure I read in an earlier thread that you pulled behind.

At any rate, with your description of just below the shoulder blade, first thing I thought was muscular. I get this pretty often and as you say it's a bh to sleep.

If it gets really bad a muscle relaxant works wonders taken before bed

[Megaflow]

That is the bak machine, sort of like a bench press in reverse, where you pull towards you.

[Megaflow]

Megaflow said:

Some online research reveals Syndol pain killers have a muscle relaxant in them, I have taken two of them and it has taken the edge of, something the ibuprofen failed to do yesterday.

They did the trick, taken the edge off the pain enough to sleep and therefore function something like normal again today, the pain is still there, but nothing worse than a bit of standard back ache.

Cheers folks!