Situations in which the rib pain occurs | Pain in the ribs

Situations in which the rib pain occurs

In addition to direct injuries to the ribs, rib pain when breathing can also be caused by irritation or injury to the muscles and nerves involved in raising and lowering the rib cage. It is therefore often difficult for the layperson to differentiate the origin of the pain. If, in addition to the pain in the ribs, there is also coughing (with or without sputum), sore throat, tiredness and fever, bronchitis or pneumonia may be a possible cause.If rib pain occurs during movement, it can have various causes.

On the one hand, an incorrect movement leading to muscle strain is possible as the cause. Also, ribs and thoracic vertebrae can become jammed due to incorrect lifting, for example, which can result in rib pain. On the other hand, injuries such as bruises or fractures of the ribs can be responsible for rib pain during movement.

If recurrent rib pain occurs during movement, especially behind the breastbone and on the left side, which disappears when the patient is at rest, a doctor should be consulted. This could be a circulatory disorder of the coronary arteries (coronary heart disease), which must be treated. Pain in the ribs after sports usually has muscular tension as its cause.

Either the muscles between the ribs or the abdominal muscles can cause rib pain. The overloading of the muscles during sports due to too strenuous training and lack of breathing technique can lead to pain that persists after sports. The pain is particularly noticeable when breathing in, as the tense muscles do not allow the chest to expand.

Therefore, one should take care to adapt the training to the respective fitness level so that the muscles do not tense up during the sport. It is also possible that insufficient stretching after sport leads to tension and muscle soreness. During weight training, it can happen that an intercostal nerve is irritated or jammed by a wrong movement or too much strain. This is known as intercostal neuralgia, which causes rib pain that persists after sport and possibly for several days or weeks afterwards.