Costocondritis

The idiopathic form of costocondritis is called Tietze syndrome. There is pain in the costal cartilage, often localised. It is enhanced by motion, coughing or sneezing.

Any inflammation involving costochondral junction of the ribs. The idiopathic form is called Tietze syndrome. There is pain in the costal cartilage, often localized. It is enhanced by motion, coughing or sneezing. The second rib is most commonly affected. Tenderness is a prominent feature.

Had a chat with a friend last night who had his heart bypass nine months ago and we discussed the importance of posting a piece about this painful condition onto the website. Ken has suffered from costocondritis since February this year and is to say the least a bit fed up with it! I also suffered from this and it really was horrific, in fact I only found out what it was when I rang Health Livetime on the television. I spoke to a Doctor who informed me (and millions of other people watching) that it was a form of arthritis, and that it would only be temporary. I only experienced my ‘bracing’ in the mornings and was totally twinge free about a year after my heart bypass.

So I’ve done a bit of research and hope the following article helps anyone suffering from this (hard to pronounce) condition. We hope to have the discussion board up and running in the near future and Ken who has kindly offered to be a ‘Heart Buddy’ is also happy to chat to any fellow sufferers of ‘Cosco’.

Costocondritis

When patients have a pain in the chest and a swelling is felt by the Doctor they will feel pain when the ribs are pressed just to the side of the large bone in the middle of the chest, they are often diagnosed with a usually harmless condition called Tietze’s syndrome, also known as costocondritis.

Chest pain can be a sign of a heart attack, so doctors usually order an electrocardiogram, a chest X ray and several blood tests. Even if all the tests are normal, they may still hospitalise the patient because normal tests do not rule out a heart attack. Chest pain can also be caused by a pinched nerve in your back, a stomach ulcer, gall bladder disease and so forth, so it is often reassuring when a patient feels pain when a doctor presses on the ribs/ because the heart is inside a bony cavity and should not hurt when a doctor presses on a person's chest.

The ribs attach to a large bone in the centre of the chest in the front. To help you breathe in, your muscles raise your rib cage/ and to help you breathe out, they relax and let your ribs drop. Therefore, your ribs form a movable joint where they attach to your chest bone. It is common for people to get arthritis in these joints/, which hurts particularly when they breathe. Tietze's syndrome usually goes away in a few weeks or months with no treatment. However, you can block the pain with analgesics or anti-inflammatory prescribed by your Doctor.

I have also uncovered the following, which suggests (surprise, surprise) that there is a possibility of stress playing its part in this condition.

Summary explanation for costocondritis:

Costocondritis is simply inflammation of the rib joints, and attachments of intercostal muscles to the ribs, due to persistent "bracing" of the intercostal muscles. So far, the only known cause of this persistent tension of the intercostal muscles is chronic stress-effect storage in the hypothalamus. (The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls an immense number of bodily functions).

The well-known fight or flight mechanism is the only known way the hypothalamus has to respond to ANY form of stress. The stress, for which physically running or fighting are NOT appropriate, result in that readiness being stored in the hypothalamus. Nearly all stress in our present day culture cannot be resolved by running or fighting.

This makes breathing like trying to run with a muscle cramp in your leg. You can stop running but you cannot stop breathing. SO, when this tension is always there of course, eventually, the muscles get painful and their attachments become inflamed.

Rolfing (similar to the Alexandra Technique) gives almost instant relief from this condition but is not a permanent cure since the cause must be eliminated for any permanent cure of anything chronic to be effective. The only permanent cure for this, yet known, is Skilled Relaxation. It takes 6-12 months to discharge all the tension stored in the muscles via turning down the fight or flight signals from the hypothalamus. SO, if one wants quicker results, although temporary; Chiropractic, Rolfing or a series of deep, total-body, therapeutic massages will be needed.

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Costocondritis

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