Hi y’all,
Would anyone have an educated guess as to why PsA would make a person more prone to intercostal muscle strains? I have injured myself a total of 6 times over the last couple of years, doing the most benign things!
Today, I was simply tying a knot in the top of a garbage bag and pulling it tight when I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my left side that literally made me yelp like a dog! It scared my son, who was standing nearby.
Each time this has happened, it has taken about a month to heal and it is very painful, especially when lying down.
I have injured both sides, but more frequently the left side.
I’m scared to move! Has anyone else had this issue?
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It’s commonly called costochrondritis although like you, mine is never at the sternum but all over my ribs instead. The tiny ligaments/tendons/muscles supporting your ribs are inflaming, causing this horrid sharp pain which takes an age to go and is much worse lying down, coughing, sneezing or even laughing. It’s a classic PsA issue in my view and exceptionally annoying. Very often people think they might be having a heart attack and find out that way what’s inflamed. It’s always wise to get it checked out though and see what your rheumy team thinks. But PsA loves to inflame anything it pleases and for me this is one of particular specialities.
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I’ve experienced the soreness around the ribcage for a number of years and I think we had a thread awhile back on how it made some of us want to bring back bra burning, but I digress…
I will bring this up at my next rheumy visit.
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Sounds like a silly question, but how do you know you’ve actually injured the muscles? Obviously something’s happening over and above the ongoing inflammation, but what? That’s what I’d want to know.
Sounds like muscle strain … but why would that happen tying a bin bag? I’m useless, you want answers, not more questions! Perhaps costochondritis makes the muscles more fragile …
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I’m assuming I’m re-injuring the muscles because it always happens when I’m doing something like pulling with my arms, twisting my trunk or leaning my ribcage against something, like cleaning the bathtub. I feel a super intense stabbing pain, and then it takes 4-6 weeks to heal…until I do something else to aggravate it. 🤷
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Yes we did didn’t we?
That was a giggly thread!
I don’t think the muscles are injured I think its the tendons and ligaments that are inflamed rather than injured.
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Yes,
That was sort of what I was getting at. Trying to get at! I know that costochondritis is inflammation of tendon / ligament attachment points (‘muscles’ was a mistake!). There again, I think I’ve heard that there’s more to it than ‘enthesitis of rib cage’ …
Regardless. What I was trying to say is that sounds like mimiB has costochondritis pretty chronically. But then there are these episodes where a simple action triggers what feels like additional injury in that pain worsens, lasts quite a while, then improves. And I was wondering what the nature of that apparent injury might be.
I suppose the simple answer is just that simple actions that put strain on those tissues worsen the inflammation. But @mimiB, I guess you need investigations in case there are small tears or something.
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I agree with Sybil. There is a lot of connective tissue around that area. The ligaments, tendons. Try warm moist heat. Or topical gel such as Biofreeze…
I’m currently experiencing the same thing and mine happened rolling over in bed! It’s super painful!
It really is!
I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing so much pain from this issue. It has made me cry many times when one of my teen boys or another loved one hugs me and I cry-out because of the inflammation throughout my rib cage and sternum.
I have tried to explain this issue to so many. It’s just difficult. They hear arthritis and generally they cannot or do not want to understand that for those of us with PSA it isn’t just about joints.
I absolutely agree with the previous posts. However, for me, I prefer a cold towel stored in my freezer to warm heat or sometimes it’s a mixture. I also use lots of lidocaine gel and a menthol based pain spray. These things don’t last long but sometimes it’s enough to get me through.
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Thanks for the empathy and the tips!
I thought it was getting better, but today it feels terrible. I can barely move without a stabbing pain.
I think I have identified the area of muscle tissue that’s affected. It’s the serratus anterior on the left side ( this time, but it has been on the right a time or three). I don’t have much pain in the sternum area, but if I press on it, it hurts in the area I’m complaining about, on the side at about the elbow level.
It truly sucketh…I have a few tramadol I could try but, in the past, I have not found it to be that helpful with this kind of sharp, stabbing pain.