Pain From the Ribs
Slipping Rib Syndrome, also known as Tietze's Syndrome, was first described in 1921by Alexander Tietze. M D Other names include xiphoidalgia, costochondritis, or anterior chest-wall syndrome. But the most descriptive and accurate name for the actual etiological basis of the condition is Slipping Rib Syndrome.
In many cases a rib slips out of place because the ligaments that hold the ribs to the sternum, the sternocostal ligaments, are weak. Without muscles to hold the ribs in place, loose ligaments allow slipping of the rib which causes further stretching of the ligament, manifesting itself by producing severe pain. The loose ribs can also pinch intercostal nerves, sending excruciating pains around the chest into the back. Sternocostal and costochondral ligaments refer pain from the front of the chest to the mid back. Likewise, costovertebral ligament sprains refer pain from the back of the rib segment to the sternum where the rib attaches.
Traditional medicine believes the condition is caused by inflammation in the costochondral junction causing costochondritis. The treatment of choice in traditional medical circles is NSAID, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
Chronic pain, no matter what the cause, is not due to a NSAID deficiency. Slipping Rib Syndrome is caused by weakness of the sternocostal, costochondral, or costovertebral ligaments. Prolotherapy will strengthen these ligament junctions in all the areas where the ribs are hypermobile.
Slipping Rib Syndrome may be caused by hypermobility of the anterior end of the costal cartilage, located at the rib-cartilage interface called the costochondral junction. Most often, the tenth rib is the source because, unlike ribs one through seven which attach to the sternum, the eighth, ninth, and tenth ribs are attached anteriorly to each other by loose, fibrous tissue. This provides increased mobility, but a greater susceptibility to trauma. Slipping rib cartilage may cause no pain or only intermittent pain.
Slipping Rib Syndrome is also more likely to occur in the lower ribs because of the poor blood supply to the cartilaginous tissue and ligaments. Injury to the cartilage tissue in the lower ribs or the sternocostal ligaments in the upper ribs seldom completely heal naturally. The sternocostal, rib-sternum, and costochondral joints undergo stress when the rib cage expands or contracts abnormally or when excessive pressure is applied on the ribs themselves.
In order for the rib cage to expand and contract with each breath, the costochondral and the sternocostal junctions are naturally loose. Humans breathe 12 times per minute, 720 times per hour, 19,280 times per day, which stresses these ligamentous-rib junctions. Additional stressors include any condition that makes breathing more difficult.
A simple coughing attack due to a cold may cause the development of Slipping Rib Syndrome. Conditions such as bronchitis, emphysema, allergies, and asthma cause additional stress to the sternocostal and costochondral junctions. Even sinusitis, with the associated nose blowing can be the initial event t hat leads to chronic chest pain from Slipping Rib Syndrome.
Other causes of Slipping Rib Syndrome include the feared "fall asleep in the back seat of a crowded car syndrome." A person falls asleep in a crowded car with the door handle jutting into a rib. The rib slips out of place and the problem begins. Another cause of Slipping Rib Syndrome is the result of surgery to the lungs, chest, heart, or breast with resection of the lymph nodes which puts a tremendous stress on the rib attachments because the surgeon must separate the ribs to remove the injured tissue. Unresolved chest or upper back pain following a thoracotomy, chest operation, or CPR is most likely due to ligament laxity in the rib-sternum or the rib-vertebral junction.
The ribs are attached in the front, as well as in the back of the body. A loose rib in the front is likely also loose in the back. The rib-vertebral junction is known as the costovertebral junction, and is secured by the costotransverse ligaments.
Unexplained upper back pain, between the shoulder blades and costovertebral, rib-vertebrae pain, is likely due to joint laxity and/or weakness in the costotransverse ligaments. (Chronic chest pain, especially in young people, is often due to weakness in the sternocostal and costochondral junctions, and chronic mid-upper back pain is due to weakness at the costovertebral junction.
Both conditions may lead to Slipping Rib Syndrome where the rib intermittently slips out of place, causing a stretching of the ligamentous support of the rib in the front and back. The result is periodic episodes of severe pain and underlying chronic chest and/or upper back pain. Prolotherapy, by strengthening these areas, provides definitive results in the relief of the chronic chest pain or chronic upper back pain from Slipping Rib Syndrome.
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