Pain in Right Ribs - Torn Intercostal Muscle?

[Ash1974]

Slight issue today in that I had a sneezing fit over my mothers house after dinner for no reason (I am one of those people who sneezes like I am expelling daemons and trying to break glass) sneezed about 6 times on the trot so feeling slight pain again so have gone back on the Ibuprofen, hopefully this will not upset my next two week plan...

[pendlebg]

You very well maybe had this checked and determined not to be the issue, but I had some of the very same symptoms you describe, went several weeks without the pain improving and thinking it was a muscle problem but it turned out to be a gallbladder attack.

It did go away for me after a very severe and painful attack that told me it was not a muscle problem, ended up in emergency, doctor diagnosed the gallbladder attack and then went for Ulrasound to investigate further. But if you have not had that checked out (or kidney stones are similar) you might want to. It is very painful, feels like a muscle pull, and will either go away or else you may need your gallbladder removed (not a big deal from what I hear) or have your kidney stones dealt with.

Certainly a good chance that is not it, but apparently gallbladder attacks are misdiagnosed as muscle pulls all the time.

Good luck.

[Ash1974]

You very well maybe had this checked and determined not to be the issue, but I had some of the very same symptoms you describe, went several weeks without the pain improving and thinking it was a muscle problem but it turned out to be a gallbladder attack.

Thanks fella, I hope have covered that one off mate, in those cases you get the pain as if it comes from under the ribs at the bottom of the rib cage (mine is about 3 inches below the right nipple and around towards the spine) however if I get a pain that results in me going to ER (not had pain anywhere near that) I will bear it in mind

[Ash1974]

Well folks, I am playing tomorrow after 5 weeks of no golf, swung a club last weekend and hit a few balls which resulted in some pain but not too bad.

I start Physio next week and have a chest x ray lined up to rule out anything with the lungs etc.

MRI showed a cyst on liver as well so getting an ultrasound done on that with Bupa.

Next Wednesday will be a busy day....

9.30am Chest X Ray at NHS
1pm Sports Physio At Bupa
2.15pm Liver Ultrasound at Bupa (can't eat for 6hrs before this either)

Will report how my round went tomorrow so wish me luck

[aussie_hacker]

I'm a physio and I had a quick look through your history so far. It's good that you've been medically screened, and that's all clear, however the type of assessment a doctor would do vs a physio is quite different. A doctor is more concerned with making sure there's nothing REALLY wrong with you, and hence the advice of rest and pain killers etc. Not overly helpful is it?

A thorough assessment from a sports-trained physio (preferable one who specialises in golf, would be the way to go. I'm reluctant to guess (without assessing you in person), but I will anyway. Referred pain from costochondral cartilage (rib attaching to your breastbone), your favourite diagnosis of intercostal tear, or less likely maybe a stress fracture (this will only show up on a bone scan).

Good luck with it mate, hope you're back to golf soon

[Ash1974]

OK update for you all, I played on Saturday without pain, although my game was not very good after 6 weeks out, shot 10 over my handicap but last few holes were good with 3 pars, just needed to get back into it.

As for the pain it came back a bit on Sunday a bit more on Monday and today, but not as bad as it has been.

I today though had Physio off the head sports Physio at Bupa where I live, funnily enough he is Australian :)

When I got in he said he thought he knew what was up b4 seeing me from the notes he has had from the doc.

He recons that where the rib (that is in the area of the pain) is joined to the spine (this is with a joint on the spine and at the front with Cartilage) he recons that this joint has been injured and has locked and the pain is from the nerve that runs around to the front of the rib, he said as it gets better the pain will move towards the back, this is something that I experienced towards the end for the 5-6 weeks of rest so tied in with what he was saying.

He said that he needs to work on this joint to release the locks and work out the pain, so I had a good session with him and when he found the spot on my back it radiated around to where the pain is at the front, after the session the area on the front was quite sore (after Physio only on the back area) and he said this was a good sign we had located the root of the painy, so I am hoping that he has nailed the cause and he has given me some stretching exercises to do and I am gonna have Physio 2 times a week.

he said that if this is nto teh cause (he said he would put his house on it) that a bone scan would be the only way forward to look for a hailine fracture, but that 5 weeks rest would have fixed this anyway.

So for now I am happy that I am on my way to a diagnosed recovery

[squaddie]

Glad you are making progress. Your diligence to finding the source of the problem sounds like the same attention I have been placing on improving my golf swing the past few weeks.

My rib injury finally went away two weeks ago, but now I've gone and buggered up my ankle with a minor sprain after running too long on a treadmill last week (first time running in 6 months). Ah, well at least my rib injury prepared me for being patient while healing.

[zrlaegel]

wrap ribs with an ace, try not to turn to quickly and dont swing a club for a few weeks

[Ash1974]

Played again on Saturday and with no pain killers, played a lot better too, only 3 shots over handicap this time so getting better, guess that as it is only the 2nd round with new irons as well so this will also add to my handicap creeping up a bit until I get used to them.

More physio tomorrow and doing my physio stretches 5 times a day seems to be helping as well

[Ash1974]

Well it's been 2 weeks since my last update, had physio this week and we found a pain source lower down my back so worked on that and so far it seems to be doing the trick.

Played today on the Roman Road @ The Celtic Manor, it was very wet under foot after all the rain we have had in the UK but made me think about my shots, anyway shot 86 on a par 70 SSS 73

46 front and 40 back so my swing is getting back to normal, rib did not hurt at all.
Finished the back 9 par/par/par/birdy and chipped in on 17th and 18th for the par and birdy

Handicap has dropped again after that to 15.4 so happy to back, gonna continue with the physio until X Mass.

[ncfreemason]

I injured myself (stress fracture / intercostal strain) 6 months ago. I still have some discomfort. Email me.

[Ash1974]

I injured myself (stress fracture / intercostal strain) 6 months ago. I still have some discomfort. Email me.

what do you want to know mate?

I would be glad to help, mine seems to be down to the joint of my ribs on my spine though. Mine was tightness in the joint/muscle that runs up the spine to the neck that caused radiating pain to the front of the ribs than a stress fracture/intercostal. I still have nto ruled out stress fracture though and wont until I have had a good few months of playing pain free.

[Stretch]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I think I've done the same thing to myself. Didn't warm up properly at the range last week and felt a tweak in my right side around the middle of the ribs. Now the whole area feels like one big bruise, as if someone kicked me there. Haven't swung a club for three days, but rest doesn't seem to be helping much (or at least not quickly). Looks like I'm done for a while.



Moral of the story, I guess, warm up properly, swing easy, don't be a tit and try to hit your driver all day. Sounds like you got through it eventually, Ash?

[golfro]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I think I've done the same thing to myself. Didn't warm up properly at the range last week and felt a tweak in my right side around the middle of the ribs. Now the whole area feels like one big bruise, as if someone kicked me there. Haven't swung a club for three days, but rest doesn't seem to be helping much (or at least not quickly). Looks like I'm done for a while.

Going through the same thing recently. Been off and on for about 3 weeks now where I get this sharp pain in my right rib on the down swing. My dad (a doctor) was visiting recently and said its a really common injury for a lot of golfers. Apparently without proper warmup, you can tear a ligament or tendon right around that area. Take a couple weeks off and keep doing some light stretches and it should be back within a couple-few weeks.

[Stretch]

Haven't touched a golf club in a week now, and it still hurts like hell. Can't even sleep on that side. Looks like I'm going to have some quality time to really focus on putting.

Hey -- let's be careful out there!

[Ash1974]

Yep I warm up now before any rounds or even practice with some stretching, touch wood but I have not had an issue since, just my left wrist to sort out now LOL

[12iron]

I wish I'd seen this thread before last week, when I went to the range Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. By Friday night I was getting that "big bruise, kicked in the side" feeling. I haven't even had my first lesson yet! That's probably made it worse. My body isn't at all used to swinging a club. I feel stupid now.

-12i

[GM1970]

I just went thru an intercostal injury. Most are strains not really tears. Here is a recipe for dealing with it... Go to a doc to make sure you haven't fractured a rib, if not they will probably Rx physical therapy. This consists of ultrasound, neuromuscular massage, heat/cold packs, stretching and over time strength improvement (using resistance bands). Mine took 8 sessions, in total about 3 months with no golf. Got back in the game slowly with a few trips to the range, hitting very few balls (30-50). My original injury was when I hit 350 one afternoon, not so smart. When recovering, I took 400-600 mg ibuprofen plus an OTC ppi to deal with reflux about 2 or 3x per day. And the more sleep (on your back) the better. You do not want this to be a recurring injury, and you have to be committed to full healing. Let me tell you, it's a lot slower to get to 100% than I thought. Hope this helps!