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Acute Costochondritis

How to tell if the pain in your chest is an emergency.
A light blue ribcage with yellow sections close to the sternum. Three blue star-shaped spots with lighter blue circles around them are on the yellow sections.
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Last updated January 14, 2021

Acute costochondritis quiz

Take a quiz to find out if you have acute costochondritis.

Care Plan

1

First steps to consider

  • If you have been diagnosed with costochondritis, you can usually treat it at home.
  • Resting and avoiding activities that cause pain, using a heating pad, and taking OTC pain relievers can help.
See home treatments
2

When you may need a provider

  • If you’re not sure what is causing your chest pain, it’s important to see a healthcare provider to check for potentially serious conditions.
  • You should see a provider if you have certain symptoms or risk factors for heart disease like shortness of breath, a family history of heart disease, or you are a male over the age of 40.
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Emergency Care

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Go to the ER if you have new crushing or burning chest pain—especially if that pain shoots toward your jaw or left side.

Acute costochondritis quiz

Take a quiz to find out if you have acute costochondritis.

Take acute costochondritis quiz

What is acute costochondritis?

Acute costochondritis, also called chest wall pain syndrome, is a common cause of pain in the front of your chest near the breastbone (sternum). Usually, the pain occurs because of inflammation of the cartilage between the sternum and the ribs. This inflammation is called costochondritis.

It can happen after straining, coughing, or weightlifting. Most often, though, the cause is unknown. The pain can get worse when you cough or take a deep breath. You may confuse this pain with having a heart attack.

Costochondritis can be treated by avoiding strenuous activities involving your chest muscles, stretching, and taking anti-inflammatory medications if needed.

What does costochondritis feel like?

Pro Tip

Costochondritis is one of the most common conditions diagnosed in the emergency room. —Dr. Alvin Chen

Most commonly, you will have pain near your breastbone where it connects to the ribs. It is usually sharp and may feel like pressure. It can get worse when you take a deep breath or cough. It usually worsens when you press directly on the area.

Chest wall pain is different from heart attack pain. But since you may find it hard to tell the difference, get treatment so you can rule that out.

Main symptoms

Next steps

If you have new crushing or burning chest pain—and especially if that pain shoots toward your jaw or left side—call your primary care doctor. If they can’t be reached, go straight to the ER.

If your chest pain is due to costochondritis, it’s not an emergency. But it could be a heart attack, pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs), or aortic dissection (a tear in the aorta). They need to be ruled out first, especially if you’re over 40, male, have a hard time breathing, and/or have a personal or family history of heart disease or heart attack.

If a heart attack or other serious condition is ruled out, your doctor can treat the symptoms of costochondritis with a regular appointment.

Acute costochondritis quiz

Take a quiz to find out if you have acute costochondritis.

Take acute costochondritis quiz

What is the best treatment for costochondritis?

Dr. Rx

Depending on the setting of the evaluation (emergency room vs. urgent care vs. outpatient clinic), the next steps would likely involve an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests (troponin, CK-MB to rule out heart attack), chest x-ray, CAT scan of the chest, or stress testing. —Dr. Chen

The goal of treatment for chest wall pain syndrome is pain relief—since this is not a life-threatening condition.

  • The most important step in treatment is rest and avoiding activities that aggravate the pain. This means no push-ups, bench press, or other upper body exercises in the gym.
  • Physical therapy or stretching exercises can be helpful.
  • You can add heat to the area by using a heating pad or analgesics (such as Bengay or Voltaren gel).
  • Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil), or naproxen (Aleve) can help relieve pain.
  • In severe cases, your doctor may prescribe steroid or opioid medications to help with your symptoms. However, these treatments are generally only used for short term treatment as they have numerous side effects.
  • If you’re coughing a lot, an over-the-counter cough suppressant can be helpful. Guaifenesin-dextromethorphan (Robitussin DM) is one option. If that doesn’t work, your doctor can prescribe you benzonatate (Tessalon).
  • If the pain doesn’t get better on its own in a week, a physical therapist may be able to help you with a number of therapies including cross fiber friction massage, postural exercises, hot/cold pads, dry needling, and electro-accupuncture.
  • If these treatments don’t work, your doctor might want to give you an injection with a local anesthetic, such as lidocaine (Xylocaine) or an injectable corticosteroid, such as depo-methylprednisolone, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. They’ll inject it into the joint and it will help dull the pain.

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What causes acute costochondritis?

Costochondritis is inflammatory. It is caused by inflammation of the costal cartilages and their sternal articulations, also known as the costochondral junctions.

Inflammation can be caused by microtrauma, overuse, or straining of the chest muscles. Often there is no identifiable cause.

But you’re more likely to develop it if you are:

  • Over 40 years of age.
  • Overusing your chest muscles.
  • Experiencing or have a previous injury in your chest wall (the skin, fat, muscles, bones, and tissues that form a protective structure around the vital organs in your chest).
  • Doing strenuous exercise, usually repeated, including running, cycling, weightlifting, or vigorous sports.
  • Coughing a lot.
  • Engaging in manual labor.

Your risk is also higher if you have a medical history of:

Acute costochondritis quiz

Take a quiz to find out if you have acute costochondritis.

Take acute costochondritis quiz

Chest pain in children

Pro Tip

Many resources downplay the seriousness of costochondritis. While it is true that it is not life-threatening, it can be quite debilitating, which is why you need medical attention. —Dr. Chen

Chest wall syndrome is very common in kids. In fact, 40% of the time a child complains about chest pain, it will be from this. Treatment is the same as it is for adults.

While kids rarely get heart attacks, if your child has chest pain, contact or see your pediatrician as soon as possible.

Preventative tips

It is difficult to prevent costochondritis because it is hard to know what causes it. If you get it once, do the following to prevent it from happening again:

  • Stretch your chest muscles before and after exercise.
  • Don’t overuse your chest muscles.
  • Always use good form to lift and move heavy items.
  • If you do manual labor for your job, see if you can move to a position that doesn’t use the chest as much.
  • If coughing was the cause, take a cough suppressant when you get a cough in the future. And see your doctor to treat the cause of the cough.
  • If you have ongoing (chronic) costochondritis, you should ask your doctor about physical therapy.
Hear what 3 others are saying
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The stories shared below are not written by Buoy employees. Buoy does not endorse any of the information in these stories. Whenever you have questions or concerns about a medical condition, you should always contact your doctor or a healthcare provider.
Costochondritis - my experiencePosted October 26, 2021 by K.
I am a healthy 52f, always been very active. About a month ago I found myself getting very tired, not much energy, more frequent headaches. That increased to needing to stay in bed most of the day with low energy, being nauseated with headaches/migraines. A week ago around 4am, I started feeling a huge sense of "unwell." I checked my HR—it was 39. Got up and took BP, was 145/92 (my norm is 120/75). Called husband, who is medical, and he manually took it, it was a little higher. Drove me to ER. BP was 185/115, HR 44. They ran head CT, was clear, blood tests were good. I did not have a stroke. They gave me some meds in ER. After 5 hours in ER BP was better. I went home, went straight to bed. Returned to ER with a migraine pain of 10/10, with severe nausea and dry heaving. They ran more labs, gave me medicine around 2am. The next day I felt small occasional chest pain/ pressure. Assumed soreness from dry heaving or side effect from medicine from ER. I took it very easy the next day with pressure/pain increasing. 3 days after 1st ER visit, I went back to the ER that has a good cardiac dpt. Symptoms of severe chest pain, dull back pain between shoulder blades, lightheaded, extreme shortness of breath, could not walk a few feet without having to stop to catch my breath or sit down. These continued to worsen with time. I had 3 types of chest pain. 1) mild (a pain of 3-4)—constant pressure, squeezing a circle around sternum. 2) moderate-high (pain 6-7)—a wave or contraction like feeling of the chest sternum high. 3) high (pain of 8 and up)—the same wave of pain but accompanied with a flush of heat (similar to IV iodine) that made me sweat and clammy instantly. The pains only last about 30 seconds. Those would make the 12 lead EKG monitor always beep. I had so many tests done. All came back good. After being monitored in the hospital for about 50 hours on 12 lead, I was bradycardia at times, and my respiratory rate constantly would jump all over on monitor from 0-30 (usually under 10) they told me costochondritis. Said it could be caused from a virus, an ulcer, side effect from Covid vaccine (had 2nd shot 4 weeks prior) and unknown. I was still very symptomatic, but because we knew it was not heart, lung, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and kidneys—but muscular-skeletal—I could go home. My symptoms—still chest pain, pulse increases at least by 50 just by standing, shortness of breath, dizzy and lightheaded. My treatment—rest, stay well-hydrated, take omeprazole in morning and amitriptyline each night , and I am to follow up with primary, a neurologist, and have a sleep study done.
Developed costochondritisPosted January 26, 2021 by J.
I am a 27yr female, and developed costochondritis while caring for my elderly grandparents in the last months of their lives. I was always lifting them in their wheelchair or up off the floor, which was too heavy for me, and usually in difficult angles. They passed 3 months ago and I still experience pain, though not as severe as when I was constantly aggravating it. I had severe pain when lifting, coughing, and stretching, as well as shortness of breath due to the pain for about 3 weeks after lifting my grandfather out of the tub where he had fallen. I was diagnosed by my primary doctor and told to wear a tight bra in lieu of a chest brace until it improves.
Probable diagnosisPosted February 10, 2020 by A.
I am a 25 year old female who started having stabbing chest pain above my left breast that gradually aggravates my left shoulder muscles throughout the day. To me, this diagnosis seems the most accurate since I have been exercising more than I usually do plus lifting a 35+ pound baby almost everyday. So far, Ibuprofen seems to help and lessening my activity level also helps. It has been almost two weeks since this has been occurring and hopefully with meds and rest it will disappear entirely. Thanks for the info! :)
Dr. Chen is a Cardiology Fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital. Responsibilities include supervising residents and medical students on the inpatient wards, critical care units, performing bedside procedures, cardiac catheterization, and interpretation of cardiac imaging studies including echocardiography, nuclear, CT and MRI. Interested in digital h...
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