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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Had Injury. Radiating Pain On Intercostals, Inflamed, Notches, Tender Points. X-ray Normal. Rested, Iced, Took NSAI S. Problem?

I had an injury in the gym about 6-7 weeks ago where I thought I had strained my left pectoral muscle. After a few days, my intercostals started to hurt and became inflammed. I ceased exercise, rested, iced/heated and used NSAI's before they became too much for me a couple of weeks in (I got rebound headaches).

Initially my chest hurt on the left side near the sternum, but it radiated downward and upward to the ribs under my pectoral and upwards towards where the pectoral ties into the clavicle.

Yesterday it started to hurt again without any known provocation. I've had an X-Ray done and no bones are broken. I was massaging my intercostals and there's a definite difference between my left and right side. My right side is smooth and fine, but my left has notches, tender points and so on. What scares me the most is I found a bump that seemed to move around. I thought maybe that it was a trigger point, but I am unsure. I massaged it but it is still there. It's hard, located right under the left pectoral right around those ribs... It can be moved around a bit (Ex: I can position it on top of the rib or between). I also have other "hard points" in my left pectoral -- the side that was initially injured.

Lately, I've also had some shoulder issues on that same side. I've never had any issues whatsoever, so this is all very frustrating to me. I noticed my left shoulder starting to become irritated weeks ago. I thought it was from disuse, so I did some light exercise (Nothing overhead, as per my doctor) and stretched, but now it is at it's worst. If I elevate my shoulder (Shrug movement), I feel a clicking feeling inside near what I believe is the supraspinatus. The clicking doesn't hurt in itself, but the area will become inflammed from time to time, especially yesterday. The right side seems alright, but it tires very easily, which I assume is due to disuse since I've ceased general exercise.

I have some anxiety, so I fear the worst when I find something wrong or unusual with my body. My Orthopedist, whom I will see next Wednesday (5-6 days from now) again, gave me NSAI cream for my shoulder. I just don't want it to be cancer, a tumor, or some sort of other abnormal growth. Just to give a quick background because I don't want you to expend an exorbitant amount of time reading what I've written, I'm a healthy 24-year-old (25 in July), Certified Fitness Trainer through ISSA, volunteer firefighter, and so on. I've been working out seriously for about a year and a half when this happened, and I was starting a new mesocycle. It was a relatively average training day, with higher repetitions and lower weight (Endurance training) when it happened, which struck me as odd. Was hospitalized twice within the past year for chest pains, but my heart is fine. All tests came back good, but my Cardiologist said that I had a minor mitral valve leak, but that's common and nothing to fret about. I went to the Gastroenterologist and we believe that I have acid reflux due to a hiatal hernia. Height: ~5'9" / Weight: ~180-185 lb. Since the injury I dropped from ~195 lb.

Please help. Thank you.
Wed, 19 Jun 2013
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Orthopaedic Surgeon 's  Response
Hi dear:

what you describing to me sounds very much muscular condition or inflammed tendon around the shoulder
there is no need to worry about cancer at all from my point of view.

my advise is to continue using the NSAI cream and see the orthopaedic doctor next week when you can explain to him/her your worries and I am sure they will reassure you.

hope you get better soon
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Had Injury. Radiating Pain On Intercostals, Inflamed, Notches, Tender Points. X-ray Normal. Rested, Iced, Took NSAI S. Problem?

Hi dear: what you describing to me sounds very much muscular condition or inflammed tendon around the shoulder there is no need to worry about cancer at all from my point of view. my advise is to continue using the NSAI cream and see the orthopaedic doctor next week when you can explain to him/her your worries and I am sure they will reassure you. hope you get better soon