Rib Injury, need to hear your thoughts...

I have Slipping Rib Syndrome. Have had it for 2.5 years now. It is not pleasant, and it is NOT common. It's very rare indeed, so rare that I could only find one Doctor here in the US that treats it. I've been getting "trigger point injections" every month which seems to help a bit. My injury was not sport related, but home related. I turned the corner carrying a laundry basket full of laundry, and the corner of the basket jammed into my lower rib cage. Ever since then, I have been in chronic pain. I'm on Vicodin, and time-released morphine. It helps, but the only cure, I'm sure is a ribectomy. OUCH! I have been to 4 separate hospitals trying to find someone who could diagnose my problem. I finally found a pain doctor, who knew what it was 2 minutes after she felt my ribs. I have been thru every test imaginable. I'm not sure if this info will help you.

Gees - I'm so glad I read this article before I opted for the surgery. I feel so sorry for you. I do have some idea of the kind of pain you have to endure day after day. I do hope by now you're getting some relief. They do say that sometimes post surgery can be more painful than the initial pain. If anything good has come out of your posting is this: You saved me from having to go thru even more pain. I know it's no consolation, but thank you for posting!

I had a sudden onset of severe right sided rib pain while bending into a file drawer. This was 7 wks ago.
The severity of the pain is intermittent, but has not gone away. It is also on the left side. It feels as if something is "overlapping"; when my back side is pressed over rib cage a "lump" rolls in front side...
None of the doctors have been able to understand what I am trying to say.
Except one Chiropractor who has been the only one to press my ribs instead of my abdomen....He said my ribs are "sliding" over the other...
He has not been able to alleviate the symptoms, he has helped w/ the fact that I finally after 3 internal med docs,a gastroenterologist, and multiple abdominal xrays and ct scans, was able to find someone who pinpointed pain and gave me an explanation that made sense....
Anyone got any answers please help, my daily life, friends and employment have been suffering from my symptoms.
I have been run through every test there is and I'm at my ropes end w/ this pain. It won't go away for even one minute!!!Surgery sounds lovely- if it was to cure my pain and not cause new symptoms that I would have to live with. Please let me know how you are feeling now 6/08...

Hi, I am a dancer in highschool, and every once in a while when i move a funny way, I feel like something in my left side at the bottom of my rib cage "pops"... I don't know how else to describe it. I have experienced this several times (I don't remember exactly for how long), but when it happens it hurts and the bottom of my rib cage feels uncomfortable. Not until today has it hurt for very long after it "pops," (kind of a lot of pain in the sense that it feels really uncomfortable and like something isn't right when it pops).
I know that I need to go to a doctor to be sure and everything, but it hasn't hurt like this or for such a long time before, (but I was concerned and looked it up on the internet). Currently, it "popped" at about 11:30 today, and now it is 6:55 and still hurts (and I took advil--which didn't help).
If this sounds like what you're experiencing, let me know =]

I developed slipping rib from a fall at work about 3 years ago and it has not subsided at all. the best way i can describe the pain is a couple ways. Very tender and bruising feeling whenever something touches teh area starting at your sternum all the way around to your spine. there is also a grinding and popping feeling of realease sometimes and feeling binded up and stuck in a hunched position. also very dull pain in your back between your mid lower back and shoulder blades that make you feel you cannot twist. worst of all is tyhe shooting pains. I sometimes get shooting pains that feel like someone is taking a razor blade against my bopne and working it from my sternum around the rib to the back. if you have any of these syptoms i feel sorry for you. I have had multiple x-rays, bone scans , all that stuff and all of the 7 different doctors i have seen tell me thats what it is but cannot see it in the tests. I've done trigger point injections , physical therapy , over 15 different medications , and even one pain management doctor had put an epidural in my spine to try and get rid of the pain. After all that the answer i got from them is pretty much we cant fix it, come back when you need more pain killers. I cannot do physical labor anymore and decided to get a desk job that i am now having trouble doing and miss atleast 3 days every 2 week pay period. I do not have the luxury of taking work off with no pay and not caring. Has anybody ever looked into disability because of this kind of injury and what does it all involve? This is the most depressing injury i think anybody could ever get and in my case i know it will never be fixed. hopefully the rest of you are able to fix it but from what i understand your in for a life of managing pain with meds and anything physical pain free is pretty much over.

Hi WStoudt and welcome to the forum. Many thanks for sharing your experience with us - I sincerely hope your slipping rib injury improves.
M.

Although slipping rib is a rare finding, rib injuries are common. I probably treat over 100 per year. I have treated 5 cases of slipping rib successfully with kinseo taping. Applied properly, the tape stops or significantly reduces the rib movement allowing the area to heal. Some of my clients do need to use the tape continuously but all have returned to work and sport.

Look for someone in your area with extensive experience in kinseo taping. You can contact me by e-mail at dan(at)champion-athletes.com.

Hi Dan and welcome to the forum - thanks for the answer.

kenseo taping sounds interesting - could you start a thread maybe and give us some examples where you have found it useful for other members to find?

I don't know if what I have is this 'slipping rib syndrome' or not. I'll set up the situation for you lot.

I started getting really bad pain in the back right side of my ribcage in start of May. I got some x-rays that didn't show anything. The pain kept getting worse, though, and nothing was helping (trigger point injections, morphine, narcotics, anything), so my doctor set up a bone scan for me. The bone scan doesn't show an actual image, but the report indicated a 'healing rib fracture of the 7th posterior rib on the right side near the costovertebral junction'. That was in July, two months after the initial pain and two months prior to me typing this.

The pain has, since then, gotten even worse. I didn't think that was possible, but apparently so. I have suffered from chronic pain during my life but nothing comes close to what I am experiencing now. It is CONSTANT -- I never get a break, never. I even have dreams of being in pain. That's another thing, I hardly sleep. I black out several times a week from the pain being so bad. I basically lie in bed all day if I can, because any sort of movement is unbearable.

I can feel the sensation of something moving around in there when coughing, sneezing, breathing deeply or shifting a certain way. This doesn't resound in any sort of 'popping' out of place, as in, I don't hear it, and I don't feel a 'pop' -- I feel a sliding sensation. I DO NOT have any sort of chest pain at the front. All of the pain is in the right posterior side of the ribcage, very localised to the actual fracture site.

I have no way of knowing right now if the bone is actually healed, or if the pain is caused by something else.

What I understand of the 'slipping rib syndrome' is that the rib can move in and out of place, but that the pain is not constant, and it's usually accompanied by chest problems. Can someone elaborate on this? I've not heard much about it other than that.