Pain Relief – What Causes Sternum Pain? – Costochondritis?
A common complaint that brings many people into the emergency room seeking pain relief is pain in the sternum. The pain may or may not feel like pressure, bruising, cracking or just plain hurt. The sternum is the bone that ribs are attached to that runs down the front of the chest. Most of the time people think they’re having a heart attack. People want to know what causes sternum pain when it’s not heart-related pain and what they can do to relieve it. There are a few other causes of sternum pain that are not as common including Tietze syndrome – an inflammatory condition in the breast area, septic arthritis, a hereditary condition called ankylosing spondilitis (diagnosed through blood tests) that affects the joints, particularly in the lower back and spine, and fibromyalgia. But generally the most common cause of sternum pain in my experience is costochondritis. A big sounding word for something that is relatively minor compared to other conditions. Costochondritis is generally due t
