Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Not locked but little used — and the rotation missing here is taken by low back and neck.
Also known as: rib restriction · stiff thoracic spine · stabbing on breathing in · ribs · intercostal pain
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
A stabbing, well-localisable pain between the shoulder blades or at the side of the chest that reports itself on deep breathing in, on turning and on coughing. Every rib has two joints to the spine, and this region moves with every breath — if it is little used over a long time, it reports itself with exactly this picture. The term “blockage” is misleading: nothing is locked; the movement is painfully limited. Two points matter for placing it. First, with chest pain the priority question always holds: pressure or tightness with radiating pain, breathlessness or cold sweat is a question of minutes. What stabs with breathing and can be pressed onto a spot with a finger may be looked at calmly. Second: because the rotation of the trunk comes from this section, its stiffness is paid for by the low back beneath and the neck above.
Pressure or tightness behind the breastbone, radiating into arm, neck or jaw, with breathlessness, nausea or cold sweat: call emergency services at once. What stabs with breathing, can be brought on with a finger and changes with body position is mechanical — but this order always comes first.
Sit on a chair, cross the arms over the chest and slowly turn the upper body to both sides, ten times each side, keeping the pelvis still. Two minutes a day keep this section more mobile than any treatment weeks apart.
The rib joints move with every breath — shallow chest breathing takes exactly that movement from them. A few times a day breathing deliberately deep into the lower ribs, widening sideways, is the simplest form of mobility work there is for this region.
A burning, band-shaped pain on one side that follows the run of a rib and is there before any rash belongs looked at with that in mind — treatment works best in the first two to three days, that is, before the rash makes the matter clear.
Night calf cramps, twitching eyelid, a neck that will not release. The signs are unspecific — they work as a question, not as proof.
A restriction eases within days to a few weeks. If the ribcage stays stiff for months and is worst in the morning, the question is a different one — and the way leads to assessment, not to more stretching.
To rule out when the stiffness does not ease: an inflammatory spine disease often starts with exactly this complaint — stiff ribcage, tight breathing, worst in the morning. The difference is that it improves with movement, not with rest.
A rib restriction is a limitation of movement, not a displacement. It is palpated and judged during breathing. X-ray serves to rule out something else — a fracture after a fall, for example.
The counterpart of calcium at the muscle fibre: calcium contracts, magnesium releases. With tension and night cramps it is therefore the first thing asked about — the studies are mixed, the mechanism at the muscle is not.
Belongs to the same question as magnesium. Sweating a lot, eating little or taking diuretics loses both together.
Before anything is taken: pressure or tightness behind the breastbone with radiating pain, breathlessness or cold sweat is a question of minutes and not one of supplements. What stabs with breathing and can be brought on with a finger may afterwards be looked at calmly.
Often taken for tension between the shoulder blades. On the rib joints it does not act; where it helps, it helps with a deficiency and via sleep. What keeps this section mobile is daily turning while seated — two minutes beat any capsule.
Belongs here because of the mix-up: a burning, band-shaped pain on one side along a rib can be shingles before any rash comes. Lysine is much taken against it; the studies on it concern cold sores and are inconsistent. What counts here is the early start of the actual treatment — within the first two to three days.
Shallow breathing under tension moves the ribcage less. Rib joints that move little become stiff — that is the quietest route into a restriction.
A full stomach pushes the diaphragm up and makes breathing shallower. With a stiff ribcage the difference between one large meal and several small ones is more noticeable than for others.
Can quickly release a limited range of motion. What it cannot do is change the cause that created it — if the restriction keeps returning, the reason lies elsewhere. At the neck, warning signs are asked about first.
The rib joints move with every breath. Consciously breathing deep into the flanks is therefore the exercise closest to the problem — and the only one you can do thirty times a day in passing.
Heat for tense muscles, cold for fresh irritation. Neither changes the cause and both make the meantime bearable — that is an honest purpose.