Sternum crack and pain

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello. I hope all the team is doing well !
I’ve been dealing with this problems for some years now but I decided that it’s time to find out what is happening.
When i get up in the morning, right between the pecks, I feel tightness, and pain. So, I extend my left arm and my sternum cracks. After that, I feel a lot less pain, but nevertheless, the discomfort is still there. It usually cracks when I haven’t tried for some hours. It’s like it recharges and when it’s full, again it cracks.
The fact that it doesn’t bother me when I train relieves me, but I would like to know what it is. It cracks sometimes if I extend my right arm also.
So weird situation.

2

Sorry to hear about this - this may be something like a precordial catch syndrome, but we probably will not be able to tell you what it is.

3

I read about it. Pain when breathing is a symptom of this condition. I don’t have any pain when breathing.
I understand it’s hard to know what it is. Nevertheless, should i be worried?

4

If you’ve had it for years without any progression or complications, it’s unlikely to be dangerous, but we can’t comment any further on such an issue over the Internet.

5

Alright Doc. I have also a question about your article about pain in training.
Your approach to drop weight and start to build up again, essentially learns the body to slowly adapt again and heal at the same time (if there’s a damaged tissue) ?

6

Basically, sure.

7

Alright, thanks again !

8

Hello Austin,

This seems very similar to what another forum member and I have been experiencing for a few years now and that we discussed here https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/forums/pain-and-rehab-q-a-with-dr-derek-miles-and-dr-michael-ray/48275-chest-popping

I have seen a couple of PTs and they weren´t very helpful, just recommended to be careful when training with weights and not bounce the bar off the chest when benching. I have been experiencing this for a number of years as well and there have been periods with more and less bench pressing, with this situation always persisting, but I never decided to go in a rehab protocol just to get rid of this discomfort, mainly because it is not that bad, just uncomfortable sometimes.

Have you ever seen this happening to other lifters? I will definitely consider running one or two blocks more OHP focused to reduce the chest involvement and see if that is of any help.

Thanks!
J