Chest and sternum "popping"

Hello,

How bad is it on a scale from 1 to 10 that my sternum very easily kinda "pops" if I do some exaggerated shoulder rolling or spinal waves? I've been able to "pop" my chest since I was a teenager (Way back in the jurrasic era or so), but recently it's been happening more often. When I say popping I really mean it, it makes a loud sound that other people can hear and it feels quite strong.

I didn't think any of it until a few months ago when I experienced a weird thing. I felt stiffness in my chest, like the stiffness in a finger joint right before one "pops" that, so I went for a little shoulderr rolling with scapula retracted as far back as possible. Usually that leaves a nice sound and a relieving sensation of having broken the chest. But this time I couldn't "pop". It just kinda locked into a very uncomfortable middle position and trying to move through that just hurt like hell. Not just in my sternum, but in the scapula in my back and my arm as well. And I just had to surrender to this pain and give up. Having a very painful chest, back, arm and ribcage for the next few days before it got better again. But to this day I can still feel the pain in certain excercises, especially one excercise where i roll over on my back and do a trap stretch loading the whole thorasic structure quite a bit.

Obviously I've put the kaibash on doing any more sternum popping, but everyonce in a while a pop happens involuntarily when I'm doing other things. 

Is this something any of you have heard about before? Especially with people who's been stiff in their chest all they're lives and just now is starting to get more flexible. Could it just be a phase I'm going through on my path to "Stud-dom" or is it something that requires a check-up with a good physical therapist? Is there any particular muscles I could work on to "floss" this issue away with some self-myofascial-release perhaps?

Any thoughts or answers on this is highly appreciated!

Christian

Hey christian the sternum it is one of the hardest body parts that can be stretched. If you can stretch this tissue it is completely fine if does not cause pain. since I've obtained a good bridge my sternum pops in the morning if I try to expand my rib cage.

My chest pops too! Or used to pop to be precise. Didn’t cause any pain at all. So I just let it be. But recently I’m experience the same thing as you, @Christian Glans. It stopped popping when I stretch my chest to the range where it would normally pop. Instead my chest became sore and stiff. I felt it the most when I’m in an elevated bridge position. It was so uncomfortable that I couldn’t push my chest out. I stopped doing elevated bridge for a couple weeks (also to rest a strained shoulder, unrelated to chest. But if it weren’t for the shoulder as well, I might not have stopped doing the elevated bridge).

Just went back to the elevated bridge yesterday. I can still feel the sore spot in the chest (and it still doesn’t pop), but not as bad as before. And I reached my previous ROM with no problem. So it does recover if I just take some rest. 

Maybe you can try the same and stop doing all exercises that make the chest sore. Give it a couple weeks and see how it goes. 

On a last note, I’ve given up on popping the chest. It felt good as it kinda loosens things up. But when it’s not popping it’s causing more pain than necessary. It’s like when you try so hard to pop a knuckle which doesn’t want to be popped, you end up hurting it.Don’t force it.

Probably understanding why your sternum pops it is the first goal for now.

Okay, keep stretching and using the chest unless it hurts. In that case back off a bit. 

If it's a continuing thing at least I will have a neat party trick in my reportoire!

It would be a much cooler party trick if you can learn to balance the handstand.

On ‎12‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 3:19 PM, Alessandro Mainente said:

Hey christian the sternum it is one of the hardest body parts that can be stretched. If you can stretch this tissue it is completely fine if does not cause pain. since I've obtained a good bridge my sternum pops in the morning if I try to expand my rib cage.

Alessandro,

How long did it take to obtain a good bridge? My progress is slow on this one and I am questioning whether or not it will ever happen. Also, did you stretch as a kid or start as a adult.

6 Years approximately, pay attention that the sternum itself it is a bone, the pop comes from surrounding regions which are basically carthilage+fibers.