Chest/Sternum pain from Dips

[quad6]

I've been getting pressure/pain in the middle of my chest/sternum area when doing dips or pushups. It started after doing a set of bulgarian XR dips roughly a month ago. Wasn't the first time I've done them so might be a case of not properly warming up. I've eased up on the intensity but it remains, after a rep or two, I start to feel the pain.

I'm planning to now stay off the pushups and dips totally until it goes,

Trigger point massage with tennis ball doesn't help

I hate not being able to work my chest!

Is it ok to continue with pullups, chinups, skin the cats and other basic strength exercises? along with swimming once a week (max intensity). How about frog stand? that doesn't seem to hurt.

[Cole Dano]

I'm guessing you strained the sternum. B. Dips can put huge strain there. If swimming doesn't cause pain it should be good.

[quad6]

Ok thx.

So would you recommend just staying away from dips and pushups or pullups, l-sits too?

I don't suppose there is anything else I could do for my chest in the meantime...

[quad6]

bump

Did a session of just chins, rows, pullups the other night. No pain while doing it but the next day, seems like I made the sternum area slightly worse.

Is this something I need to let heal but not training my upper bod at all?

Was curious to read in a a previous thread that someone found doing planche/frog stand helped with this. I can actually do that without pain...

I can't stand not being able to work my chest.

[Cole Dano]

You know how you feel, most likely rest and prehab will be your best bet.

In addition to the usual band work try building up your support hold times, assuming that doesn't hurt, and hanging form a bar. Then when you are ready (which may be now) add dip shrugs and hanging shrugs.

Slowly begin to incorporate the other movements.

Frogstand is ok if it doesn't hurt, it won't do much for the chest but may strengthen the collarbone and sternum.

[quad6]

Well I had a month off in China. In fact I did almost no exercise, except for a lot of walking.

I come back, I do some light pushups to test and I feel the pain a little bit again.

Damnit.

I can seem to do planche so I'm going to work on that in the hope it might help my sternum somehow since that's where the pain seems to be based but I'm thinking I must of torn a tendon or something for it to go on this long.

Dips and Pullups are my favourite. But I'll have to continue not to do them I've noticeably lost muscle in my chest and shoulders.

Strangely, bench pressing seems ok. I tested with some dumbells and it was fine. I guess I can do that as a poor substitute for my chest in the meantime.

[Blairbob]

Last year I dealt with this after the GB seminar. I took about 6 weeks off all upper body work until I finally couldn't take it anymore and started experimenting with what I could do and not aggravate it.

Start back slow with possibly just plank supports on the floor and rings, possibly assisted ring support (go up on your tiptoes or bend your knees while the balls of your feet are still on the ground). Throw in some shrugs in support or hang.

It sucks but it all comes back in time.

I would not do german hangs. I would do reverse planks instead possibly and shoulder extension stretch on floor or between a doorway or set of parallel bars.

Not warming up properly could be why it happened. Bulgarian dips are harder on the joints moreso than they are difficult because of the angles that are created as the motion tracks.

Yeah, I've seen some people note that bench press doesn't aggravate them while dips do over on the CrossFitForum. Pretty common thread that comes up a lot.

[quad6]

Thanks man.

Not warming up properly could be why it happened. Bulgarian dips are harder on the joints moreso than they are difficult because of the angles that are created as the motion tracks.

Yeah. I think this is exactly what happened. I'd done Bulgarian dips on/off for a year or so before with no problem but this day I came at it without warming up.

Lesson Learned

[Mark Plas]

I've had this problem too.

What helped for me was to do static support holds on PB (4x1 minute) combined with very easy dips, where I would just bend through the arms until I started feeling a slight irritation at the sternum. No pain, just some irritation. I also did XR pushups. Afterwards I would stretch the chest by standing next to a wall, put my hand on the wall with a straight arm and then simply stretch the pecs. Nothing too hard, I didn't feel pain. I Just stood in that position for 10-15 seconds left&right.

It took about 5-6 months before I could do a 90 degree dip again. At first I stopped training for about 2-3 months (I also had other injuries, that's why I had to stop training altogether), and then started doing the exercises I just described. Now it's completely healed.

Since this happened I've been very cautious when it comes to dips. I do warm up sessions where I do dips bending the arms only 20 degrees and gradually go deeper until I can touch my armpits with the hands. I never do them deep the very first time. I always build up slowly, in several series of 3-5 dips.

I've also added XR support holds as part of my FSPs. 4x15 seconds is what I do. I think this also prepares the chest for dips and other exercises. Currently, for you, XR support holds may be too heavy though. If you would try them, you should best do as Blairbob says: with your feet or toes on the floor to take away a part of the weight.

At first I thought that it would never heal again, but it did. It just takes long.

Good luck and don't give up! It will heal!

[Joshua Naterman]

Yes. You have to slowly work back into the ROM. Once you strain the cartilage or ligaments to the point you can feel it healing is slow. You are looking for slight discomfort but not actual pain. Have patience, increase ROM maybe 1" when what you are doing no longer causes any sensation at all, and keep repeating that until you have regained range of motion. After that, you will need to simply take your time with progression.

You will be much better off adding 1 lb per workout for 10 workouts than you will be if you add 10 lbs in one workout. You will get the same or better strength improvements, little to no soreness, and virtually no risk of injury.

I know that we don't all add weight, and I am not trying to add that to this discussion. I am using the example because I think it is easy to understand. Very, very small improvements are much better for you both short term AND long term than large jumps forward.

[Thomas Haugsand]

I had a similar problem many years ago when I did reps of 10 dips with 40kg hanging from a belt. One difference was that it was only on one side; that is the sternum and around the collar bone on my left side.

I did a lot of experimentation the following couple of years and, if I remember correctly, the solution was to always be sure to have the shoulders locked firmly in it's socket and never raise them as you come down in the lowest position.

In the last 8 years, triggerpoint therapy has been invaluable, but I have to say that a tennis ball has never worked for me. Only thumbs, elbows, knuckles, hard objects, and the best of them all, acupuncture needles, but those have to be set by a licensed practitioner.

[quad6]

This is why I love this forum. Great advice and insights.

I'm curious to know if any of you who experienced a similar injury were able to do pull-ups while recovering. I found no pain at the time but there was slight ache/irritation the next day. Same thing happens with Swimming (freestyle, breaststroke). While not directly working the chest intensely, I guess both swimming and pullups do stretch and put some strain on the sternum area/affected tendons.

[Thomas Haugsand]

Thats why I love it to, and decided to participate :-)

Remember that svimming uses and stretches your pectoralis muscles, though not with the same intensity, so I'm not surprised. I would check for trigger points in the Pectoralis Major and Minor muscles in addition to the Subclavicus (put a finger in just under the middle of your collar bone). My bet is the pectoralis minor though;-) As Slizzardman points out in this thread and in another thread: http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewto ... =14&t=5509 , there might be other reasons, but I would always start with the trigger points. The reasons are:

1. They shorten parts of the muscle

2. They cause mild to intense pain

3. They can usually be treated with 1-5 sessions (in most cases you do one session a day, with no or little strain on the muscle)

4. Even though there are other reasons for the pain; trigger points is almost always part of the problem

Thomas

[quad6]

I've started doing:

• 
  Partial dips on PB where I only go down a fraction like 20 degrees.
  Kettlebell chest press
  Ring planks
  mixed grip pullups instead of full pullups
  

None of these cause pain when I'm doing them or immediately after.

However, I notice more irritation/pain when in certain positions in the days following. I attempted a hollow hold the other day, just after reaching my arms back over my head - BOOM: intense pain. Yet I had done them previously without pain. Also the pain seems to have almost moved upward a little.

I despise this type of injury because it's unclear exactly which things irritate it -it's not straightforward and consistent! Basically I want to do as much as I can for my pec muscles while letting my chest heal. I assumed that if there was no pain during the exercise, it's ok to do it. Now I'm not sure.

My dad told me about a time he strained his intercostal muscles and it took more than a year for them to heal. In this time he continued swimming even though he said he felt pain. That made me wonder if I'm simply worrying about it too much. Is a little bit of pain ok?

[Joshua Naterman]

You may have to take a much more conservative approach to developing your dips... You may need to start off with bench dips or even a dip machine *shudder*... but seriously, if you need to then do it!

I'm starting back with 3 lbs on a few things, and it's helping a lot. I did my trap work with 5 lbs, followed by 2-3 proper PB supports, and some pretty easy foot-supported row retractions. Then I went down and, just playing around, I found that it was almost effortless to pull up into a front lever. I could also tell that I have a LOOOOOONG way to go before that really feels the way it should, which is why I'm not training them directly. It just so happens that what I am doing with my trap work and my diligent approach to pull ups and rows (start WAY too light so that form is 100% perfect and increase the weight super slowly, slowly enough that I can never really tell too much of a difference when I make each increase) has been dramatically affecting my strength in a positive way, even though it seems like what I am doing is way too easy to be resulting in such increases.