Ribs that pop out of place?

Question

When I was very little, possibly five, I was sitting at a desk coloring in a coloring book when I moved slightly because of discomfort. When I did that one of my lower ribs made a popping sound which only hurt very slightly at that time so I thought nothing of it and continued my coloring. Well since then my lowerish ribs popped in and out of place until I hit high school where they stayed popped out of place. All between that time I complained to my pediatrician about back pain and trouble breathing. I was then told by my mom that I was a hypochondriac where as I stopped asking about it for a while because of that. It wasn't until the last time that I talked to him when I told him how I always had trouble lifting weights and doing other heavy stuff like that in school that he determined it to be ribs popped out of place. What I'm asking is if there a way to do some exercises that will pop my ribs into place and keep them in place since prof. help is impossible for me to get right now

Answer 1

I had a problem with my ribs being out of place about a year ago and the pain from that was adding to a problem I have that affects the cartillage around the ribcage. The condition is called costochondritis which is the inflammation of the cartillage around the ribcage.

My Pain Management doctor who is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine was the one who had to put it back in place for me. As soon as my ribs were back in place I felt much better.

As for exercising, you can try doing gentle stretching but I would recommend (as soon as you are able) to contact a doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (if you have a primary care physician in this Medicine field) to see if they can help you put it back in to place more permanently.

If you get pain with this that is so bad I would recommend checking with the city health dept (they may have Osteopathic Doctors there too that volunteer their time that could help) to see if they offer free clinic services to have this situation evaluated further.