Accepted Answer

Date:Jan / 2012

Thank you for your question.

Hi sorry you are struggling with this pain. There are a few possibilities. Even if you don't remember twisting or jerking your chest/ side you may have simply pulled a muscle in between your ribs. These muscles, the intercostal muscles run in a band around your chest from your spine, to your breastbone. If sprained or 'pulled' they are tender and can cause pain worse on movement and inspiration. It should resolve on it's own within a week or two, and ibuprofen plus paracetamol or co-codamol would help give you some relief.

Another possibility is that you are in the process of developing shingles. It very often develops in the distribution of a nerve on one side of the chest and can cause pain and hypersensitivity for a few days before a blistering rash appears. A week is quite a long time to have the pain but no rash though , it's usually only a few days, so it may be that you've had it too long for it to be this. www.patient.co.uk/health/Shingles.htm

Lastly a rare cause in someone your age would be thoracic radiculopathy, which is a really fancy way of saying a trapped nerve. The nerve roots that exit from the side of each vertebra in your spine can sometimes get trapped by inflammation, a prolapsed or slipped disc, or wear and tear changes. This can cause altered sensation and pain in the distribution of that nerve, which would be like a stripe around one side of your chest wall.  It usually responds to antiinflammatories like ibuprofen , but sometimes needs physiotherapy as well. www.medicinenet.com/radiculopathy/article.htm

I would suggest continuing with your ibuprofen but make an appointment to see your GP just so they can examine you and see if they think you need any other treatment.

Thank you for using ThanksDr. I do hope this information is of use to you.
Yours faithfully,
The ThanksDr Team