I call it “sternum pain” because when you complain of pain in your chest, everyone immediately thinks “heart attack.” No, I’m not having any heart attacks so just calm down there, folks.
What happened was that I got up from my chair at the office today to go to lunch, and pushed myself out of my seat on the armrests. A natural enough movement; physiologically it supplements the strength in one’s legs with arm and chest muscles. As I did this, I heard a popping noise come from my chest and felt what seemed like rips or ripples going down my sternum. There’s been tight-feeling pain there ever since, sometimes more noticeable than others. If I sight upright or hunched forward a little bit, it’s barely noticeable, but when I flex my chest muscles (vaguely imitative of a Schwarzenegger-style chest-flex) the pain becomes more intense. All the tissue surrounding the sternum is sore and tender.
My guess is that I strained my chest muscles more than I was used to putting things up on the new improvised overhead shelving in the garage Sunday, holding and lifting things over my head at awkward angles. So my chest muscles may only now be starting to relax from use heavier than that to which that muscle group is typically accustomed (which is, frankly, next to none). So hopefully some aspirin helps out; not much yet, but then again it’s only been half an hour since I took them.
But, I’m not a doctor; I’ve only read some medical texts to prepare for litigation. Any of you Loyal Readers with other ideas about what these symptoms might be are encouraged to offer your suggestions in the comments section.
So what was it? Are you still having pain? Did you pull a muscle? Do you have RA?
It went away so I assume it was some kind of muscle strain.