A painful ‘silent’ condition that affects millions of women and is similar to a heart attack

It starts with a stabbing chest pain so severe you think you’re having a heart attack and you rush to the hospital.

The sharp pain can last for minutes to hours after a strenuous workout, a bout of heavy lifting, or muscle strain. Sometimes it occurs without any apparent cause or injury.

But despite its similarity to a heart attack, if you don’t experience other common symptoms of the cardiovascular event, such as radiating pain to the neck, jaw, or arms, you may actually have costochondritis.

This condition occurs when the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum (sternum) becomes inflamed, and although it is benign, the pain can be debilitating.

Erin from New York City told DailyMail.com that she once had costochondritis for 14 hours with such severe pain that she wondered whether she should go to the hospital to rule out a heart attack or blood clot.

She said: ‘The pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything. I had to bend over to get air.’

There is no definitive number of people who experience costochondritis, as it often goes unreported, misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all.

In his 2019 book, however Costochondritis: a forgotten conditionPeter Askes, a physical therapist and founder of the American Rib Pain Institute, wrote that 1 to 2 million people who visit the emergency room annually for chest pain may have costochondritis.

And of the 62 million people who visit their doctor each year with chest pain, up to 18.5 million may have costochondritis.

Furthermore, approximately 80 percent of these patients are women and most do not receive proper diagnosis or treatment.

Costochondritis is caused by inflammation of the body’s protective tissue called cartilage, which connects the ribs to the breastbone.

When that cartilage becomes inflamed due to over-exerting activity, the movements of the rib cage can lead to pressure and pain, which can radiate to the spine.

It may increase with deep breathing as the chest wall expands and contracts, and people may also experience pain when they press on the area where the ribs meet the sternum.

Costochondritis can be difficult to diagnose because it is a diagnosis of exclusion. No laboratory or imaging can detect inflamed cartilage.

When people seek medical care, doctors first try to rule out as many potentially serious conditions as possible, including heart attack, blood clots, broken ribs, pneumonia, and collapsed lung, before landing on costochondritis.

Some people only have pain for a short time, but others can suffer for months. The condition generally resolves on its own within four weeks, but may reoccur.

A TikToker named Melissa described her costochondritis as radiating pain and ‘a terrible cycle.’

She said, ‘So you have chest pain and it’s also in your back because your rib is always bandaged all around.

Her video has been commented on by dozens, describing their similar experience.

Kelsey Sullivan said she has the condition and feels like “I’m having a heart attack.”

Another said she had costochondritis and “thought it was a heart attack.”

A user named Haley added, “This made me feel so validated!!! I’ve had all the same symptoms and finally went to the doctor today after a long crying session (session), thinking I was having a heart attack at 27.’

There are many reasons why someone may experience costochondritis, including excessive and forceful coughing, a viral infection, heavy lifting, and chest injuries.

Sarah, also from New York, developed costochondritis after picking up her 20-pound cat, Thurston. She didn’t expect the 14-year-old cat to gain so much weight, but when she started experiencing chest pain shortly afterwards, she went to the doctor.

Concerned about the severity of her symptoms, her doctor told her to go to hospital immediately, she told DailyMail.com.

Doctors then performed a series of tests on her amid concerns she had a potentially fatal blood clot, including blood tests, a CT scan and an ECG.

With no worrying results from her tests, doctors said she had “a lot of inflammation” in her chest, which could be the result of strenuous physical activity, such as heavy lifting.

The only strenuous thing she could think of was carrying her 50-pound pet around.

Sarah was told to rest for several days and take high doses of over-the-counter painkillers.

Another common cause of costochondritis is exercise, and that’s what Erin told DailyMail.com she thinks her pain stems from.

Erin attributed her bout of costochondritis to her yoga practice and the advanced poses she did, especially the chaturanga dandasana pose.

This requires yogis to float on a low plank and keep their elbows at a 90-degree angle to the body.

It is a more advanced pose that requires people to keep their body parallel to the ground as they lower to their stomach and then push their chest up and forward.

When you are in a low plank, the weight of the body presses down through the chest, putting pressure on the rib cage and costal cartilage – the tissue that connects the ribs to the sternum.

The downward movement can also worsen the condition because it compresses the rib cage, putting extra pressure on the inflamed areas.

New Jersey yoga instructor Cathy Narchese warned that while yoga is good for flexibility and strength, if you don’t properly transition from one pose to another or tighten the supporting muscles, you could cause an injury or fuel, including costochondritis: ‘It could certainly be 100 percent due to that.

Ms Narchese, owner of Thrive Yoga, told DailyMail.com: ‘What I often see is when people drop down, they pull their elbows out, and that puts too much pressure on the shoulders, so all the attention goes to stabilizing the shoulders and not the rest of the body.’

She said people often think they just have to go through the motions or copy their neighbors, so they push themselves through a position they’re not ready for, and that’s when injuries occur.

Treatment options for costochondritis are limited and it is recommended that people take over-the-counter pain medications, such as ibuprofen, or place a heating pad on the chest and rest for several days.

Physiotherapy or chiropractic care are also sometimes prescribed.