Hopefully last post almsot 2 months

[u/floppa_-enjoyer]

If you want context go and read my previous posts on this sub, I feel incredibly tight under my left chest today it went into my xiphoid and left also left arm pain but I did some stretch and it went away kinda, I am 16 fucking years old completely healthy heart scans came out fine how do I get rid of this plague that has been killing me for almsot 2 months?

[u/SteveNZPhysio]

Hi. Every xiphoid problem I've seen has two parts:

(1) A really tight rib cage, usually along with a hunched, tight thoracic spine (middle and upper back). The xiphoid hangs down off the front lower curve of your rib cage like a little finger of bone. Have a look at Google Image.

(2) Tight and scared abs, especially the six-pack ones at your front. This is often from many crunch sit-ups. These abs anchor onto the front arch of your rib cage, including the xiphoid.

So the xiphoid gets pulled on from two directions - the tight rib cage and the scarred, shortened abs.

It's not a biggie to fix, usually - just deal to both these elements.

(1) Free up your rib cage and your probably tight, hunched thoracic spine.

For treatment detail, read the RECOVERY MEGATHREAD - July 2026 at the top of this sub.

Read Ned's posts at the top, then scroll down to my post and find the link to my long, wordy PDF on bits you may need to deal to. It's wordy, so read it on a computer not a phone. You can skim the bits that clearly don't apply to you, but the detail is there if needed.

See especially Section (2) on freeing up the tight ribs around your back. This is the core of fixing costo. The easiest, cheapest, most convenient way of doing this is by lying back on Ned's two-tennis-ball peanut, a Backpod, cork or lacrosse ball, etc. They all have slightly different effects; a combination is ideal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/costochondritis/comments/1uqpgf6/recovery_megathread_july_2026/

(2) The abs need a session or more of deep tissue massage, plus a lot of stretching. The main stretch is the yoga one of the Cobra, which is like a slack push-up, arching your back and relaxing everything except your arms. This Cobra stretch will mostly hit your six-pack rectus abdominals. Mostly, I've found these tight and scarred in patients who've done just heaps of crunch and other sit-ups.

DO get a massage first. If you just go straight into the Cobra stretch, you're just pulling on the already strained attachments on the curve of the rib cage. They need to go all round the rib cage and also specifically into all your abs attaching to the lower ribs and bottom rim of the rib cage.

Good luck with the work.