What Causes Rib Pain? Pain Types, Symptoms, & Possible Diagnoses

What Causes Rib Pain?

There are 12 ribs on each side of your chest, and they run from your spine in the back to your sternum, or breast bone, in the front. They are connected to your breast bone by cartilage, which is a strong but flexible tissue that allows the rib cage to expand during breathing. Muscles called intercostal muscles run between adjacent ribs and help move the chest wall, especially during breathing. Pain in your rib cage can come from any of these components. If you’re experiencing pain between or around your ribs, paying close attention to your symptoms can help you identify the cause.

If you’re experiencing rib pain and you begin a chat inside the K Health app, we’ll look through thousands of health records to find cases from people like you with the same symptoms. This data helps us understand how doctors diagnosed and treated rib pain like yours in people who share your age, gender, and other biological factors.

Additional Rib Pain Symptoms to Watch For

Since there are a variety of causes that can lead to rib pain, it can be helpful to chat with K and your doctor about any other symptoms you’re experiencing. These symptoms can be clues to what’s causing pain in your ribs.

The following are just some of the symptoms that often appear with rib pain:

• Skin changes outside the ribs, like bruising
• Pain with breathing, coughing, or sneezing
• Pain when pressing on the area
• Difficulty breathing

When you use the K Health app, we’ll ask you about many symptoms related to rib pain in order to get a full picture of what’s going on with your health. Here are the most common symptoms our users reported experiencing with their rib pain:

• Flank pain
• Shoulder pain
• Shortness of breath
• Shoulder blade pain

Rib Pain from Coughing

If your ribs hurt when you cough or sneeze, it could be because coughing causes repeated movement of your intercostal muscles, as well as other muscles like the muscles in your abdomen. When you’ve got rib pain from coughing too much, this repeated movement, particularly if it’s frequent and forceful, could result in a pulled muscle causing pain or sore ribs. A cold can also cause pleuritis, which is inflammation of the lining of your lungs and the inner aspect of your chest wall (called pleura).

At K Health we hear from many users who complain of cough, but a little less than 1% also experience rib pain with coughing. According to data from over 8,000 health dialogues within the K Health app, women aged 26-55 are 18% more likely to report rib pain with coughing compared to men of the same age. So rib pain due to coughing is relatively rare, but more common among women.

Possible Conditions Causing Rib Cage Pain

Our app works by showing you how doctors have diagnosed symptoms like rib pain in people like you in the past. But since we’ve had over 8,000 chats with users who reported rib pain, we took a look at the conditions most commonly associated with this symptom:

Here’s what you need to know about the conditions above:

Injuries

Musculoskeletal chest pain can be caused by trauma or injury to the ribs, intercostal muscles, or skin and other tissues overlying the ribs. This is very common, so it’s no surprise that it’s the most commonly presented condition to K Health users who complain of pain in their ribs. Costochondritis, or inflammation of the cartilage that connects your ribs to your breast bone, is another musculoskeletal cause of rib pain.

Infections

Infections including upper respiratory infection, bronchitis, or pneumonia can also cause rib pain. In this case, the pain may be caused by the infection itself, a pulled rib muscle from coughing, or by pleuritis, or inflammation of your pleura, the inside chest wall. Other causes of pleuritis include autoimmune disorders, certain medications, or injury to your ribs or adjacent structures.

Other Less Common Conditions

• A pulmonary embolism is a dangerous condition and a medical emergency, in which a blood clot gets lodged in the arteries that supply the lungs.

• Fibromyalgia is a condition associated with musculoskeletal pain in different parts of your body, as well as fatigue and mood complaints.

• Shingles is caused by a viral infection (the same one that causes chickenpox) that results in a painful rash, as well as other symptoms.

• Other causes of rib pain may include a sprain in the muscles of your neck (cervical sprain) or inflammation in your stomach (peptic ulcer disease), parts of your body which are located nearby. Rib or chest pain is also commonly associated with mood disorders, like anxiety. Lung cancer may also cause rib pain, although it is a less common cause.

How to Address Your Rib Pain and Possible Treatments

If your ribs hurt, you can find out the probable cause in just a few minutes by using the K Health app. Simply tell the app your symptoms and you’ll discover how people like you were actually diagnosed and treated for similar symptoms. You can also chat with a doctor and get a fast diagnosis, test or prescription if they think it’s necessary.

While we always recommend a personal assessment, here are the most common ways people address their rib pain:

See a primary care doctor
Most people with rib pain are evaluated by a primary care doctor, who will ask them questions, examine them, and order any appropriate tests, like an x-ray of the ribs.

Take over-the-counter painkillers
Try taking anti-inflammatory medications, like ibuprofen (brand name: Advil or Motrin) or acetaminophen (brand name: Tylenol).

Try a cough suppressant
If your pain is associated with a cough, you could try a cough suppressant, such as dextromethorphan (brand name: Robitussin) to give your ribs a rest from the coughing motion.

Watch for serious symptoms.
Rib or chest pain may be a sign of a serious health issue, so it’s important to seek care if you have severe pain, especially if associated with other symptoms like difficulty breathing, fainting, irregular heartbeat, or profuse sweating.

Rib Pain Prevention Tips

Here are some things you can do to avoid or minimize rib pain.

• Protect your rib cage while it’s injured or hurting. The ribs protect some of your most vital organs, and you want to avoid any movements that could make your pain worse.

• If you have a cold with a bad cough, try taking a cough suppressant (like dextromethorphan) and an anti-inflammatory agent (like ibuprofen).

What To Do If You Have Rib Pain

Your rib cage is a collection of bones and tissues, and any of these components can cause rib pain, so it’s important to explore the cause. Anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen can help with rib pain. If you have rib pain caused by cough, you can try a cough suppressant. Most people with rib pain see a doctor, but you could start by doing a free assessment on the K Health app to learn how people like you with similar rib pain symptoms were diagnosed and treated. From there, you can make an educated decision about where to go for care.

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