Weight loss and rib discomfort

Mechatree

Over the past 7 months, I've dropped right at 44lbs from 174ish to 130ish.
I haven't noticed any major changes as far as how I feel until the last 5 pounds or so.
Now, unless I'm sitting perfectly straight, my ribs feel incredibly uncomfortable, with just a bit of pain. When I bend down to grab something or reach far, sometimes my ribs do a twinge sort of motion, like they're popping out of place briefly. It's difficult to describe, but it's started to really bother me.
As a background, I'm 5'5", 30yrs old, female. My weight loss was purely on a diet basis, no exercise outside of my usual outdoor based job. My recent doctor visit went perfect, all blood tests showed healthy levels of everything.
I'm assuming this rib issue is correlated with my weight loss, but I want to see if anyone else out there has experienced this to see if there's a way to alleviate it, or if I need to worry. Thanks in advance.

sollyn23l2

Could you have strained the useless around you rib at your job? TBH, it doesn't sound like it has anything to do with your weight loss at all. Just a timing correlation.

sollyn23l2

*muscles, not useless 😂

Mechatree

sollyn23l2 wrote: »

Could you have strained the useless around you rib at your job? TBH, it doesn't sound like it has anything to do with your weight loss at all. Just a timing correlation.

If I did, I may have done it without realizing it. I've been doing the normal amount of physical labor at work, but I wonder if I pulled something and I'm just now feeling it. It's very possible. I hope it goes away soon, sometimes it can be pretty painful.

AnnPT77

The muscles between the ribs (intercostals) are surprisingly easy to tweak, even with normal motion. (One of my friends injured hers picking up a suitcase, in the middle of a trip, so obviously she'd lifted that same suitcase before, same load, recently.)

Did you discuss the rib issue with your doctor? If so, what did s/he say?

If not, I'd encourage you to do so. I strongly suspect it's musculoskeletal based on your description, but I'm not a medical professional. Still, there is the potential for some inside-the-body problems to refer pain to the perceived outside of the body. Osteopathic manipulation may be helpful if it's musculoskeletal. (They're real full medical doctors, full medical degree, different from chiropractors. Some people find chiros helpful, too.) Physical therapy referral could be another option, after some kind of diagnosis says its in their wheelhouse.

I've never heard of anyone having rib pain just from weight loss. Fast weight loss (which you don't necessarily sound like you did), without exercise, can increase risk of muscle loss, but I don't see what that would be rib-focused even if it occurred.

I hope it resolves for you soon.

Mechatree

AnnPT77 wrote: »

The muscles between the ribs (intercostals) are surprisingly easy to tweak, even with normal motion. (One of my friends injured hers picking up a suitcase, in the middle of a trip, so obviously she'd lifted that same suitcase before, same load, recently.)

Did you discuss the rib issue with your doctor? If so, what did s/he say?

If not, I'd encourage you to do so. I strongly suspect it's musculoskeletal based on your description, but I'm not a medical professional. Still, there is the potential for some inside-the-body problems to refer pain to the perceived outside of the body. Osteopathic manipulation may be helpful if it's musculoskeletal. (They're real full medical doctors, full medical degree, different from chiropractors. Some people find chiros helpful, too.) Physical therapy referral could be another option, after some kind of diagnosis says its in their wheelhouse.

I've never heard of anyone having rib pain just from weight loss. Fast weight loss (which you don't necessarily sound like you did), without exercise, can increase risk of muscle loss, but I don't see what that would be rib-focused even if it occurred.

I hope it resolves for you soon.

Hi AnnPT77,

Unfortunately this started a few weeks ago (and a few weeks after my doctors visit), so I didn't get a chance to discuss it with them.

It is a very odd place since I don't do any core focused exercises necessarily. Though I do some work bent over and moving things (like you mentioned with your friend hurting herself by lifting the suitcase), so I guess it is very possible I injured myself and didn't even realize it. I didn't even think of the possibility of that, I just went straight to weight loss since it correlated.

I'll try to get in touch with my doctor if possible as you suggested and see what he says. What you say makes sense, and I hope that it either heals up soon, or I can get this fixed with little issue. Thank you very much for your insight!