Rib cartilage popped on leg press

It might be a good idea to get it checked by a doc and take his/her advice.

Ouch. I did something similar in May. I just rested it. . . kind of had to - it hurt!

I didn't go to the doctor.

Not sure if it's similar but I had costochondritis, an inflammation of the rib cartilage due to labored breathing during a kidney stone episode. My doctor said it could take 4-8 weeks to heal and it would cycle from feeling better to feeling worse back and forth many times before it finally healed itself. He was spot on about that. He also said it was ok for me to keep running but I was told do not do any upper body workouts, no arm stuff, and especially no weights! until he saw me for a follow-up. I recommend to go get seen by a doctor and find out for sure so you don't end up with a chronic injury, which costochondritis for example, could indeed turn into.

DrummerGavin - I experienced the same thing last week! I had an x-ray and learned nothing was broken. The doctor said I could have sprained my ribs. It's very painful, especially when trying to sleep. I plan to take it easy for a week or two until I feel better, or at least have less pain. I have been in a workout routine and sad that it has to be interrupted due to injury but I think it's the smart thing to do.

There is very little information on this type of injury, however recently I was on the leg press and experienced nearly the same thing.

I am a runner. I have recently been running a standard 5k monday-friday and rolling into some type of weighted exercise routine afterwards. Two weeks ago the gym was packed and the only machine open was the leg press (something I have very little experience on, though have used before). I started with 1 plate on each side and did a set of 10. I was going all the way down, as you would in a full range of motion squat and back up. This is where I made my critical mistake. I continued to add weight. 2 plates on each side for a set of 10. 3 plates on each side of 10. I was happy at this weight, however the guy next to me put 4 plates on each side and I figured I could do the same for at least 6-8 reps. Another mistake... don’t compete with the guy next to you...

I went down slow and controlled, however I must have been allowing my legs to “rest” on my lower (floating) ribs before exploding up. Once I got to the bottom of my first rep, with 360lbs on the press, I felt my right side cave in followed by two loud cracks. I pushed the weight up and immediately asked to be checked out by staff.

My body was in shock, but the mind was calm. Ended up spending 6 hours in the ER and getting x-rays done. They came back inconclusive because of the location, but I did get a morphine prescription (that I didn’t end up taking). Not sure what the actual damage was, whether cartilage, fracture, or break, but the pain has been terrible. There wasn’t really any good position to sleep in and I would wake up if I rolled to that side.

The next day I attempted to run and it was excruciating. If I breathed the wrong way, landed the wrong way, or put any speed into my run I would almost topple over. Unfortunately I am the type of person who refuses to quit and sees pain as a conquerable obstacle. I ended up running the full 5k (at a 10 min/mile pace), but then decided to wait until I healed a bit more before running again. 2 weeks later I can now finally run.

I know I will need to face the leg press again in order to get any “fear” out of my psyche, but I will definitely have better form. It wasn’t until after this incident did I learn that you should only go to about 90 degrees.

KEEP YOUR LEGS AWAY FROM YOUR RIBS!

Same thing happened to me, but was on back workout machine where you put your chest against a pad reach forward, grab the handles and pull back. In that hunched curled forward position with pad push against your chest, is when it happened to me.

Yesterday I experienced EXACTLY what the OP described. I was happy to find this thread and I quickly made an account on this site to post my reply. I know this thread is about 5-6 years old, but this was the only relevant post I could find from a Google search. It's a good topic. Please hear me out….

I could be wrong, but for ME… I think it was just a crazy gas bubble that busted and got my rib cartilage agitated, like a bomb or something. The situation could be different for everyone but our situations could be similar.

After it happened, I felt very little pain. The next day it felt like someone kicked me in the ribs. Just as the OP described.

Here's my question… Have any of you used a vibration plate or used muscle relaxers prior to this injury? I'll answer 'yes' to both questions. I have NO disrespect to either of them, but we need to be careful. Were there any other factors involved? Let's discuss them… What other things did you use? They could have been the culprit.

I've used the hip sled occasionally since high school. I've never had this issue while doing squats or deadlifts. The angles were different. I'm WAY stronger now and I've never experienced anything like this before. I've been lifting weights on and off since 1993. Never mind my "old age". I feel way more youthful these days.

About two weeks ago I decided to do farmer walks. They were fun. They felt beneficial. I didn't have any problems, but they were a bit new to me. After a few days I got a bit of muscle tension on my left shoulder. Maybe I started the exercise with too much weight. Fair enough. Days later I stared using a vibration plate machine to relax the muscle tension. It helped a lot. Later I used some muscle cream to relax the tension. That helped too. My muscles seemed to calm down a bit. I thought I'd take it easy and just use the hip sled at the gym. When I decided to use the hip sled, there were already some heavy plates on the machine. I was used to the weight, it felt like nothing. BUT…. I was a bit lazy during this time due to muscle injuries, and I did what…. usnavywolf ….. did. I rested my knees on my ribs. POP! "What was that?!"

I felt a POP… More like a nitrogen bubble pop, cracking of the knuckles, a… FART (LOL), something. At first I thought my colon exploded…but no. That's not what happened. I don't think it matters how strong you are. If you have some gas bubble in your body and there's heavy weight on top of it, it'll explode. A week prior I felt a weird bubble in my lower abdomen and I ignored it. I think I was just was at the right time and the right place, and the pressure from the hip sled exploded it. Simple as that. It could have been 100 lbs or 500 lbs.

Do a Google search about vibration plates. They do create some interesting gas bubbles. I love vibration plates. They really make me feel good. I respect them 100%. They're helpful. They have amazing effects, but…. we need to be careful.

Has it ever happened on the left side? I'm interested. Let's reopen this case and discuss it. I'm going to do some more research on this. I advise others to do the same.

Did anything serious happen? I don't think so...

There's very little little info on the internet about this. Why is this? Maybe because it's not serious.

BTW…. Health and fitness is just a hobby of mine. I've just been into it since high school. What is my job? I help people prepare for English proficiency exams and I'm an expert at critical thinking, logic, etc. Think of me as a real life Sherlock Holmes. Be careful about what doctors say. Let's use critical thinking as much as possible… :)