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Chronic Rib and Feet pain

Posted by tkarolick @tkarolick, Nov 14, 2016

Get ready for this, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

My mother who is 54 has been having pain in her back, feet, and ribs. She has two parts of her spine that are bone on bone, also degenerative disk disease for about five years now.

Three years ago she twisted and pulled her right ribs. Since then the pain hasn't stopped. Anytime she does physical therapy, it makes the pain so much worse it's put her in the hospital for not being able to breathe. Acupuncture helps for about two days afterwards, where he range of movement is about 15% better. Otherwise she can't really move much.

About 6 months ago she went on a trip where she walked a little more than normal and has had so much pain in her feet. Each area of pain has had several steroid injections and physical therapy sessions.

She's taking IB Profen 3 pills TID, Gabapentin 300mg 2 tablets SID, Loritab 7.5mg 1 pill TID, Lidocain patches for her ribs. She's also on thyroid medication and allergy meds.

This only helps with about half her pain. She does have arthritis but only in her joints and a mild case in her shoulders. She just had a full body bone scan and results came back negative for everything but possibly small amount of gout in her feet and arthritis. Scans didn't even show anything in her rib area where the pain is centralized. Blood tests showed low on vitamin D was at 18. She's even had x-rays and CT scans. She's monthly with the pain management doctor and physical therapy every week trying to find more ways to fix this.

We're running low on things to help find a solution. Acupuncture is the only thing that seems to help for a couple days afterwards. If you have any ideas please help! Five years of constant pain is too long.

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Mentor
Scott, Volunteer Mentor | @IndianaScott | Nov 15, 2016

Hello @tkarolick Sorry to hear of your mother's medical challenges. Five years is indeed a long time. While this site does not offer medical advice except by those who are medically qualified, which I am not, I can only ask if your mother is seeing a specialist or her GP?

Peace and Strength,

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jerseygirl926 | @jerseygirl926 | Dec 7, 2016

Hello. The headline caught my eye because I have both chronic rib pain and feet that throb. My diagnosis was plantar fasciitis a few years ago and raynauds syndrome. I have both RA and psoriatic arthritis. Btw they can't see why my ribs hurt too. One theory is costochondritis (not sure I spelled right) or simply chronic pain syndrome. Best of luck to you and your mom. Hope she finds relief soon!

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kristencollette | @kristencollette | Aug 19, 2021

I see this thread was started years ago... almost five years ago to be exact. I have some info for the OP if they are still reading these. I am 99% sure your mother has slipped rib syndrome. It took me three years to figure out what my problem was (I didn't know it was related to my ribs - only my back pain, SI joint pain, and my TMJ in my jaw) - and then I discovered the slipping rib syndrome FB group, found Dr. Adam Hansen in WV, and flew to him this past April for a diagnosis to confirm what I suspected after lots and lots of research and taking to other folks in the group with similar symptoms. Unfortunately most doctors do not know about this and it does NOT show up on any standard imaging since it is typically a cartilage tear between your 9th and 10th ribs - which makes it very difficult to diagnose unless you see an expert in this field. Please look at Dr. Hansen's paper - and he can be easily reached for a diagnostic appointment. Just search his name and slipping rib syndrome on the web and you will find info on his minimally invasive surgical technique to tether your ribs back into place. I have my surgery scheduled for this November. Best of luck!

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Aug 20, 2021
In reply to @kristencollette "I see this thread was started years ago... almost five years ago to be exact. I..." + (show)
@kristencollette

I see this thread was started years ago... almost five years ago to be exact. I have some info for the OP if they are still reading these. I am 99% sure your mother has slipped rib syndrome. It took me three years to figure out what my problem was (I didn't know it was related to my ribs - only my back pain, SI joint pain, and my TMJ in my jaw) - and then I discovered the slipping rib syndrome FB group, found Dr. Adam Hansen in WV, and flew to him this past April for a diagnosis to confirm what I suspected after lots and lots of research and taking to other folks in the group with similar symptoms. Unfortunately most doctors do not know about this and it does NOT show up on any standard imaging since it is typically a cartilage tear between your 9th and 10th ribs - which makes it very difficult to diagnose unless you see an expert in this field. Please look at Dr. Hansen's paper - and he can be easily reached for a diagnostic appointment. Just search his name and slipping rib syndrome on the web and you will find info on his minimally invasive surgical technique to tether your ribs back into place. I have my surgery scheduled for this November. Best of luck!

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Hi Kristen, welcome. I noticed that you wished to post a URL to a journal article with your post. You will be able to add URLs to your posts in a few days. There is a brief period where new members can't post links. We do this to deter spammers and keep the community safe. Clearly the link you wanted to post is not spam. Please allow me to post it for you.

- Minimally Invasive Repair of Adult Slipped Rib Syndrome Without Costal Cartilage Excision https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32330472/

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