Cracked sternum

[jumpie]

I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to treat a cracked sternum. I hurt it a few years ago, and it has bothered me ever since. When I stretch or lift it shifts and sounds like I'm cracking my knuckles. Somedays it get painful enough that I can't do any weights, so I really like to know if there is anyway I can get it to heal or do I just have to live with it?

Thanks

[bryanc]

I'll ask the obligatory questions =P:

1) What did you do to injure your sterum?
2) What did you actually do to your sternum? (i.e. what did your physician say you did to your sternum?)
3) What kind of pain do you experience when your sternum hurts? Dull, sharp, burning, throbbing, compressive, etc.
4) When you say you can't do _any_ weights, are you talking about _ALL_ lifts, or just the ones that involve your chest, shoulders and/or arms?
5) What other things cause your sternum pain?
6) When do you normally experience sternum pain? At rest? During sleep? While you breathe? If you take a deep breath? When else?

[jumpie]

The way I injured myself was kinda dumb. I used to work on a farm and I was trying to tip a 500 gallon fuel tank up a little so as to drain the last bit of fuel out. The tank was already over my head and so I just got under and pushed straight up with all I had. I finally got the tank up, but just as I did I felt a sharp pain in my sternum which forced my to drop the load. As most farm boys do when they injury themselves, I never sought out a doctor's opinion but I couldn't do any bench press motions for quite some time and any motion similar to a pec deck was really painful. Eventully it got better, but I always was left with it making a cracking noice, similar to cracking your knuckles, when I stretched or lifted heavy objects.
I can still feel the uneven ridge in my sternum, and when I strech it gives and makes a cracking noise. If I over do it at the gym, I'm back to having to leave any chest exercises for some time.
Thanks for the reply, and hopefully that gives you a few more specifics to direct another reply.

[bryanc]

Given that you don't know what you actually did to your sternum and possibly other structures in the area, I'd suggest you get it checked out first. The fact that there's a palpaple ridge that may or may not have been there before is a bit worrying. There's a sport med clinic in Edmonton (I think at the UofA). There isn't a whole lot anyone's going to be able to tell you from here.

[jumpie]

Thanks for the help - maybe I'll try and get into that clinic that you mentioned.