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Don’t make me laugh

Don’t make me laugh
Intercostals Is the "Hurts-to-Laugh" Muscle Causing Pain in Your Side or Difficulty Breathing?
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Have you ever had a pain or "stitch" in your side, maybe in the middle of a fit of laughter? Do you ever have trouble taking a full breath or experience pain in the side while breathing, sneezing, or coughing? While certainly any trouble or pain with breathing should be examined thoroughly by your doctor, there is a muscular cause that you might be able to take care of yourself assuming everything else checks out okay. Trigger points in the muscles between your ribs can cause several surprising symptoms, including:
  • Rib pain
  • Side cramps
  • “Stitch in the Side” pain
  • Difficulty breathing or expanding your chest
  • Difficulty maintaining upright posture
  • Pain when breathing
  • Pain when lying on your side
  • Pain or difficulty when twisting your torso side to side
  • And pain while coughing, sneezing or even laughing!
These muscles are named the “Intercostals” because they are literally in between the ribs (yellow X's shown in the drawing). They help to rotate the torso and most notably help to expand and contract the rib cage. Because the rib cage contracts rapidly during laughing (as with coughing and sneezing), sharp pain can result if there are trigger points in the Intercostals. For this reason, the Intercostals have earned the nickname “Hurts To Laugh” muscles. How do these muscles become so tight and upset? There are a number of reasons, including heavy breathing such as during exercise or due to lung or asthma problems, slumped posture, prolonged coughing, or even a bra that is too tight. Any of these and more causes can result in the Intercostals tightening up, becoming painful and restricting your rib cage expansion. Luckily, relieving these trigger points is often straight forward and fairly simple. Follow the self-test and self-care tips below to identify and relieve trigger points in your “Hurts to Laugh” muscles, so you can Breathe Deeper and Laugh Longer with Less Pain!
*The information in this article is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and does not substitute for a thorough evaluation by a medical professional. Please consult your physician to determine whether these self-care tips are appropriate for you.
(2) Quick Self-Tests to Tell if You have Trigger Points in Your Intercostals: Follow the instructions below to test whether myofascial trigger points in your Intercostals might cause difficulty or pain with breathing deeply. TEST 1: Trunk Rotation Test PASS FAIL Stand with your back to the wall, a couple feet away from the wall. Without moving your feet, turn your body and see if you can place both hands flat on the wall behind you. A Passing result is when you can turn fully and place both palms flat on the wall. A Failing result occurs when you cannot turn far enough to place your hands flat on the wall. TEST 2: Rib Cage Expansion Another simple way to check for possible tightness and trigger points in your Intercostals is to feel whether your rib cage expands when you breathe deeply. Place your hands on either the front or the sides of your rib cage and breathe deeply. You should feel your rib cage expanding. If not, or if one side expands more than the other, you might have trigger points in your Intercostals.

Simple Self-Care Remedies Here are simple self-care tips for relieving myofascial pain and dysfunction in your Intercostals: Step 1: Warming Up with Moist Heat To relax and warm up the fibers of the Intercostals, take a warm bath or shower or place moist heat such as a Fomentek bag over the area your ribs that is affected for 10-15 minutes. Step 2: Compression Using your self-care tool, the Backnobber, press in between the ribs into the Intercostals. When you find a tender spot as always, hold for 10 seconds while completing at least two full breaths in and out. Then continue searching for more tender spots until the entire length of the muscle is covered.
You may also benefit from adding a stretch to your compression, as shown. Place the arm over your head to stretch the rib cage and continue your compression.
Step 3: Stretching the Intercostals It is good to finish with a stretch. As shown, lift one arm over the head and reach as far as is comfortable. This will stretch the intercostals on the same side as the arm. Hold for 20 seconds and breathe throughout. Repeat 2-3 times on each side. Remember, you should always have trouble or pain with breathing evaluated by a physician. Trigger points can exist in combination with other conditions and you don't want to miss serious illnesses such as pneumonia. Otherwise, if you perform these self-care tips, you will likely be able to breathe more deeply and laugh longer with less pain! Enjoy!
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