Hey gang,

I commute 28 miles round trip 3 days a week and have started to experience some pain in my sternum. The pain is constant and not just while riding. It almost feels like Ive been punched in the chest and have a bruise. Ive tried searching for some possible reasons for this pain with little success.

I'm trying to figure out if it could possibly be an issue with the way my bike is set up. If something like handle bar reach, width, height, etc could be contributing to the pain.

A little about me and my bike if these details would make any difference.
6'2", 190lbs, 33" inseam.
Bike is a 58 cm Redline Metro Classic, 46" Salsa Bell Lap bars, and a 120mm specialized stem with a 16 degree rise.

I'm very comfortable with this set up and have been riding my bike set up this way for about 500 miles or so. The pain just started recently as I've been riding more regularly to work.

Anyone have any thoughts on what could be causing the pain?

Go see a doctor.
You said it was not just while riding.

Best wishes

Definitely - ask your doctor.

The fact that you mentioned it just started recently and happens even off-bike is an good indicator that your bike isn't the one at fault, or at least not the only one..

What you're experiencing is pretty hard to determine - one has to consider types of food intake, last known activity prior to pain onset, environment factors, medications currently taking, etc.. I study/work in the healthcare area, and we take it seriously when someone is complaining of chest pain. So like the others mentioned, go see a doctor ASAP - your body is telling you something's wrong and it isn't advised to go self-treating like a DIY bike fix (no offense)..

Definitely see a doctor. Could be nothing, but could be something very serious.

You need to see a doctor.

Pls go see a doctor before a doctor sees you.

I'll second or eighth or whatever the advice. I turned out to have a hereditary enlarged heart. I'm 36, diagnosed at 32.

That said, mine was not sharp pain at all. Doctor kept asking me if I had "shortness of breath" but it was more like my breathing was fine but not accomplishing as much as it should, and there was sort of a feeling of dread across my whole chest. Hard to describe succinctly.

Could also be pulmonary. Or just muscular and we're all panicking for you over nothing.

Thanks for all the replies. I feel like I just got done showing friends a mysterious rash...

I am planning on seeing the doctor but thought I would reach out in regards to a set up issue first. If I felt the pain had something to do with my heart or lungs I would definitely have already been in to see the doc. This pain isn't a heart or lung pain. Now I'm no doctor and some may think that I'm self diagnosing but I can tell that this is a muscle pain. Like I've had in the past when I used to lift weights a lot and would go a little over board on the bench press. The area around my sternum would be sore for a few days.

When I stretch my arms out wide I can feel the pain on the inside of my peck's, or if I cross my arms and tighten my chest muscles I can feel it. No labored breathing, or unexplained fatigue, or anything that would lead me to believe its a heart or lung issue. It didn't start until I started regularly riding 3 days a week to work. Which is the reason I am associating it with the ride and more miles than I've consecutively logged in the past and not something else. I don't notice it while I'm actually riding, typically I'll notice it a little later in the afternoon. Sore chest muscles. With an emphasis of sore in-between my peck's.

I'll check back in after the doctor's visit. But in the mean time, if anyone has experienced sore chest muscles that could have been a result of a set up issue, feel free to state what might have been the cause and if there was a remedy. It could also just be I'm putting a little added stress on my chest muscles, and they aren't quite used to it yet.

This is rare for BF, but so far everyone agrees...see a doctor. I've never experienced the type of pain/discomfort you are experiencing. Don't really see how fit would cause that.

My dad thought his heart problem was indigestion for a long time, until he was diagnosed with 3 blocked coronary arteries and had to have bypass surgery.

I do not want to go against the good advice others have given you, but to, perhaps, ease your stress a bit, I just want to mention that I went through a period of similar pain back in my twenties, when I was playing drums professionally. It turned out that sitting crouched forward night-after-night, slugging away at the tom-toms had gradually bruised a muscle in my chest, causing scar tissue to form and leading to horrible, recurring pain in my chest, exactly as if someone had punched me in the breast bone.

After a few weeks of anti-inflammation therapy and several months of re-adjusting my drumming position, I was able to play virtually pain-free for a number of years after that. Again, I don't want to be the guy who talks you out of going to a doctor for chest pain. I'm just suggesting that the pain might not have anything to do with your heart or lungs. Get it checked out.

Back then I had pain in my chest that starts from muscle and radiates through the bone. I don't go to the gym, but the pain suddenly happens without warning. Turns out it was costochondritis - the chest muscles were slightly inflamed due mild infections and inadequate breathing (poor chest expansion) was the culprit. Anti-inflammatory antibiotics solved it and deep breathing exercises prevented it. But this is for my case where I'm in 20's and slim body type weighing 145 lbs.

On your case it could be a lot of things - hernia of the esophagus (improper weight lifting is a factor), or muscle spasms due to failure to do stretching your affected muscles, or mild bronchial blockage, or inadequate heart circulation (if pain radiates to shoulder you do have to consider this), and so on..

With that being said, I have to stress again to go see a doctor ASAP. Best of health and good luck..

Stop 1: Doctor, to have that ticker checked.
Stop 2: Anywhere else he may send you.

Stop 3(IF the doc clears you of cardiac issues): Chiropractor. I "pop" something loose in my breastbone area about once a month, it seems to 'bind' me until I pop it.

Yes you should go see a doctor. But it is most likely just an inflammation where your pecs attach to the sternum as has been suggested.

I started having chest pains while riding a while back, usually wile climbing hills. It felt like heartburn, and usually went away after topping the hill. After a couple of weeks of this I was doing a flat ride with a stop at a taco shop in the middle, and started getting heartburn again. This time it didn't go away, and I had to pull over an throw up. Some guy driving by in a pickup truck stopped and asked If I was ok. I told him to avoid a certain taco shop.

Fortunately for me, this guy had some medical training (he was a flight instructor at the small airport I was lapping, and CPR certified). He got out of the truck came over to look at me and five minutes later I was in the "little red bus" to Scripps Grossmont Cath Lab.

Moral of the story. . . See a doctor before it becomes mandatory. The symptoms of a heart attack are not the same for everybody. Your symptoms do not sound exactly like mine, but my symptoms were atypical also. (no radial arm or neck pain, no feeling of pressure, just a burning in the chest)

OP, not that it necessarily matters, but how old are you?

I had a pain in my chest that happened after increasing my exercise levels, and it stayed around, first discomfort, then acute.
Turns out I had a nodule on my lungs that had ruptured, leaking air into my pericardial sack, and putting pressure on my heart. It stayed around for a week, and the doctors were very worried when the first x-ray came back. Apparently it was a small nodule and healed quickly, and the bursting may not have had anything to do with my activity level, but exercise and hard breathing pushed more air into places it shouldn't have been. Three weeks of rest and another x-ray to be sure the air was all gone, and lingering pain while jogging after that. If it had been bad they'd have had to put a big needle in to let the air out.

Just go get it checked out - you never know what's going on in your own body as well as people who are trained and have the tools to look inside of you.

I'm usually very reluctant to go to the doctor, despite the common advice "Don't try to guess, see a doctor!" Pshh. You get in there, and he barely looks at you and doesn't seem to give a crap, and tells you to drink more water and get more sleep, and you get a bill. I think YOU are the guardian of your health and fitness above all. Doctors can help, but that doesn't mean you still don't have the right to refuse treatment when they want to cut off an arm to fix your achy testicle! I'm not trying to say everyone else here is wrong. Seeing a doctor can't hurt (although it will cost you), and maybe there IS something serious. But I think it's possible to know your body well enough to know that if you have a stuffy nose, you're most likely not dying of cancer.

But anyhoo, I'm inclined to believe you about thinking it is muscular. If it feels that localized and specific, I'm thinking it's probably the connective tissue between your sternum and pectoral muscles. My first week of commuting I felt pain in my knee ligaments. I didn't damage them, i just got a little too ambitious when accelerating and I strained them. Took a couple days off and I was fine. I bet your pecs are similar - you're straining them somehow, and they are achy.

Take a couple days off completely, maybe a week, and see how you feel.

I'm a cycling noob, so I have no advice as far as setup is concerned

As a first responder (ski patroller), I'd advise you to get in to see your doctor immediately. Here's the thing - it could be nothing but then again you could be looking at serious problems. You'd want to find that out in the doctor's office not when you drop over from an MI while riding. The potential for a serious problem is relatively low but the potential for catastrophe if it is real is very high. It's often the case with heart and brain issues (stroke, concussion) problems for the patient to be in denial and to want to avoid treatment. There are many cases of just such behavior where the patient avoids and then winds up in serious trouble or dead.

The other fail here is going to a biking forum for medical advice.

J.

Truth to this, in either direction. My GP first tried to diagnose me with bronchitis when I was looking for confirmation of what I already figured about my heart. I basically had to tell him to humor me and hook up the EKG.

Ok ladies and gentlemen, went to the doc's today.


Again thank you for all the responses and the good suggestions. Go see the doctor dumba$$ seemed to be the conscenus. You all scared me into thinking I was going to die.�� I want to point out that I wasn’t really going to a biking forum to ask about a health issue, the intention was to get answers to a question about if set up could cause chest pain. I was kind of thinking I was going to get answers such as "try a shorter stem", or "adjust your seat height". I guess I could have done a much better job of asking the question.


So for the not so dramatic conclusion. I'm not dying. I'm healthy, BP was 112/80, Pulse was 79 bpm, heart sounded good, lungs sounded as good as 39 yr old asthmatic lungs sound.

aidzbelty and I have something in common, Costochondritis. Inflammation of the cartilage connecting the sternum and rib cage.


The doc said that sometimes it is caused by an infection, and sometimes repetitive strain, such as lifting weights, or in my case, riding. He rides a little as well and knows the route I take to and from work and stated that because my route has some pretty good climbs, and the fact that I went from maybe 40 miles a week off and on during the spring to a steady 80 miles a week now that the sun has started to shine could be the reason. We talked a little about bar width and reach, proper breathing, and possibly going in to get a proper bike fitting. Ibuprofen, a little rest, and a heat pad once in awhile should help. He did state that if it doesn’t start to ease up within another week or so that I should maybe take a couple weeks off from riding.


As I don’t want to take any time off from riding, unless the pain doesn’t go away, I guess I get to mess around with the set up of the cockpit on the bike once again. Or... Maybe this is just one more excuse to buy yet another bike. I wonder if a new bike can be a prescription and I can use HSA funds to purchase a new bike?��

Good to hear that you're healthy. Wow, you must be fit that your case only involved the cartilage and only needed ibuprofen; I'm skinny that my chest muscles were slightly affected - no wonder I was on antibiotics before starting celebrex..

With regard to bike set-up, I'm not sure what kind of bike you're riding but you should take into consideration setting it up where you have proper chest expansion for optimal breathing pattern or at least have the least amount of strain to the chest. I still prefer flatbars or similar than drops because of the non-aggressive riding position.

I like your thinking of a new bike as a prescription.

I've had intermittent bouts with costochondritis and I know it's not fun. Luckily, mine doesn't seem to be tied to bike riding but rather diet. Do some research on anti-inflammatory foods. Changing your diet may go a long way in treating this condition. I know mine usually hurt when I twisted my torso and sometimes simply taking a breath would send spasms of pain thru my chest. Fortunately, I haven't had it in quite awhile. <knocks on wood>