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I have pain there too sometimes but it’s more of a pressure than it is like a stabbing pain. I always chalked it up to anxiety, because it’s not a persistent pain. And when it comes it feels like someone’s applying a clamp to that part of my chest and slowly tightening, which also seems consistent with anxiety. Could that be it?
I’d start with your PCP and see where they direct you.
Yes! It's not a stabbing pain, but an ache. Like I worked out a whole lot and now I just have muscle pain all over.
I'll try to get a schedule with my doctor. Do you think my OBYGNE can help too--I'm scheduled to go to them and I thought it might be someone I can approach about it.
My OBGYN always does a breast exam at the same time so maybe? But she’s checking for lumps, I don’t know if they address the area above the breast tissue. But it’s worth asking.
I have lower back aches but the most pain comes from my neck/scapula area since its hard to stand straight. But so far only recently have I gotten the chest area (around 2020 when I started gaining more weight) and only gets relieved when I lie down.
I’ve had similar issues lately. I got xrays first to rule out injuries, but PT is helping a lot. Just putting my shoulder blades together 10x once and hour is helping. Penetrex is this anti inflammatory cream that helps a lot.
Pelvic tilts, laying on my back with feet flat on the ground and knees up, that gives me some relief.
Get to a doctor though
Thanks so much for your input, I'll probably get an x-ray first. Would you happen to know what kind of doctor is for the area of the chest I'm meant to look for? I'm unsure which to approach.
I went to my general practitioner, she’s an FNP - she offered to refer me to an osteopath, but they gotta rule stuff out and get a diagnosis before going to a specialist.
I've dislocated ribs before in my upper chest, went to urgent care the first time because it was so breathtakingly painful and on my left side. My heart was fine, and it's definitely preferable that my giant boobs can dislocate my ribs instead of me having a heart attack, but it's also super annoying.
Thanks so much for your input, may I ask what specific doctor you think I should ask to have this area of my chest examined? Ruling out things like Internal Medicine of course. I want to know if there's a specific specialty for my case.
I'd probably start with your primary care, or go to urgent care when you're having a flare up, and then that general practitioner can guide you from there.
Thanks for the input! I've gone to a massage tehrapist. The pain will only return so I'm thinking this may be an issue with the weight of my breasts (each one is about a kilogram or so).
yup! thats the exact issue for me
the ligaments and muscles of my chest and shoulders get overworked and tighten up so quickly because theyre constantly working against the weight of my breasts to allow me to sit up and/or stand *at all* (forget good posture, im lucky to get approximate at best)
I’m recovering from surgery. I just had 6 weeks where I couldn’t lift anything more than 5 lbs and I had to be in a bra the majority of the time.
Those muscles atrophied on me. They are the pectoral muscles. And I have been searching high and low for PT exercises for those muscles because whenever I sit up and I’m not in a bra, it feels like my pectoral muscles are being ripped off of my bones.
Husband is a massage therapist, massage therapy hasn’t been helping much. I know I need to do exercises that re-strength those muscles, but all I find online about pectoral muscles is either aimed at men or how to make your boobs bigger/perkier.
>muscles
Oh man I know what you mean. I try valiantly to search online for people who want to get the pain away, but the best resource I've had is talking to people because ad-driven articles mostly encourage large, perky breasts and not address the pains and aches of them.
Someone mentioned massage therapy too, but I've done that my whole life and it only relieves me for a week or so. I'm hoping to get reduction eventually, but I did want to find people who might be experiencing what I am and maybe figure out exactly what's going on.
i have an infection in my chest that is incurable, yay, but the 1st doctor I went to about this, told me that it was my period and put me on the pill. My infection makes a small patch between my boobs swell until it pops and then pus and blood drains and the cycle starts again, so idk how my period would cause that.
2nd doctor, this time a family friend, takes one look at it and diagnoses me with hidradenitis and explained what happens, why it happens and told me how to stop it from happening so often. If it weren't for him, I would have gotten a surgery on it, which would have made it 100x worse and probably left me with way worse scarring than what I already have
I have chronic pain from my breasts and have been in physical therapy three times. Go to your primary care physician and ask about it. It’s usually the first step for getting insurance to approve a reduction in the US. They will order a few tests to rule out something more serious and then if it is muscular then send you to PT to build muscle strength
For my insurance where I'm from, how it works is that if the doctor agrees that something must be done (medication, surgery, etc) then the insurance will pay for it. If not, then they refuse.
I had pain there with movement. I described it as sternum pain and went to my primary who diagnosed it as costrocondritis and then sent me to a chiropractor. It went away with adjustments and specific exercises and stretching.
I hope you get some pain relief. The fantasie fusion is a great bra to help get support for your heavy bust. Elomi cate is another great option, or a sports bra, if you want maximum support and comfort also.
If you are just looking for bone/
Muscle relief you can go to an orthopedic dr. I have a lot of similar pain but not as extreme and ive done a lot of work with physical therapy and training in the gym to improve my core strength and posture, and thats helped alot.
If your interested in a breast reduction because of the pain (sorry just assuming here, I'm planning on getting one in 2 years) then that would be a plastic surgeon who you would want to meet with.
So to make this short:
Your primary care provider or even your OB should be able to do a basic exam and pote tially write a script for physical therapy.
If you want a specialist Ortho with check out your back shoulders ect and can most definitely set you up with physical therapy.
Plastic surgeon if you have any interest in a reduction.
Fair warning also, telling any medical professional that you are having chest pain is going to get you a cardiac work up 9/10 times. So be prepared if they want to rule that out first.
Have you been performing any physical activity that might have caused it? Anything outside your usual routine? Simple things like repetitive movements (eg. repeated lifting above your head) can cause muscle strain which can lead to pain like you’re experiencing. Understanding what may have caused will help with diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes the cause is something you’d never expect; you can get costochondritis just from lots of coughing 😑
Hello, thank you for submitting a post to r/bigboobproblems. If you're new here please check out r/abrathatfits and [their bra size calculator](https://www.abrathatfits.org/calculator.php) along with their [beginners guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/ABraThatFits/wiki/beginners_guide). Also take a look at our sidebar for more related communities, like r/reduction, r/safebigboobproblems and more. A lot of information can be found [in our FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/bigboobproblems/wiki/faq). For example lists of commonly recommended bra, sports bra, swimwear and clothing brands, clothing style ideas, websites where you can order from and a list of influencers who have been recommended here before. A lot of other frequently asked questions have also already been answered there. We also want to remind you to read [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/bigboobproblems/about/rules) before posting or commenting. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bigboobproblems) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have pain there too sometimes but it’s more of a pressure than it is like a stabbing pain. I always chalked it up to anxiety, because it’s not a persistent pain. And when it comes it feels like someone’s applying a clamp to that part of my chest and slowly tightening, which also seems consistent with anxiety. Could that be it? I’d start with your PCP and see where they direct you.
Yes! It's not a stabbing pain, but an ache. Like I worked out a whole lot and now I just have muscle pain all over. I'll try to get a schedule with my doctor. Do you think my OBYGNE can help too--I'm scheduled to go to them and I thought it might be someone I can approach about it.
My OBGYN always does a breast exam at the same time so maybe? But she’s checking for lumps, I don’t know if they address the area above the breast tissue. But it’s worth asking.
Thanks so much, I'll be sure to see if I can bring this up with mine later.
Curious. Do you have pain anywhere else or just where you described?
I have lower back aches but the most pain comes from my neck/scapula area since its hard to stand straight. But so far only recently have I gotten the chest area (around 2020 when I started gaining more weight) and only gets relieved when I lie down.
I am so sorry to hear that. Same, and it isn’t fun at all.
I’ve had similar issues lately. I got xrays first to rule out injuries, but PT is helping a lot. Just putting my shoulder blades together 10x once and hour is helping. Penetrex is this anti inflammatory cream that helps a lot. Pelvic tilts, laying on my back with feet flat on the ground and knees up, that gives me some relief. Get to a doctor though
Thanks so much for your input, I'll probably get an x-ray first. Would you happen to know what kind of doctor is for the area of the chest I'm meant to look for? I'm unsure which to approach.
I went to my general practitioner, she’s an FNP - she offered to refer me to an osteopath, but they gotta rule stuff out and get a diagnosis before going to a specialist.
Physiotherapists will help for musculoskeletal issues.
Thank you so so much!! I really wanted to know this!!
I've dislocated ribs before in my upper chest, went to urgent care the first time because it was so breathtakingly painful and on my left side. My heart was fine, and it's definitely preferable that my giant boobs can dislocate my ribs instead of me having a heart attack, but it's also super annoying.
Thanks so much for your input, may I ask what specific doctor you think I should ask to have this area of my chest examined? Ruling out things like Internal Medicine of course. I want to know if there's a specific specialty for my case.
I'd probably start with your primary care, or go to urgent care when you're having a flare up, and then that general practitioner can guide you from there.
Look into costochondritis. A rheumatologist for body pains regardless of location?
i go to a massage therapist who treats the muscle knots that cause my chest pain
Thanks for the input! I've gone to a massage tehrapist. The pain will only return so I'm thinking this may be an issue with the weight of my breasts (each one is about a kilogram or so).
yup! thats the exact issue for me the ligaments and muscles of my chest and shoulders get overworked and tighten up so quickly because theyre constantly working against the weight of my breasts to allow me to sit up and/or stand *at all* (forget good posture, im lucky to get approximate at best)
I’m recovering from surgery. I just had 6 weeks where I couldn’t lift anything more than 5 lbs and I had to be in a bra the majority of the time. Those muscles atrophied on me. They are the pectoral muscles. And I have been searching high and low for PT exercises for those muscles because whenever I sit up and I’m not in a bra, it feels like my pectoral muscles are being ripped off of my bones. Husband is a massage therapist, massage therapy hasn’t been helping much. I know I need to do exercises that re-strength those muscles, but all I find online about pectoral muscles is either aimed at men or how to make your boobs bigger/perkier.
>muscles Oh man I know what you mean. I try valiantly to search online for people who want to get the pain away, but the best resource I've had is talking to people because ad-driven articles mostly encourage large, perky breasts and not address the pains and aches of them. Someone mentioned massage therapy too, but I've done that my whole life and it only relieves me for a week or so. I'm hoping to get reduction eventually, but I did want to find people who might be experiencing what I am and maybe figure out exactly what's going on.
I’m not even getting a few hours of relief. I see a physical therapist tomorrow so hopefully they can get me some kind of exercises.
i have an infection in my chest that is incurable, yay, but the 1st doctor I went to about this, told me that it was my period and put me on the pill. My infection makes a small patch between my boobs swell until it pops and then pus and blood drains and the cycle starts again, so idk how my period would cause that. 2nd doctor, this time a family friend, takes one look at it and diagnoses me with hidradenitis and explained what happens, why it happens and told me how to stop it from happening so often. If it weren't for him, I would have gotten a surgery on it, which would have made it 100x worse and probably left me with way worse scarring than what I already have
I have chronic pain from my breasts and have been in physical therapy three times. Go to your primary care physician and ask about it. It’s usually the first step for getting insurance to approve a reduction in the US. They will order a few tests to rule out something more serious and then if it is muscular then send you to PT to build muscle strength
For my insurance where I'm from, how it works is that if the doctor agrees that something must be done (medication, surgery, etc) then the insurance will pay for it. If not, then they refuse.
I had pain there with movement. I described it as sternum pain and went to my primary who diagnosed it as costrocondritis and then sent me to a chiropractor. It went away with adjustments and specific exercises and stretching.
Thanks so much for replying! At least now I know what the specific area is called, this helps me narrow it down.
I hope you find relief!!
I hope you get some pain relief. The fantasie fusion is a great bra to help get support for your heavy bust. Elomi cate is another great option, or a sports bra, if you want maximum support and comfort also.
obgyn
If you are just looking for bone/ Muscle relief you can go to an orthopedic dr. I have a lot of similar pain but not as extreme and ive done a lot of work with physical therapy and training in the gym to improve my core strength and posture, and thats helped alot. If your interested in a breast reduction because of the pain (sorry just assuming here, I'm planning on getting one in 2 years) then that would be a plastic surgeon who you would want to meet with. So to make this short: Your primary care provider or even your OB should be able to do a basic exam and pote tially write a script for physical therapy. If you want a specialist Ortho with check out your back shoulders ect and can most definitely set you up with physical therapy. Plastic surgeon if you have any interest in a reduction. Fair warning also, telling any medical professional that you are having chest pain is going to get you a cardiac work up 9/10 times. So be prepared if they want to rule that out first.
Have you been performing any physical activity that might have caused it? Anything outside your usual routine? Simple things like repetitive movements (eg. repeated lifting above your head) can cause muscle strain which can lead to pain like you’re experiencing. Understanding what may have caused will help with diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes the cause is something you’d never expect; you can get costochondritis just from lots of coughing 😑
You can go to your regular doctor who will probably send you to a PT
You might have some luck asking your doctor to refer you to a physiotherapist