In reply to Cheese Monkey:
It is probably not the same injury as yours, however I reckon I had four intercostal muscle injuries in recent years. In my case the pain was localised in my back and/or on my side (pretty low) and was only present during certain moves or when the area was pressed. No pain was present in a relaxed state. Where is your pain localised? I was not diagnosed by a professional, but this is how I see it:
1. Proper rupture of an intercostal muscle on my right side - I was doing a heavy seated row in a weights gym, the load was about my body weight. I felt a click in my ribs area. I felt pain during certain moves, like reaching high with my right arm on a climbing wall, for months. Deep inhalation also causes pain when you have an intercostal injured.
2. Strained an intercostal on my left side - I do not remember how it happened, either in the weights gym or while climbing or training for climbing. I recovered pretty quickly.
3. Strained an intercostal on my right side - I proceeded to heavy dead lifts too quickly at the start of my weights workout without proper warm-up. I was just showing off. The moment the spectators left I incresed the load further, started lifting and felt pain in my ribs. Stupidly I did not stop, but more less completed the move making things worse. Fortunately I recovered within weeks.
4. Strained an intercostal on my left side - It was caused by some twisting moves on a bouldering wall. It was my first visit on the wall after a five months break, mostly due to family commitments. I was lazy enough to stop training altogehter during that time, as I could not climb. Not the best idea. It was two months ago and I still have not recovered.
Lessons learned:
- warm-up
- start slowly after a break
- maintaining proper form (or lack of it) may be a factor
- be careful with your training
Unfortunately I do not know anything to speed-up the recovery other than rest. The bright side is that I never needed a complete rest, I just avoided things that aggravated the injury further. In retrospect I think I was simply not careful enough with my training, but I suspect these muscles may be my weak point. I started to look for exercises to strenghen them, but I have not found anything really good yet. If anyone knows how to strenghen intercostal muscles, I will be grateful for advice.
