Fibromyalgia Chest Pain, Chronic Chest Pain, Armpit Pain, Underarm Pain

This page is about fibromyalgia chest pain and chronic chest pain. If you have sudden, acute chest pain, please seek emergency medical help to rule out a heart attack.

Your doctor will need to make a diagnosis to determine the best treatment for you, depending upon whether your have costochondritis, fibromyalgia chest pain or another condition.

One of my most prominent areas of chronic chest pain is a deep aching on both sides of the upper chest near the armpits. Yes, armpit pain or underarm pain

I haven't found much helpful info on the Web about armpit or under-arm pain - people like to laugh about it or say "Arm pit pain? I never heard of that... there's nothing there."

But lo and behold, I have a deep aching pain between the ribs near the under arms. One thing that helps me is a hot shower.

Another thing that helps me is the self-pressure technique I will explain here... a hands-on treatment you can do for yourself if you have chest muscle pain, or pectoral pain.

As always consult your doctor or physical therapist if you have any questions at all whether this would be beneficial for your condition.

If you have muscles aching between the ribs, along the pectoral or pectoral minor muscles, sometimes you can get some relief by manually applying pressure between the ribs. Basically, pushing deeply with your thumb on the muscle fibers as they run along the sternum towards the armpit.

Here's how I do the self-pressure massage, on ribs from sternum to under arms:

Lie on the side that is painful, with head and neck properly supported by pillows.
Start with a point near the sternum, aka breastbone. Push to apply pressure with the thumb of the hand that is nearest to the floor.
Using the hand of the arm that is nearest the floor allows you to roll towards the floor with your torso, and use the weight of the body to dig in to the muscle easier.
Use the other hand to stabilize the lower wrist if the lower hand is weak.
Hold this "dug-in thumb"  position for about five seconds then release, then rest for about 15 seconds.
Lather, rinse, repeat!
Move up to a higher rib or down to a lower rib, and start the process again. Begin near the sternum, working your way towards the armpit or side.Make sure you rest for longer periods then you push, in order to let the blood circulation return fully both to your hands and your pectoral muscles.

Observe your neck and jaw to make sure you do not tighten them as you work to loosen other muscles! Experiment to see if inhaling or exhaling at certain points allows you to dig in easier, or to relax the muscles more.