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Have Chest Pain? 3 Steps For Relief! Heart Costo Or Muscular Causes
- chelsie462
- 2 hours ago
- 11 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in November 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/dvysGbaM_Sk
Brad: We're going to talk about chest pain. We're going to talk about how you need to know the cause of the chest pain so that you can deal with it properly. You can live your life comfortably and with peace of mind.
Mike: So we're going to go through three different steps. And all these should cover the majority of chest pain that people are experiencing.
Brad: Right, now, I've had chest pain; I went in three times for it, and we're going to talk about my experience. And the third step has been very helpful, particularly in my life. We'll cover that in detail. I'm sure it's going to help other people as well. Okay, now I do want to talk about my experience with chest pain when I was 50 years old. The first time I experienced it at midnight, I woke up with chest pain, a little short of breath, and wasn't sure what to do. I went to the ER, and overnight, they examined me. "Your heart is completely fine." Two more times since then. Same thing. Chest pain. I didn't want to go in. My wife says, "You're going in." They each time said, "My heart is healthy." As a matter of fact, the third time they said, "Your heart is healthier than most people working there." That made me feel better. But I continued to have chest pain. Something that is not very fun because you really don't know for sure. So, they said it was musculoskeletal pain, and I thought musculoskeletal, that's, I'm a physical therapist. I should be able to figure this out. So I did research, and I did find out. And what we are going to do is, before you go into that, step number two, we have to go to step number one. If you're having chest pain, you absolutely must...
Mike: Go see your cardiologist, or go to the urgent care or emergency room to get it checked out. You want to make sure it is not your heart first and foremost, because that can be deadly, as we know.
Brad: Yes. And you don't have to worry about steps two and three. So you're going to find out, if you call up your doctor and say, "I'm having chest pain, can you get me in as quickly as possible?" Almost certainly, they're going to say, "No, you need to go to the ER right now." Just know that's going to happen, and go get it out of the way because it could be a heart problem, and it could easily save your life. So we cannot emphasize that enough.
Mike: So we want to mention that 50% of ER visits with chest pain are not heart-related. So that's the good news. Commonly, this can be caused by GERD, which is a reflux disorder or disease that people have. I actually had this in my twenties. It's not very fun.
Brad: Right, right.
Mike: It kind of goes in your stomach, they put you on some medication for it, typically goes away. But there are also musculoskeletal conditions called costochondritis.
Brad: Right. Now I've done this all three times. That's what they told me. Musculoskeletal disorder. But they didn't tell me what to do about it. And I really don't know if they knew, because it's not something that's widespread. But we did find a person who was an expert in it. He lives in New Zealand, and we're going to actually take a trip through memory lane. Bob and I did an excellent video, not only explaining why you get chest pain, but also how to treat it through Steve August's recommendation. Are you ready to go back with the memory label?
Mike: Oh, I can feel the GERD kicking in.
Brad: It's like Dr. Who! As a matter of fact, the stretching, I think, kind of irritated it.
Bob: It could irritate it. Yes.
Brad: Finally, I found a therapist from New Zealand, Steve August, and he has a very thorough video on it. 15 minutes long. If you're not a therapist, it gets a little boring because he goes through details about how the problem is back here.
Bob: Yeah.
Brad: And it's like, I didn't buy it at first. That doesn't make any sense.
Bob: I thought it made sense to me right away.
Brad: Well, of course, but I'm not that bright, and I kind of did, but I'm always skeptical. Sure. You know me, Bob. I never take anything at face value until I prove it.
Bob: Makes you a good therapist.
Brad: Yep. I guess so. I don't know. But anyway, so I started his treatment.
Bob: So basically, what he's saying, it's tight in the back. It's almost adhered down.
Brad: Right.
Bob: And if it's tight back there, the movement of the rib cage has to come from somewhere. So it gets hypermobile in the chest.
Brad: Right.
Bob: So by loosening this, you don't put as much stress on the front.
Brad: Right.
Bob: Basically.
Brad: He talks about the rib being like a handle on a bucket.
Bob: Right. Going up like this.
Brad: Move up and down, up and down. And there should be a hinge on each side. If the hinge gets a little rusty, you know, analogy on one side, we need to break it up and get those loose again. So I'm a believer now. Here's the whole treatment. This is what you've been waiting for. You've been putting up with this babble for seven minutes. So here's how we both, Bob and I, actually use it the same way. I'm doing it for my costochondritis. Bob likes it for his posture as well as his muscles in his back. It's a good way to get him loose. So I'm going to put the Backpod on the floor. This is my right side. This is where I always develop chest pain. And I work this side a little more. And I go on there like this. And this is what Steve, the therapist who invented this, you know, I did this on a video once, and he emailed me the next day or a few days later, he said, "You forgot to do your arms up and back like this."
Bob: Yes, exactly.
Brad: So, I started to do that. A warning, if you've never used this before, or if you're using the softball, take a towel like this and unfold it, whatever, layer it up, and then put that over.
Bob: And also, you may have a pillow under your head.
Brad: Yep, and a pillow. Exactly. You may really have to blunt it first to start off with. Especially if you're a thinner person.
Bob: Yeah.
Brad: It'll feel a little aggressive. I've been using it for quite a while, and I'd say that after a couple of weeks of using this, I welcome it without anything.
Bob: Right. But you did start with something, right?
Brad: Oh yeah. I used a towel.
Bob: I remember you telling me. It was hard on you.
Brad: I just had a cavitation there. It'll make your joints pop a little bit and crack.
Bob: This is the first thing I do in the morning. I do it actually while I'm doing hamstring stretches.
Brad: You mean like right out of bed? You get into bed?
Bob: I get out of bed. I'm serious, and I go to the bathroom. I get up, I go to the bathroom, I start stretching, and I put this thing behind my back, and I hit the six spots.
Brad: Yep.
Bob: And I used to have to, like, right before I did a run, I'd have to stretch my back out some more.
Brad: Sure.
Bob: But this does it for me. This is, and as I said, this has taken away the pain between my shoulder blades. So, the thing I like about this Brad, too, is that it comes with a booklet.
Brad: Oh yes.
Bob: And we did, what was it, 30 pages?
Brad: 31.
Bob: 31 pages. And it's really well written. I mean, it goes over the posture things. It goes over a lot of things. You can use this for the costochondritis. That book is worth $10 to me, Brad. It gives a good explanation. Are you having fun?
Brad: I'm done.
Bob: I just wanted to show how fast it is. I also treat my SI with it. It feels good. And he has a page in there describing it.
Bob: I have not seen that... I think you mentioned it one time before on one of our videos.
Brad: Bob, our viewers are starting to get bored. The main thing is done. We showed how to use the back pad.
Bob: You got the alternatives. You can try other things if you don't want to pay or spend the money. But remember, Brad and I could fix just about anything.
Brad: Except for...
Bob: A broken heart.
Brad: There we go.
Bob: We'll get that fixed, too, someday.
Mike: We are now back from the past/future, whichever direction we moved in, and the back pod came with us, I guess.
Brad: Yeah, here we go. It made it through the vortex. But it is a really nice device. I still use it on a regular basis. Now, one thing that can happen, you can have costochondritis, treat it successfully, but if you forget to do it or you go on vacation, you may get that chest pain again. And it is not very fun. Speaking from personal experience, it makes a person very nervous. And it's not a fun way to live when you have chest pain, and you're wondering, "I'm thinking it's probably costochondritis, but I'm old." Older, I'm older. My father had heart problems. My uncles have died from heart attacks, two of them. It's in the gene pool! I don't want to have a heart problem, and I need some objective information other than just someone saying costochondritis. So I talked to my doctor. What can I do objectively to find out the condition of my heart? And the discussion came up with doing a CAT scan for a calcium score. Now this is something. If you want to have this done because you have costochondritis, continuing chest pain, you must go see your doctor or your cardiologist, have a discussion, and say, "Brad, on Bob and Brad said I could do a calcium test score." Anyway, the doctor will know exactly what you're talking about. They know the scores...
Mike: They know Bob and Brad.
Brad: Yeah, we'll see what happens with that. But anyways, a serious discussion and they'll let you know, my doctor said, "I agree 100%, you should take this." And he personally was actually going to take one for himself. What it is, you go through a CAT scan, it takes about five minutes at the most. They scan your chest, and it actually looks for plaque buildup in the coronary arteries. And not only does it look at the coronary arteries, but it also lists which arteries, and it gives a number of how much plaque buildup is in there. The score goes from zero to over 400. Zero is the best score. If you have a CT-CAT scan of your chest and your calcium score is zero, the risk of you having a heart problem, a heart attack, is very low. And they go from zero to 10, 11 to 100, 101 to 400. One to 10, you have a very low risk of cardiac disease. Luckily, my numbers fall at 9.77. So I'm in that very low risk. Mike, 11 to 100. Can you help me out? Because I don't want to talk all the time.
Mike: I'm enjoying this. 11 to 100 means you have mild plaque buildup. So cardio disease is unlikely to cause a heart attack. 100 to 400, you have more of a moderate plaque buildup. So you want to get checked out because you're more likely to develop heart disease. Obviously, if you're in the 101, it's less likely compared to 400. And if you're at 400, you need to go see a cardiologist now because you're probably due for a heart attack, unfortunately.
Brad: Yeah. So, what you want to do, you'll take the test. The test will be read by the radiologist, then it goes to your doctor, and they'll contact you, and you'll have a complete, detailed discussion of your score. Now I'm happy with my score, but even more, in five to 10 years, whatever it may be, if I start to have more chest pain, I can go back, do the same test, and see how my numbers have increased. And not only that, but what location, what coronary artery is more increased, and it's going to be very helpful for my doctor, the cardiologist, or whoever's dealing with it. They have that history. Big, big help. I feel much better just talking about it right now, knowing that I did this.
Mike: That's good.
Brad: And maybe you should do that.
Mike: Maybe I'm not your age yet.
Brad: How is your dad? Do you have heart attacks in your family history?
Mike: One side of my family, yes. But my other side of my family, no.
Brad: Is it on the male side? Because that's a little more prevalent.
Mike: Female side. Well, I lost my hair from the female side too, so that's no fun.
Brad: Yeah, really, family history is probably one of your biggest determinants of whether you have risk for heart problems. That's why I was concerned.
Mike: If you want to check out the full video on Costochondritis, you can watch "Best Costochondritis Self-Treatment, No Meds. STOP Alarming Chest Pain!" if you're sure that's what you have. It's a good informative video.
Brad: Right. Steve August is the guy. If you just search Steve August, physical therapist, he has excellent videos explaining it himself.
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