Yep-bicupid-also
Member
Greetings,
I had my bicuspid aortic valve replaced with an On-X mechanical valve on Aug. 29th. I was recovering like a rockstar for the first 1.5 weeks (with very little pain), but then, I caught the common cold. It was not a bad cold, just 3 – 4 days of coughing & sneezing. Well, this sent my rib cage, sternum and mid-back into a protective lock-down. My body basically over reacted, and it was rather painful to inhale & exhale for the next 2 weeks. I looked on line to try to find answers because my surgeon didn’t have any answers other than, take some muscle relaxers (that didn’t help much). Online I found a New Zealand physical therapist, Steve August, that had lots of experience & solutions for this condition. He had Costochondritis for 7yrs and was a PT, so he was educated & motivated to do something about it. As a result, he developed a product called the Backpod that you lay on to help address/release the cause of the sternum pain. In addition, he has advice on self-care (exercises, breathing techniques & stretches), massage therapy/physical therapy to help people get better. or Backpod helps Costochondritis and Tietze’s Syndrome | Bodystance
It’s important to note that there are many reasons why people get sternum pain and one of them is through open heart surgery (OHS). When the sternum is split open, it transfers a lot of stress through the ribs into the connections to the spine. After the sternum is wired back together, the insult to the rib end connections can show itself. Also, OHS patients need to let their sternum & incision heal enough before doing most of the self-care and physical therapy, but careful deep tissue massage therapy on your back and ribs is something you can do while the sternum & incision are healing. My rib & sternum has felt better after a back/rib massage in the last few weeks.
Two weeks after my cold, my mid-back and ribs started calming down and I could tell that I was left with a large amount of discomfort of the soft tissue between my sternum & ribs. I purchased the Backpod and things started to loosen up more. Using the Backpod was good at home self-care in between the weekly deep tissue massages. Unfortunately, I am having some complications with my incision healing, so I need to take a break from using the Backpod, but I feel Steve has some good things to share. If you have sternum pain after OHS, you might find some benefit from looking at his youtube videos and reviewing his web site. I live in Florida (USA) and have no affiliation with Steve or his business, but I just wanted to share this with the group because it sucks to be in pain and hopefully it can help other people.
Take care valve replacement extended family!
-Kevin
I had my bicuspid aortic valve replaced with an On-X mechanical valve on Aug. 29th. I was recovering like a rockstar for the first 1.5 weeks (with very little pain), but then, I caught the common cold. It was not a bad cold, just 3 – 4 days of coughing & sneezing. Well, this sent my rib cage, sternum and mid-back into a protective lock-down. My body basically over reacted, and it was rather painful to inhale & exhale for the next 2 weeks. I looked on line to try to find answers because my surgeon didn’t have any answers other than, take some muscle relaxers (that didn’t help much). Online I found a New Zealand physical therapist, Steve August, that had lots of experience & solutions for this condition. He had Costochondritis for 7yrs and was a PT, so he was educated & motivated to do something about it. As a result, he developed a product called the Backpod that you lay on to help address/release the cause of the sternum pain. In addition, he has advice on self-care (exercises, breathing techniques & stretches), massage therapy/physical therapy to help people get better. or Backpod helps Costochondritis and Tietze’s Syndrome | Bodystance
It’s important to note that there are many reasons why people get sternum pain and one of them is through open heart surgery (OHS). When the sternum is split open, it transfers a lot of stress through the ribs into the connections to the spine. After the sternum is wired back together, the insult to the rib end connections can show itself. Also, OHS patients need to let their sternum & incision heal enough before doing most of the self-care and physical therapy, but careful deep tissue massage therapy on your back and ribs is something you can do while the sternum & incision are healing. My rib & sternum has felt better after a back/rib massage in the last few weeks.
Two weeks after my cold, my mid-back and ribs started calming down and I could tell that I was left with a large amount of discomfort of the soft tissue between my sternum & ribs. I purchased the Backpod and things started to loosen up more. Using the Backpod was good at home self-care in between the weekly deep tissue massages. Unfortunately, I am having some complications with my incision healing, so I need to take a break from using the Backpod, but I feel Steve has some good things to share. If you have sternum pain after OHS, you might find some benefit from looking at his youtube videos and reviewing his web site. I live in Florida (USA) and have no affiliation with Steve or his business, but I just wanted to share this with the group because it sucks to be in pain and hopefully it can help other people.
Take care valve replacement extended family!
-Kevin
