My last article told the story of how I dislocated my ribs. This one continues to the cure. 
It just wasn’t getting completely better so I ended up going to Janet McClain who is an excellent massage therapist in Southgate, Michigan. She “surrounded the dragon” (the painful rib area) using finger pressure to relax tender muscles.
The dislocated ribs were mid-chest. Janet pressed into the muscles in the upper ribs near my collar bones. She also released (relaxed) the muscles on the sides of my back and spine.
I just could not let her press into the painful rib joint at my breastbone. I just couldn’t.
And when she gently lifted my head forward a little to work on my neck, oh! That hurt in my mid-chest!
When I left her office I felt pretty good but still it wasn’t “fixed.”
That night in bed, I lifted my head a bit to adjust my pillow under my neck and OH! It hurt in my mid-chest! A LOT! And the rib on the left flipped hard and popped back into place. The next day the painful joint at the breastbone was gone.
Since I dislocated my ribs, I did some research. Ribs can dislocate either at the spine or the breastbone. They can be manipulated back into place by osteopaths, physiotherapists or chiropractors manually (by hand pressure.) And I’ll bet that’s pretty uncomfortable.
But having a skilled massage therapist release all of the muscles that might be involved in the injury was the ticket to my recovery. Releasing those muscles allowed the rib to shift back into its correct location.
I’m really biased about the value of therapeutic massage anyway and this was just one more reason for me to remain a believer.
Whichever route you take to get your ribs back into place there is one thing I want you to know: Your dislocated ribs can heal.
You have a smart body. It just needs a little help right now.
Tags: dislocated ribs, Janet McClain massage, Kathryn Merrow, massage dislocated ribs, southgate michigan massage therapist
