Sternum pain during/after dips?

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pietran30

New Member
It seems whenever i do dips, i feel like a pain in the middle of my chest like right where the bone is. It's hard to explain but right after i do them it hurts for a little and then goes away so usually i just push through. However, after doing a chest and tricep workout yesterday, my sternum is sore along with my chest. A friend of mine had the same problem as i did. It may also be important to note that i lean forward when doing dips to put more emphasis on the chest.

So ne1 else having similar problems?
 
I also do dips leaning forward but I don't get sternum pain. I do get sore in the collarbone but instead of feeling the pain near the shoulder it is closer to the middle of the body (towards neck).
 
How long have you been doing dips?

Since the sternum is an attachment point for the pecs it makes sense that you could have pain there if something is wrong.

Three possibilities come to mind depending on how long you have been doing them.

1) You aren't use to doing them (if you haven't been doing them for very long)
2) You are doing them too frequently (if you have been doing them for a long time)
3) You are stretching to far when doing them (going to low)

Obviously there could be other reasons for the pain but these three came to mind right away.
 
Like bulldog, I wonder how long you've been doing dips. When I first started with them, I would get pain in the sternum and along the collarbone when I went heavy. Eventually the pain went away. I still get some discomfort in the collarbone area when going for maximal attempts, which isn't often.
So... are you fairly new to dips?
 
I got pain in my sternum when I was going too heavy on the dips, but since then I have tried to build up some general strength in my pecs while avoiding dips primarily for pecs (I have done dips for triceps - a more vertical dip). The main exercise I've done is flat bench and on occasion a few flyes. Yesterday, 4-5 months since my last painful experience, I tried the forward-lean dips at my heaviest 5s (I did warm up before) to check if the pain would re-emerge and ...there was no pain whatsoever! It probably is as Tot and Bulldog said. The insertion points for the tendons at the sternum must be up to par for the strains dips produce (neither by overuse strain nor unaccustomed to heavy strain by too much stretch or too early since you started doing weight training).
 
I guess it could be a bit like shin splints that runners often get - microscopic fibular stress fractures and/or myotendinous junction strain in some of the calf muscles. Unless they stop running for a while it doesn't get better.

My sternum and along my clavicles used to get pretty sore during and after a heavy dip session (it used to feel like I might tear in half at any moment!) but they have now toughened up. If you are getting consistent pain then pushing the 5s for too long can prevent healing.

I have always found that some higher rep dip work is quite a good way to get some good blood flow to the area without worsening the situation. Instead of heavy stuff I just did one or two sets of as many body weight reps as I could. Seemed to help me. If high rep stuff still hurts I would drop dips for a while and then ease back in more gradually to allow the tendons and insertions time to strengthen.
 
i get some discomfort in the collar bone, and occasionally in the sternum. near the solar plexus there is a peice of cartlidge that can be strained or even detached/torn(in servere cases) if too much torque is applied and it can be quite painful for a while.
 
<div>
(faz @ May 15 2008,10:33)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">the biggest problem with dips is most dip to far down.</div>
Yup. I was letting my upper arms go well past parallel. Lucky for me my pussy assist dip station has a reflective panel. Since I've noticed it, I've been able to watch my reflection and keep myself from going too deep (now the dips seem much easier to do...!  
wink.gif
  ).
 
yea it's funny because after i made this thread, i was at work (which happens to be a gym) and i asked the same question to the head trainer who unlike many trainers, is very informative. He said the samething many of you said which is that i was going too low. He had me do them and pointed out that i was going too low. after adjusting i feel much better so thanx for the replies guys.
 
I dip very low without pain, but I probably should cool it. I wonder if there's anyone who's decided on a measurement on the bodyparts to know if you're low enough? I would tend to think that it's individual-specific, but I stop at the stretch reflex.
 
pietran30, I'm glad you figured out what was causing the pain before it got any worse.

Quad, please keep in mind that with your shoulder issues, going real low on dips may be causing problems even if you aren't feeling pain during the dips. The extra (possibly unnecessary) range of motion in the dips could be contributing to your should issues. I would recommend stopping when you upper arms are parallel to the ground for at least a month or so and see if your shoulder problem gets any better.
 
Thanx Bull. I'm not sure about that though, because I quit dips for a good while and just tested myself with 125x...I forget, 5 or 7 reps...and was okay. BUT...I HAVE been doing too much heavy benching and losing strength in it. That would be keeping my shoulder in the hurt locker. You got me thinking here, and I have re-incorporated dips as my alternate &quot;break&quot; exersize, aka my new 2/1 balance idea we're discussing.
I was very surprised to do that weight after not training with them for so long; the bench kept up the strengths.
 
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