Question
I am a 17 year old high school senior. I workout everyday and was
recently working out my chest a lot. I decided to wrestle with my friends
one day and right after I finished wrestling, the center of my chest hurt
really bad, right in between the pectorals. So I went to the hospital
because I could barely stand the pain it took to just inhale. When I
got to the hospital the took X-rays of my chest and came up with nothing
except that it could possibly be a chest sprain. I knew that was not
possible because when I felt my muscles, they felt no pain or irritation
and there was no trauma to them or inflammation. So they sent me home
with a mild prescription pain reliever, which didn't even take the edge
off. I went to my regular doctor and she said that it was maybe a
hairline fracture in my sternum that they could not see on the X-ray. She
gave my Vicodin and an anti-inflammatory. I have been out of school for 5
days, and the pain has just recently gotten to a tolerable rate.
anyway I guess my real question in all this is, 1) Do I really have a
hairline fracture, 2) When can I start to lift again without causing a more
serious or permanent injury?
Thanks, Anthony  

Answer
Anthony,

If you still have a lot of pain and it is not alleviating, then you should consider having a chest CT (computed tomograpy) scan.  This will show any small crack in your sternum or rib.  You also could get a simple bone scan.  This is s very sensitive test that would show a "hot spot" on any bone that is cracked or has a problem.   If your pain is lessening, then you probably don't have any serious internal organ problems.  You probably did crack your sternum and this is not something that will show up on a simple xray.    If you're healing and your pain is improving, then just continue on that course and you should be able to resume your activities.  Pain will be your guide as to what you can and cannot do.  There is no need to worry about serious or permanent injury because you don't know if you have anyting serious at this point in time.   If your sternal pain alleviates and you can lift weights without problems, then great.   If you find that you continue to get chest pain during weight training, then you must stop and consider the CT scan.    In the mean time, be sure to take extra nutritional supplements and protein in your diet, and look forward to continued healing.  

Hope this helps,

Dr. G