Expert: Dr. Paul Newhart - 1/7/2008

Question
 I was redoing my floors a month ago, on my hands and knees srapping and laying tile.  Immediatlty after my chest felt very tight, like someone was squeezing me from behind.  Anyways I have had xray, bloodwork, ekg and a stress test.  Besides a heart murmor from birth everything looks good.  The pain was in my sternum, it felt bruised to the touch.  Now it is localized pain on my left side, and when I move my neck down and to the right it intensifys.  
  I have taken 4 different anti inflammitory meds, with no help.  It feels like my chest needs to be cracked if that makes sense.  Can lower back or neck misalignment cause such pain?  I am getting very annoyed with the pain, and the doctors just give you things to try and mask the pain.  What do you think?

Answer
First, let me apologize for my tardiness in answering; I was on vacation and forgot to set an away message.  It is quite possible that you have strained the muscles in the chest and midback, and possibly have a misalignment; this would lead to the "needing to be cracked" feeling.  You may want to have a chiropractor check things out and hopefully "straighten" you out.