Expert: Dr. Paul Newhart - 7/18/2008

Question
In June of last summer (2007), I had been weight training and doing lots of various exercises (push-ups, muscle-ups, etc.). Back then, I had been training a lot, and I believe that I over-worked my chest muscles. One day, during my training I felt a pain in my chest, not inside my chest, but in the muscle in between both pectorals. I could not train anymore and had to stop my workout.

It has hurt ever since and it goes away when I rest, but comes back when I do push-ups and such.

I think the pain is in my manubrium sternum. It hurts to push on it, and it hurts to flex my chest, stretch my chest, and to use my chest muscles at all.  

Answer
It is possible that you have a fairly good strain in the muscles.  A strain, depending on severity, can involve tearing of muscle fibers.  It is also possible that some of the muscle fibers pulled from the sternum (avulsion type fracture).  A good chiropractor could also assess for rib misalignment causing the pain, and should be able to refer you for proper treatment if out of the scope of chiropractic practice.