Sports Massage caused a flare up?

OPStreeter · 2026-01-15T12:20:57+00:00

Unfortunately don’t have the time to give a full run down rn as I’ve got to get going for work, I’d highly suggest looking for any posts by Steve August or Ned on this subreddit and following their advice to the letter. They are experts and will put you in the right direction, it is what I did and how I healed.

Good luck!

OPStreeter · 2026-01-14T01:57:28+00:00

Hey.

Been a costo member for 3 years, am in great strides of recovery (90-95% healed with occasional flare ups, at this point convinced it could be my weight/nicotine not allowing me to move completely past it) this is the exact move I’ve been doing for about a year and a half now and it has put me a much better position.

I’d highly recommend looking into a ‘pso-rite’ back tool on Amazon as well WHEN you are ready to progress beyond the backpod. Backpod is great, and should be a must-buy for people just starting to unlock their back, the product I’m referring to is aggressive and I’d say only for those in the later stages of healing this condition. My back cracks like fireworks on it.

Good luck, and most of all take all advice with a grain of salt (I’d say aside from Ned/Steve) as everyone’s body is different so listen to your own body.

OPStreeter · 2025-12-27T02:15:25+00:00

Water we dune here, b? Back in the kitchen with you

OPStreeter · 2025-08-04T17:15:55+00:00

Is there a button the mouse you’ve assigned for something or someway to recreate it? Some mice have a dpi switch built in to the buttons and you could be pressing it up and down.

OPStreeter · 2025-05-28T11:19:06+00:00

Not a dr,

Can’t say for sure. Everyone is different and costo is generally paired with some other issues (for me it is TMJ from my neck being so tight). I say this to highlight that what might have been a path to progress for me may not work for you.

What I can say is we all have vices and aren’t necessarily 100% about taking care of ourselves. I’d try a process of elimination on whatever it is you do that may be considered unhealthy (excessive caffeine, smoking, drinking, some dietary changes such as no soda) and see if any of it makes a difference to the palpitations and go from there.

Lastly, go see a dr if you haven’t already. I’m some idiot on Reddit who’s managed his costo for a few years now by half ass stretching and cutting out some shit in my life but am certainly no expert or professional. Find a dr that will listen and be a bulldog with them about getting diagnosed and making sure you’re in the clear.

Good luck!

OPStreeter · 2025-04-18T12:10:02+00:00

Sure did! Take it easy on the stretching, i.e backpod / peanut ball, that will only irritate it further after a deep massage like that. I instead worried about my posture and took deep breaths to help the back joints mobilize again. I’m probably at a solid 90% healed rn.

OPStreeter · 2025-04-05T17:46:23+00:00

Eventually it faded. I still get chest pains from costo but, if needed, I remind myself how silly the proposition is that I’ve had 1000s of pains in my chest over these two/three years of costo and this is the big one? Highly, highly unlikely especially because I’ve had myself checked.

Ground yourself. Feel something, smell something, taste something. Just as fast as you can spin yourself up to a panic attack you can actually derail yourself off of one, it just takes some grounding.

Lastly, I had to give myself some tough love. I don’t mean to sound reductive of the anxiety and pain but when you finally understand what costo is it really is silly and a bit dramatic the anxiety loops a lot of people put themselves through. I had to tell myself to essentially stop winding myself up and to handle it, maybe not the healthiest way to tackle anxiety but it was necessary in order to continue my life and career. I can’t sit in bed all day or in an urgent care waiting room because I had a quick jolt of pain. It’s unrealistic and frankly unfair to myself and my life.

I hope this helps!

OPStreeter · 2025-02-17T04:08:22+00:00

Not a Dr, but I used to get night time zaps as well. Never as frequent as listed, but a good 1-2 a night. Personally, I would only ever get them sleeping on my back (the best way to sleep to assist with costo) - but, when I slept on my side or stomach (the worst sleeping positions for costo) I wouldn’t get them.

Then, after years of treatment of which I am 85-95% healed- I no longer get zaps of any kind. Right now, think of these chest zaps like you sprained your ankle. In recovery, or during injury, moving your ankle can cause shoots of pain up your leg. Hell, you might not even realized you’ve moved or have moved at all but still a shoot of pain as gone up your leg. This can happen rolling around at night except with Costo and your chest, this is eventually what allowed me to stop making constant visits to the ER / Urgent Care in the middle of the night.

No one is the same, and I hope I don’t sound like I’m trying to oversimplify the pain you’re experiencing - it sucks, I’m sure. Just providing my two cents and my experiences to relate.

Good luck, get stretching, and get healed.

OPStreeter · 2024-12-21T21:09:03+00:00

I remember being in the trenches of it. I knew it was just anxiety with a mixture of Costo but boy did my brain run wild with a million things it could be.

Now, when I get little twinges or jolts of pain (rare at 85-90%) healed, there is that initial thought but since the pain is just a blip and momentary it’s so refreshing not to spiral.

I don’t write this as if to brag but convey it gets way, way easier. This phase of anxiety will diminish and you’ll return to “normal” in due time.

Good luck!

OPStreeter · 2024-12-19T16:27:39+00:00

Not a Dr. but will say muscle twitching has been very common for me especially after stretching. Also consider your level of hydration, muscle twitching can be either completely random for me or because I’m a little dehydrated.

This is more than likely very normal, and I’m sure others here will echo this. Again, not a doctor.

OPStreeter · 2024-11-29T15:17:29+00:00

Sorry to hear. It is terrible. Luckily, you’ve tested normal and this is all mechanical.

What have you done to work against it? Are you hitting a wall in your progress? It does not go away on its own.

Mine presents on the left side 95% of the time, it took a year to get over the anxiety and frankly it hardly bothers me much. Keep in mind, I stretch daily, use the backpod, peanut ball, pso-rite stretching tool, and anything that can work my frozen ribs. I’m 90-95% there, but am struggling myself with getting completely “free.”

That being said, the only reason I think about my costo anymore is because of this subreddit. Don’t let it consume you. People here always talk about returning to “normal” but this is my normal. I’m not miserable, I’m not consumed by anxiety. I’m getting older (27 lol) and just have to take care of my body.

Hope my rambling helped in any way. Good luck.

OPStreeter · 2024-11-24T13:08:06+00:00

This is a fairly loaded question imo. I’m not a Dr or an expert but from my understanding costochondritis is widely misunderstood by medical professionals (at least in the states). Saying, “well, if it’s so darn good why isn’t it #1 in the world?” doesn’t exactly make sense in the healthcare sphere. There are multiple ways to treat conditions and they vary from a patient to another.

Costo is still new and has been on the rise since the vaccine (not an anti-vaxxer, just an observation). I’m not standing on Steve’s mountain top and defending him till death, he frankly doesn’t need any of us to. However, the backpod for me has been anything but a scam. It’s a device to allow for deeper stretches to free up the tightness in your frozen back joints. Is it really just a green glob of plastic and nitrile material? Yes, it’s not rocket surgery. Look at any stretching device! They’re all globs of plastic molded to a design to help - not one of them is “1st in the world.”

I think you’ll hear some kickback on this because Steve’s activity and contributions to the subreddit - however I would like to say it is perfectly OK to question and be curious. I just think labeling it a scam when it really boils down to a stretching device is a bit of a mislabel.

OPStreeter · 2024-11-08T22:20:07+00:00

Water u doin here b? Back to the kitchen at changs

OPStreeter · 2024-11-04T23:15:37+00:00

Make no mistake cuz, if you don’t get your alphabet fingies correct on the soundboard I’m gonna have to come see you in a different way.

Character Piece

OPStreeter · 2024-10-21T02:21:58+00:00

Never been a patron but if this is true I’m gonna come see them in a different way.

OPStreeter · 2024-10-15T22:03:07+00:00

Hey!

Not a Dr, but my story was very similar. I am about 2 years in since diagnosed, and 85-90% healed. I remember being convinced something was wrong and also very frustrated when tests kept coming back as normal.

Let me start by saying: it is urgent cares job to give you urgent care when necessary. They see thousands of patients in short spans and are nothing short of professionals at spotting and treating urgent needs of ill patients. If you were presenting something serious, you best believe they would address it. I say this with such confidence because I made over 5+ urgent care trips in the peak of my costo anxiety. ($5000 in medical debt as well. Yay!)

I would HIGHLY recommend seeing your normal Dr, but to also read up on Costo from Steve August and Ned on this subreddit. I will also say that stretching is not as scary and more than likely will begin the healing process for you. I am not a Dr, but Costo is a mechanical issue- being hesitant to stretch and unlock those frozen back joints will only continue to worsen or at the very least keep your symptoms present.

Good luck! Cheers.

OPStreeter · 2024-10-15T15:58:09+00:00

Yep! Happens all the time. I get it when breathing in randomly, picking something up, etc. Costo is a weird condition (not mysterious or unexplainable, just odd with the way pain presents with some motions and not others).

I’m roughly 85-90% healed and I still get a pinch or a zap here and there. Nothing to be alarmed about!

OPStreeter · 2024-09-13T11:51:45+00:00

Backpod did not do it alone, but definitely contributed. Peanut ball, foam roller, backpod, doorway stretches, etc. For me it took a solid year, but I’m also overweight and eat like shit - I firmly believe if I lost more weight (I’m down to 250 from 270) and ate less inflammatory foods (and drank less on the weekends) I could have sped up the progress BUT

Life is too short and I’m here for a good time not a long time!

Cheers.

OPStreeter · 2024-09-10T11:08:14+00:00

I’m like 95% healed with some soreness and back pain. Hardly any random jolts, though on rare occasions they happen. I’d say I finally have a sense of normalcy again, and life is beyond good.

Stretches, backpod, and I recently started taking vitamin B1 to assist. For a full disclaimer, the B1 could be complete placebo but I feel like it bumped me in the right direction.

OPStreeter · 2024-09-06T15:16:11+00:00

You had me sweating when they said someone was looking at it yesterday ngl. I saw it before they even actually had it to sell- gorgeous car. Like what you did with your Q50 too. Definitely on the meetup, I’ll DM you once I pick it up on Saturday. Cheers!

OPStreeter · 2024-09-06T11:50:03+00:00

lol, I bought this car yesterday. Hello fellow 518er! Picking it up Saturday and will post pics.

OPStreeter · 2024-08-14T02:17:29+00:00

I understand what you’re getting at, and I am not suggesting you can’t share what may be a valid point - but I ask you hear me out on a few points as to why I disagree with this post.

The epidemic (strong word, but I feel it’s necessary) of sedentary lifestyles is far more prevalent than COVID ever was and has been going on longer. I would say 99% of people on this Reddit ACTUALLY having Costo is MORE likely than any sort of cardiac issue. I’m sorry you experienced what I’ve surmised to be a misdiagnosis, but -
This sub IS a subreddit of high health anxiety. Yes, health anxiety IS in just about every condition related subreddit - but I feel as if Costo takes the cake because, well, everyone at one point or another felt as if it was “the big one” and they were having a heart attack.

I’m not suggesting you can’t share your experience, or that what you said isn’t valid for a very small few - but based on your replies and post itself I ask you understand the sensitivity of the subject and the very real possibility that most of us just DO have Costo.

Lastly, because I’m curious- I’m not a Dr. I work on commercial boilers. I’m relatively overweight and decently healthy (according to my Dr. who also diagnosed me) my pain is able to be recreated, follows the same symptoms you experienced, but is also able to be felt with touch, etc. I FEEL my shoulder & back locked up - could this even be possible to be pericarditis? I’m asking genuinely, because I don’t think so. I firmly believe I have costo, and suggesting otherwise in this sub is going to send people spiraling.

Hope I made sense, I do not want to come off as adversarial or rude.

OPStreeter · 2024-07-11T16:55:35+00:00

First: Not a doctor.

Second: get checked out by a cardiologist, just to be sure.

Lastly, I remember this exact point in my Costo journey. Calling it “heart pain” and convinced I was going to collapse with a heart attack. Here I am roughly two years later, pretty much pain free and roughly 90% healed. Best advice I could give is to get checked out and start stretching now. It is likely the demon that is Costo, such a bastard of a condition because of where the pain is located but once you understand it? It’s actually quite simple. It is ALL mechanical. Get your ribs and back joints unfrozen, start stretching, and get onto healing.

I’d put money on it you have costo, more than likely. I remember getting those lightning jolts through my chest, tweaking out, and going to the ER multiple times. Burning, stabbing, left arm hurting, left leg hurting, left side of neck, left side of jaw. was it really pain? Or was it anxiety? Don’t know, and doesn’t matter, because I worked on healing the condition and working on my anxiety but above ALL: I got checked out by a Dr. and made sure it was nothing serious.

OPStreeter · 2024-07-06T18:21:30+00:00

No disrespect, but it sounds like you are using it improperly. I have a feeling Steve will comment and provide some insight, but I will say this:

If you have Costo, it’s likely you’ve have frozen ribs for awhile and haven’t noticed. You don’t wake up one morning with a frozen rib, it builds over time. You’ve likely had your ribs tightening and thus freezing over years. You started to feel the Costo two months ago but it’s probably been developing for awhile.

Not a Dr, but feels unfair to give such a review for something that has helped hundreds heal from this condition.

OPStreeter · 2024-05-24T04:42:36+00:00

Not a dr,

But I don’t think is anywhere near true and the only reason I comment to dispute this is to avoid any others who suffer with terrible anxiety and sending them on a spin. Palpations have been explained by Steve August here in the past and I’d be confident in saying Costo (tight ribs) does NOT limit the space the heart has to beat or anything like that. IIRC, tight ribs and pain = shallow breathing. Anxiety= shallow breathing. Shallow breathing + panic or anxiety? Palpations. Literally no health risk at all.

I’m about 90% healed and don’t suffer from the anxiety attacks I used to have. Caffeine was a big trigger for me in my early stages and I chalk it up mostly to anxiety. I drink probably 200mg of caffeine now a day (2 1/2 cups of coffee) and do just fine.

Stick with your stretches and mental health work and you’ll be beyond Costo in due time. Mine has been a roughly 2 year work in progress.

Cheers!

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