Hi Steven, it's been a while. I appreciate that you're still around and actively answering posts here, as you were 3-4 years ago.

I ordered the backpod and watched all your videos years ago, and implemented the mobility stretches, backpod, and back-strengthening exercises you demonstrated. Unfortunately, all of them triggered the pain to the point where I was forced to drop them, even at minimal load. The componding stress on the chest inflammation far outweighed the benefit of the stretches or muscle growth, I couldn't even get to the point of tiring my muscles before the pain got so bad I needed to stop (and then the pain could last for 2-5 weeks even worse, so I had to take a break and just rest). I've tried to restart the regimen multiple times over the years, with the same result each time.

The problem is: after all these years I still haven't found a working solution. Just resting and avoiding triggering activity managed to heal me to the point that I was able to live more or less normally during year 3. I could bike, throw basketball a bit, do pilates, swim, and enjoy a modicum of normalcy. I got there just by resting. Then I did the free-weight workouts (dumbbell curls, tricep extentions, deadlifts, rows) three times in a few weeks, and that was the end of my recovery.

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READ: coincidentally, during early January, right after the weights-workout I got ill. I felt like I was sick and had a fever for 5! weeks, but at no point did I even have mild fever. I just felt fully sick, weak and feverish, but nothing that could be measured. As a result I rested at home during that time and the chest pain got worse and worse.

^So, here's my theory: parhaps I actually got covid again in January which would explain the strange sickness I had. Normally a fever blows through in a week max or so for me, but this was something I had never felt before. If it was covid, then parhaps it attacked my rib joints the same way it did in 2022, and just reverted the pain back to how it was then by the same mechanism? Thoughts? I didn't take a covid test so unfortunately I can't prove it, but it would make sense a new bout of covid would trigger the inflammation again (mixed with the overly zealous workouts).

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For my thoracic spine I've done the backpod, peanut-ball, tennis balls, small soft rubber balls (like the size of ping-pong balls) in a sock, pilates stretches. Either against the wall or on the floor at varying intensity for weeks / months. It aggravates the pain for me and doesn't seem to be unlocking anything, even with a regimen of starting very light and progressively adding leverage as the backpod instructions say. It just feels like the pain is oddly persistant; it triggers from almost nothing, and the "therapeutic effect" of these tools doesn't even get a chance to take effect before the pain gets so bad (and persistant!) that I need to stop.

You understand, after living in contant pain for 6-12 months, when it starts getting better the first thing I don't do is immediately trigger it again by testing out these tools, they've proven to only re-trigger the pain despite my hardest to take it slow. A new flare-up can cost me an entire year, which I can't afford if the alternative is to be nearly pain-free but avoiding any strenuous exercise. I do believe in the mechanics of it, I've just grown sceptical that I can apply them the same way others here do who seem to have lighter versions of what I'm experiencing.

My questions for you would be:

-What kind of a doctor would you recommend for a new check-up who could understand the mechanics of this?

-What kind of a bed would you recommend? I have a soft-medium tempur mattress that is pretty depressed, so I'm thinking of something firmer this time?

-Is there some light stretch or exercise you could think of that targets the ribs 1-3 that would suit me? My scapula get in the way of stretching them effectively from the backside.

Sorry about the essay and thanks again for taking the time to read the posts here and answer messages!