Spasms in your sternum when you exercise might cause you to feel alarmed about your health and end your workout before you so desired. Both physical conditions and psychological concerns can cause spasms in your sternum, and sometimes the spasms are accompanied by additional symptoms. Fortunately, you can prevent sternum spasms during exercise with changes in your exercise routine and lifestyle, and you can treat the spasms with medical care and medications.
Symptoms
During the spasms, you might notice difficulty breathing or a sensation of tightness in your chest. You might experience noisy breathing, with whistling or wheezing sounds, along with coughing as you try to catch your breath and get through the spasm. You might notice difficulty with performing certain types of exercises, such as running or weight lifting during your spasms.
Causes
Strenuous exercise or overexertion of your muscles could result in spasms in your sternum and pain in your chest, explains the National Library of Medicine website. Spasms in your sternum and the muscles that attach to it could result from an asthma attack, which are more likely to occur during exercise or after exposure to a trigger such as pollen, smoke or outdoor air pollution that you might encounter when you exercise. Psychological concerns including panic attacks, anxiety and stress can also result in sternum spasms during exercise. If you have a heart condition such as angina, you could experience sternum spasms when you exercise. Inflammation of the joints of your ribs and sternum, a condition called costochondritis, can also result in spasms. Rarely, spasms in your sternum could indicate you are having a heart attack, which requires urgent lifesaving medical treatment.
Treatments
If your sternum spasms result from asthma, your physician will prescribe medication for you to take on a daily basis to control your symptoms, as well as a rescue medication for carrying with you in the event of an asthma attack. Your doctor will treat psychological causes of sternum spasms with medications such as anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants and might recommend counseling as well. Doctors treat costochondritis with over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
Prevention
If you suffer from asthma, exercising in climate-controlled environments can help prevent spasms in your sternum that result from asthma attacks. Continue a moderate exercise routine as recommended by your doctor, and consider the services of a personal trainer to help teach you strengthening exercises and positions to prevent muscle strains and overexertion. Practicing stress-relief techniques such as deep breathing, yoga or massage might help prevent sternum spasms related to stress.
