Here's a weird one: I have a freind, a 39 year old male (non-martial artist). He is 5' 10" or 1.76 metres in height and very thin, weighing no more than about 9 stones or 57 kgs.He is reasonably fit, being a keen cyclist and has a reasonably healthy appetite and diet but. He has always been very thin and just never filled out. In the past year or so, he seems to have become prone to injuries to the cartilage in his ribcage. About a year ago I was messing with him grabed him in a relatively gentle bear hug and the result was " a sore rib" for a few weeks after. A few days ago, he was out dancing at a nightclub and another freind of mine (who was not aware of the damage I did) grabed him in similarly playful way. The result: pain in the rib area again. A couple of days later, my freind just turned over in bed and experienced a sharp pain on the other side of his ribcage which still persists. He went to his doctor who checked him, ruled out broken ribs and said it was likely to be cartilage damage. He did not offer any ideas as to why this is happening. Has anyone had this problem and did you find any causes or solutions? Does anyone know excercises that my friend could do to build up the muscles around his ribcage?
