Pain along a rib that has no preceeding trauma, is unresponsive to chiropractic adjustments, and persistently worsens may be the first stage of an outbreak of shingles.
Anyone who has had chicken pox carries the herpes zoster virus in the nerve ganglia alongside their spine. The virus is dormant until conditions such as hyperthermia or stress trigger an outbreak.
A shingles viral outbreak follows the path of the related sensory nerve, called a “dermatome.” Dermatomes wrapping around from the thoracic spine resemble the paths of our ribs, so initial symptoms of shingles are often misinterpreted as rib pain.
