Left rib pain: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What left rib pain is

Left rib pain is pain in or around the ribs on the left side of the chest, from under the armpit to the lower edge of the rib cage. The commonest causes are the same as on the right: a bruised, cracked or broken rib after a fall, a blow or a hard cough, a strained muscle between the ribs, or costochondritis, an inflammation of the cartilage that joins the ribs to the breastbone. Costochondritis is often felt just to the left of the breastbone, which is one reason it is so easily mistaken for heart pain. Pain that is worse when you press on the spot, breathe in or twist is more likely to come from the chest wall.

The left side holds organs that make some pains urgent. Pain or pressure in the left chest with breathlessness, sweating, sickness, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw can be a heart attack: call 999, 911 or 112. The spleen sits under the lower left ribs, and after an injury, pain there, especially with dizziness or pain at the tip of the left shoulder, can mean it is bleeding and needs emergency care. The left lung can cause sharp pain on breathing from pneumonia, a clot or a collapsed lung. The stomach and the pancreas lie just below, so pain under the left ribs can also be digestive. Shingles can start as a band of pain on one side before the rash appears.

Bruised and broken ribs usually heal in three to six weeks with pain relief, rest from heavy effort, and regular deep breaths and coughs to keep the lungs clear. See rib pain and chest pain for more.

The emotional meaning of left rib pain

Spiritually, the ribs form a cage that shields the heart and the lungs from blows. A rib that cracks or aches is read as a protection that has worn thin, leaving you exposed to pressure about love, independence and your need for space. On the left, the side of the heart itself and of the receptive, feminine principle, this becomes a question about how you protect your feelings: in love, in the family, and with the women in your life. See the left and right sides of the body.

Guarding the heart

The left ribs sit over the heart. When they hurt, you might ask how you have been guarding it lately. Have you shielded it so well that no one can reach you? Or has the guard dropped, so that every hurt goes straight in? The ribs are meant to protect, not to imprison. Left rib pain can point to the balance between the two.

Pressure from someone close

A rib gives way when the pressure on it is too great. On the left, that pressure often comes from a close bond: a partner who needs too much, a parent who leans on you, a family situation where you have gone past your limits. You may have let yourself be swallowed up by others until your own space disappeared. Ask whether you needed to step back and could not, and whether the pressure comes from them or partly from you.

Side by side with her

In French, the rib, côte, echoes côte à côte, "side by side". Rib pain is often linked to comparing yourself with someone in the family and feeling you do not measure up. On the left, that person is often a woman: a mother whose strength you never matched, a sister who seemed loved more, a friend who appears to have it all. You may underestimate yourself, or feel she makes you smaller. Underneath lies the question: am I really loved and valued?

A sorrow you want to cry out

Bruised ribs often come at a time of deep tiredness, when life itself has hurt you. Spiritually, the bruise on the body is the trace of a bruise inside, a pain and a sorrow you would like to cry out. On the left, it is often a grief in love or in the family that you have kept to yourself, perhaps because you are the one who usually comforts others. Can you say "I am hurting", and let someone hold you?

Receiving love

The left side is the side of receiving. Some people protect their heart by giving constantly and never letting love come back the other way. A sore left rib may ask whether you are at ease being cared for, or whether it feels like a weakness. For a man, the question may be whether he can express or welcome emotion at all. For a woman, whether there is part of her tenderness she keeps locked away.

Where on the left

The level of the rib adds a hint. Lower ribs may point to a child or grandchild, middle ribs on the side to a brother, a sister or a cousin, and upper ribs to a parent or grandparent. At the front, it is something ahead of you that worries you. On the flank, it is something you are living now. At the back, it is feelings from the past.

The other side

Right rib pain places the pressure in the outer world: performance, work, keeping a good rating, and the men in your life. Where the left ribs ask how you protect your heart and whether you let love in, the right ask how you defend yourself in action, and who sets the pace you are trying to keep. The rib pain page brings both together.

A gentler way to hold it

• Look at the moment simply. Go back to the weeks before the pain and ask which bond was pressing on you.
• Say what hurts. Tell someone close what you feel, and listen to them as well.
• Stop measuring. When you catch yourself comparing, come back to your own path.
• Let yourself be comforted. Accept a hug, a call, an offer of help.
• Keep the guard, open the door. Protect your heart from what harms it, without shutting out what feeds it.
• Breathe gently and fully. While the rib heals, slow, regular breaths help the lungs and calm the body.