Never smoked in my life. And I could if I had the time, unfortunately with school and my family, I'm almost always busy and I don't drive and don't have any way to get to the doctor's office.
do you smoke? can you see a doctor?
I've had horrible back pain for a while, but the rib pain is worse. It's just my lower ribs, nothing in my upper chest. I also have a defect called Pectus Carinatum and I wonder if maybe that has something to do with it, although I was told my condition wouldn't cause this kind of pain. If I lay down, it's a little bit better. It throbs and it's constant, it never goes away. It leaves me in tears and I'm unable to sit up for very long because of it.
are you having any other symptoms? what kind of pain is it? constant? stabbing? throbbing? dull? sharp? burning? There's a lot of organs and stuff going on in that part of the body that can cause pain that radiates to the back.
The fact that it does radiate to your back pretty much rules out broken or bruised ribs (i've had many of both, being clumsy and drunk through most of college).
anyway if you can describe the pain more specifically and if you have any other symptoms it would helpt o narrow things down.