Question: I went to the emergency room 4 weeks ago with some mild pain in my right upper abdomen and tenderness along the right side of my ribcage it wasn't serious pain but I was concerned because it had been somewhat sore for a couple of weeks. The doctor did not seem too concerned about it and was actually very quick to diagnose what was wrong and said that I strained my ab muscles lifting something. During this time I had been training for a half marathon and did weightlift 2 or 3 times per week doing full body workouts. The doctor prescribed me some Naproxine for pain and told me just use my judgment as far as when I should go back to exercising. I have not done any weightlifting for more than 4 weeks now but during this 4 week period I would occasionally run a few miles sometimes I would be a little sore in the same place and sometimes on the other side of my stomach which I believe is common with running. For several days I did not need to take the Naproxine because there was very little to no pain however yesterday morning I ran a 5K race and then later that morning and since then the pain has returned it's not real severe pain but it comes for a short period of time and then goes away and it tends to ache and is not throbbing but every now and then it does tend to feel like it's stinging some. There is some soreness in my abdomen area which I'm assuming is from running yesterday. My questions are is this something serious enough that I should consider going back to the emergency room for or is it because I ran a race yesterday and the same muscles in my body may have just been worked too hard after not having much physical pressure put on them the last few weeks? The last 4 days I have also been taking a prescription of Methylprednisolone Tablets which is a steroid to help clear bad coughing and a sore throat which may cause stomach pain. I'm confused about what I should do because there are times that I feel completely fine and if it isn't anything serious I don't want to have to go back to the emergency room just to get the same answer again and spend more money but I also don't want to ignore it if there is something more serious to worry about I have tried to research some on this however it hasn't helped much and has actually caused more stress. What do you suggest that I do?