Barb,
You've got me...I don't know squat...funny, I've had tightness in my back around my lower rib cage since 2005...doc checked to make sure it wasn't my kidney...I think it's a permanent spasm. My massage therapist can't believe how tight it is, and can't get it out. So maybe it is permanent damage.
I'm glad this isn't cancer..but I wish I could understand it more...it seems to get more confusing to me as time passes. That could be my brain getting dumber, though