Pain in the middle of the rib cage can be a result of several problems: 1. A fracture or invisible fracture of the rib cage. Pain in the middle of the rib cage may occur after trauma, which is not obvious because the fracture is not obviously displaced and therefore causes hidden pain. 2. Intercostal neuritis. A sterile inflammation of the intercostal nerve can lead to pain in the middle of the rib cage.3. Viral infection of the rib nerve, when the pain tends to be striped and distributed along the rib cage, usually with a localized rash and blisters.4. It may be some fasciitis, where the subcutaneous fascia can lead to sterile inflammation, which in turn causes pain in the middle of the rib cage. It may also be some other diseases, such as osteomyelitis of the ribs, bone tumors, or myeloma, some other tumors, or even inflammatory tumors of the chest wall, which can also cause pain.