Chest pain, what could it be due to?

There are many causes why your chest or chest may hurt, we are going to comment on the most frequent ones.

pain of cardiac origin

If he pain is oppressive, like a weight, it is typical of the heart. Although anxiety can also sometimes produce similar symptoms.

Ischemic heart pain because there is a reason why not enough blood arrives (for example, from a heart attack) can radiate to the left arm, the entire thorax, the dorsal area, jaw and is accompanied by dizziness and paleness. Some viruses inflame the film or layer that surrounds the heart causing a. Pericarditis generates pain especially in the central area of ​​the chest that affects younger people, can be associated with low-grade fever and general malaise.

Often the person who suffers from the heart has more than 40 years and some risk factor such as smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus or dyslipidaemia (high cholesterol).

Pulmonary pain

If the pain is abrupt and is associated with shortness of breath, we would have to consider as a probable diagnosis a. This happens because a kind of Air bubble between two layers that surround the lung that are called pleura. Air collapses the lung and does not work properly; something that happens more in smokers and can get worse with hours or minutes.

If the pain is in the hemithorax and a fever over 38ºC is associated, a cough and we have probably had a cold for days, with a cold it may be that the cold has become bacterial pneumonia. If, in addition, chest pain is accompanied by dyspnea or subjective sensation of shortness of breath, low-grade fever and cough could be symptoms of or other viral infections.

Chest pain associated with more than three weeks of coughing in a smoker requires an X-ray to be performed to rule out any pathology related to tobacco: emphysema, bronchitis, lung cancer, among others.

Breast pain

In women (less frequent in men) there may be pain at the level of the mother. It is important to do one to try to detect new lumps.

A relatively frequent pain in the external part of the breast in women It is usually related to the pressure exerted by the rigid rings of the bra.

muscle pain

When chest pain is due to punctures that last a few seconds suggests muscle pain. Punctures appear by muscle spasms. ANDIt is related to insufficient or excessive physical activity and emotional stress. The muscles relax, they recover when one sleeps, so the fact of sleeping does not favor muscle spasms or tics.

The intercostal sprains they are usually intense muscle-type pains on the walls of the rib cages that appear after physical overexertion or bad gesture. Sometimes the overexertion is determined by fits or coughs that end up inflaming the muscles of the ribs or tearing a muscle fiber.

Bone pain

In the central area of ​​the thorax is the breastbone, bone area. There may be pain on the sides of the sternum at the level of the joints of the sternum with the ribs (costochondritis). In this case the pain is easy to reproduce by touching with the finger and is more frequent in people who suffer arthritis or rheumatism.

In the lower part of the sternum, sometimes the final part of the bone becomes inflamed, which is known as Tietze syndrome.

Glandular pain

People with thymoma, an inflammation of the one behind the sternum, explain that they started with pain in that area.

Digestive pain

Also in the lower part of the sternum is located the stomach and a palpation below the sternum in the upper part of the abdomen that is associated with burning, bad taste in the mouth ... may be suggestive of Also the esophagus spasms, and can give pain in the central area of ​​the thorax.

Neuropathic pain

The virus, commonly known as shingles, causes pain on one side of the chest that is associated with a skin rash that is more painful than itchy. pain may precede pimples by days red and with water bubbles that are grouped like clusters.

Pulmonary thrombosis

It is a chest pain, associated with pulmonary dyspnea intense in people who have been subjected to prolonged immobilization, fractures or have a clotting problem. To avoid this disease we administer heparin when we put, for example, a plaster boot or in a postoperative period with rest, among other situations.

Anxiety and depression

Anxiety and depression are often associated with problems for relax the muscles and to an increase in muscle tone, generating punctures and chest pain that are frequently explained as oppressive. Fibromyalgia pain points are located in the chest.

• A chest pain can have many causes. To rule out that it is something serious, it is advisable to indicate the tests that you consider.
• It can have a cardiac, pulmonary, mammary, bone origin ...
• Also some episodes of anxiety and depression can generate pricks and chest pain that is frequently defined as oppressive.

Family doctor, and specialist in Sports Medicine