Chest Pain While Running

There are chances when people, especially amateur exercise enthusiasts and athletes come across chest pain while running, that apparently stops when one stops running. Sometimes this kind of pain is accompanied with difficulty in breathing and the person starts to gasp as well. The duration of such a kind of chest pain can surprisingly be even less than a minute!

What could be the possible connection between running and chest pain? As a matter of fact, there are more than fifty possible causes of chest pain, and either one of them must be responsible for the severe chest pain while running. These causes can be serious as well as nominal that could be evaded with a little bit of precaution and medications, while sometimes there can also be a need for series of tests and even immediate hospitalization.

Causes of Chest Pain While Running

Let's start from the least destructive causes of chest pain while running. Patients of anemia have reported severe chest pain after performing jogging or brief running session, irrespective of their age. As anemia is related to lack of iron in blood, which makes the body weak, can cause chest pain during the course of running, that MUST fade away as the progress in the condition of the disease. Apart from that, here are the serious causes for this ailment in teens and adults. Pneumonia, acid reflux, lung diseases, lung cancer, anxiety chest pain, stress, anemia, etc. are also significant causes of chest pain that can cause pain in chest while running and exercising, too.

Heart Attack
The most probable cause for chest pain is the threat of heart attack. This kind of pain moves in backward direction or towards the neck region. Heart attacks are generally caused due to high cholesterol levels in the arteries and due to unhealthy lifestyle. Along with chest pain, person might suffer with unexplained dizziness and increased sweating as well.

Angina
In other words, angina is narrowing of the coronary arteries or artery. As a result of narrowing, the heart doesn't get the additional blood supply it needs while indulging into some physical activity, like running and jogging. Angina can also cause shortness of breath and chest pain while running.

Aortic Dissection
Aorta is one of the most important of all the arteries, that supplies blood to most of the important organs of the body, like brain, lungs, intestines and kidneys. Any problem that causes trauma to the function of aorta can cause chest pain and chest pain while running as well. High blood pressure, smoking, old age, pregnancy, some congenital disorders, etc. are the causes of aortic dissection.

There are a few preliminary treatments that one can do to avoid chest pain when running. The most important of them, is to stop running as soon as the pain evokes and lying flat on back for a while. In case of heart attack, immediate dose of half of aspirin can also avoid severe consequences like death. An immediate visit to the health care provider is also extremely important here as chest pain while running is more prominent than all the other common causes of pain in the chest.

People having a history of chest pain must consult their health care provide, before indulging into running and any such exhausting physical activity. It is the best way of prevention. Follow a healthy diet, avoid oily foods, and take care of the health of your heart.