Common Causes of Chest Pain

Chest pain can be defined as any pain, pressure, tightness or discomfort in the body, from the neck to the upper abdomen. The source for causing chest pain can be any body organ along the front such as esophagus, heart, stomach, lungs, ribs etc. Many a times, chest pain is associated with pain in the jaw, arms and head.

Common Causes of Chest Pain

Chest pain is caused, either due to cardiac or non-cardiac reasons. Even a prolonged cough causes chest pain; continuous cough causes muscle strain, whereby the chest wall also becomes tender. In several cases, chest pain is observed as a symptom for severe health complications, which at times require immediate medical attention. Let's take a look at the common causes of chest pain.

Angina: Angina is a common chest pain related to heart and the associated pain is more or less similar to heart attack. It is caused due to the insufficient supply of blood and oxygen to the heart. There are two types of angina, viz. stable and unstable. If chest pain starts during physical exertion, then it is called stable angina; whereas, chest pain that occurs unexpectedly is unstable angina and is more severe than the former.

Heartburn: Heartburn, as the name suggests, is caused due to the acidic reflux from the stomach to the esophagus. Symptoms of heartburn or pyrosis is a burning and painful sensation beneath the sternum.

Heart Attack: A common belief regarding chest pain is the onset of heart attack. When a person gets a heart attack, the blood flow is blocked due to blood clot in the artery that supplies blood to heart. In such a condition, the heart muscle does not receive blood and oxygen, causing chest pain.

Aortic Dissection: Aortic dissection happens due to separation of the inner layers of the aorta (main artery of heart), which disturbs the blood flow and causes internal bleeding. The symptom is a sudden and sharp chest pain, associated with back pain. Aortic dissection occurs rarely and is caused due to an uncontrollable high blood pressure or a sharp blow to the chest.

Esophageal Spasm: Chest pain is also caused due to esophageal spasm. Individuals with this disorder face problems in swallowing, due to uncoordinated muscles in the esophageal wall that directs the foods towards the stomach.

Digestive System: Problems in the digestive system such as indigestion, gallbladder disease, gallstone and stomach ulcer can also cause chest pain. The severity of pain may vary depending upon the disease condition.

Other causes of chest pain include shingles, anxiety, pneumonia, hemothorax, asthma, panic attack and lead poisoning. Chest pain occurs rarely or frequently or it may start sporadically. The symptoms of chest pain can be mild to severe, and may last from a few days to few weeks. In case of persons who have a family history of cardiac diseases and who get chest pain frequently, they should consult and seek advice from a qualified physician as soon as possible.

Whatever may be the symptom for chest pain proper diagnosis is always required, as the underlying medical problem may be trivial or life-threatening. Diagnosis of chest pain is done based on the symptoms, physical examination and the medical history of the patient. Electrocardiogram (ECG) studies and blood test (to analyze cardiac enzymes) are usually done to evaluate the cause of chest pain. Treatment of chest pain depends upon the disease that has been diagnosed.