The term chest pain can describe pain anywhere in the chest, but one common question with chest pain is if there is a difference between pain in the left side of the chest and the right side of the chest. This is because people typically associate only left side chest pain with a heart attack, as most people known that is where the heart is located.
However, left side chest pain doesn’t always indicate a heart issue. Nor should right side chest pain be ignored. Heart attacks cause pain all over the body—from the right side of the chest, to the left side of the chest and other places on the body, like the jaw.
Chest pain on the right side of the chest rarely signifies a heart issue--but that doesn’t mean that right side chest pain isn’t serious. There are several reasons behind chest pains on right side, some serious and others not as serious such as:
pneumonia
a bruised or broken rib
a torn muscle in the chest
a viral infection
gall bladder, liver, pancreas, spleen, and lung issues
pleuritic pain, or inflammation around the lung
a blood clot in the lung
digestive issues such as IBS, GERD, or heartburn
But knowing where the pain in your chest is located and explaining this to any doctor or nurse is important because the location of your pain, like upper chest pain, left side chest pain, or right side chest pain, can greatly help your doctor to determine the exact cause behind your chest pain and to resolve your problem quickly, before it becomes a serious health issue.Anxiety chest pain
Whether you’ve dealt with anxiety most of your life or only have an occasional panic attack, periods of great stress and anxiety can often present in chest pain symptoms.
Anxiety often causes pain and discomfort in the chest as well as a general speeding of the heartbeat. In fact, nearly 25% of patients who report chest pain to their doctors are diagnosed with a panic disorder, which can cause pain in the middle of the chest area.
Of course, this doesn’t mean any chest discomfort should be ignored, as patients with panic disorder and chest pain from stress have higher rates of cardiovascular disease. In fact, if you’ve suffered with panic attacks and/ or an anxiety disorder for many years, your heart could have suffered some trauma or cumulative damage along the way.
As always with chest pain – especially for people with anxiety disorders -- get to a hospital and make sure you’re not having a serious heart event. Often, with serious panic disorders, doctors and/or psychiatrists have the patient keep medicine on hand which may help with symptoms like chest pain with panic attacks.
Fortunately, anxiety and panic disorders are treatable with prescribed medication and therapy, which are both highly effective ways of easing and fully preventing panic attacks as well as making the accompanying chest pain much less frequent.
Sometimes chest pain is caused by inflammation around the ribs. When the cartilage surrounding your ribs becomes inflamed, this can cause chest pain. This condition is called costochondritis and is a fairly normal occurrence of chest pain for many people.
With costochondritis, the pain will feel the same way as it would if you were pressing very hard on your sternum (the bone that runs down the middle of your ribcage).
Costochondritis can be caused by all kinds of daily activities, such as accidents or falls, coughing excessively, vomiting, pulling muscles in the chest during strenuous exercises or sports activities, a car accident (often the air bag inflating hits the sternum and bruises it, causing inflammation there), or some types of arthritis or bursitis.
The main symptom of costochondritis is a sharp pain in the chest wall and ribs that comes and goes. Heavy breathing intensifies the pain typically, along with coughing or sneezing. Most cases of tenderness near the chest bone are diagnosed as costochondritis.
Treatment typically includes hot or cold compresses, a prescription of anti-inflammatory drugs, bed rest and time to heal. Although the condition usually goes away on its own, some severe cases of costochondritis may take several months to fully recover from.
When a muscle is pulled, over-stressed, or torn, it’s commonly described as a pulled muscle. However, a pulled muscle in the chest area will cause chest pain that some people might mistake for a cardiac event or heart attack.
Pulled muscles can be caused by improper form during exercise, strenuous weight lifting or cardiovascular exercise, or simply moving the wrong way suddenly or sleep in the wrong position all night. Car accidents, falls, and other mishaps can also cause pulled chest muscles.
Often, people in car accidents will pull a muscle in the chest from the pressure of the seat belt or the air bag as their body lurches forward from the force of the accident. This is often not felt till the day or two after the accident and is a common reason people will seek care, even if they did not think they needed to go to the hospital right away.
Weight lifters and athletes can also pull chest muscles, whether they’re boxing, swinging a bat, playing soccer, or throwing a javelin.
Depending on the exact location of the pulled muscle in the body, such as the back or abdominal area, chest pain can sometimes be a symptom of a pulled muscle in the upper body area, which is typically accompanied by stiffness, bruising, and a limited range of movement that causes chest pain when stretching.
If you believe an incident or activity could have caused a chest muscle strain or a pulled chest muscle, and you’re experiencing chest pain because of it, apply ice to minimize swelling and reduce the pain of the strain, and rest as much as possible. If the discomfort hasn’t improved within two days, schedule an appointment with your doctor.
