What Causes Dull Pain In Chest And Rib Cage After Playing Foot Ball?

Posted on Thu, 15 Oct 2015

Question: Hi I took my fifteen year old son to the Doctor a couple of days ago because whilst playing football on Sunday he had what he described as intense dull pain in the middle of his chest which lasted 5 minutes. He has been complaining of a different type of chest pain over the last couple of months which was more sharp and on both sides of his rib cage. The doctor listened to his heart and said he could hear no murmurs or irregularities. He then got a nurse to do a ECG. After he said it all looked ok the only thing was it did give the impression of a enlarged chamber but that was probably due to his height. He is about 5 foot 11 inches. My dad had a leaky valve which came to light when he was sixty one and he had an operation to replace it and he died at seventy. The doctor hasn't recommened any further tests but obviously I'm slightly worried. Could you give me your opinion thanks XXXX

Answered by Dr. Archana Verma (41 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Most likely due to musculoskeletal cause

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Welcome to the HCM

I completely understand your concerns but don't worry. Most likely cause of these symptoms are musculoskeletal pain which occurs due to physical activity and trauma. These pains usually improve over a period of few days with symptomatic treatment. I recommend my patients to take acetaminophen or ibuprofen tablet for pain relief. Also, good hydration is useful.

Since there is a possibility of enlarged chamber on chest X Ray examination, I would recommend you to take him for an echocardiogram as well. This will clear all doubts regarding any heart chamber abnormalities.

Hopefully this will help you. I would be happy to help you in any further questions.
Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Archana Verma (19 hours later)

Thanks. Is it normal for height to effect the size of the heart chambers?

Answered by Dr. Archana Verma (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Correlation of height to cardiac size unlikely

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Height is not a likely cause of heart enlargement unless and until it's due to some syndrome like Marfan's syndrome.

So, don't worry. Your son has a perfectly normal height.

Take care

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar