What Causes Sharp Chest Pain?

Posted on Wed, 19 Mar 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 Answered on

Mon, 7 Apr 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I was walking and all of a sudden felt a sharp pain in the center of my chest that lasted about a second. everything I read and my doctor says this is not heart pain but I'm still not convinced. are there any heart conditions or diseases that could cause such a short pain? it was localized right to the center.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (31 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Detailed below. Detailed Answer: Hello! Thank you for the query. Sharp chest pain is very often caused by rib nerves irritation. It is very characteristic for such pain to be well localized, aggravate when moving the chest (breathing). Can appear all of sudden and same way disappear. Heart pain is not well localized. It is dull, squeezing and radiates to the left arm or jaw. So your pain really is not caused by a heart issue. You are very young person and any heart disease risk is low. Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions. Regards.

Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

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