What Causes Sharp Pain In The Chest While Playing Football?

Posted on Wed, 8 Apr 2015

Question: Hello,
Iam 31 years old a male with no past history of any health issues. I play football once a week. Recently I played football a few days ago and had previously not played for a month. The weather was quite cold. After playing I had some pain in the chest it was very localised pain and also a sort of shooting sharp pain in the chest. I did not have the time to warm up before the game. My question is could this be a muscular issue because I did not warm up and had not played for a long time? Or something else. I did not have any symptoms no shortness of breath no dizzyness or any other symptoms just the localised sharp pain which stopped about 30-40 minutes after I finished playing. I went running the next day and did not experience this pain. Please let me know your thoughts.

Answered by Dr. Ivo Ditah (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
The pain was probably related to long period of not playing!

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you so much for this query.

I am so sorry to hear about this pain you experienced and all the disturbing thoughts this has caused you. I have reviewed your information fully and the most likely explanation for this pain is the fact that you had not maintained the same routine for a long time. Not warming up before the game also made the body to go from a sate of almost no exercise to intense sporting activities which demands so much for a system that has not been prepped adequately to address that. As you continue with routines, it would be very possible not to experience this with future exercising. This is the same reason why you were able to go on the following day exercising with no recurrence of the chest pain.

For now, there are no reasons to get worried. Whenever you go for long periods without exercising, remember to restart the system progressively so as to avoid similar experiences.

I hope this addresses your query fully. I wish you well. Thanks for using our services and feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if need be.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Ivo Ditah (1 hour later)

Thank you for your response. In terms of chest pain relating to the heart, what kind of symptoms would there have been? Would it have been the same kind of thing? In other words how can one tell if its due to a lack of regular exercise and fitness as opposed to the heart?

Answered by Dr. Ivo Ditah (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Heart disease would recur during further exercises!

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Symptoms related to heart disease are often severe and would lead to premature termination of exercise. This would be followed by a resolution of the pains. These pains would often recur with future exercises of similar intensity. Also, these are persons with risk factors.

You have no identifiable risk factors and also given the fact that you were able to exercise full strength before. Finally, the symptoms are not typical. With these, I say it is very unlikely to have been related to a heart disease.

I hope this helps. I wish you well.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Ivo Ditah (12 hours later)

Thank you for your response. I have one final question. What would cause the pain during the exericise? Is it a lack of fitness or is it due to the muscles contracting as a result of no warm up?

Answered by Dr. Ivo Ditah (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Probably lack of fitness!

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

The most probable reason at this time is lack of fitness. It is unlikely to be related to muscle contraction at this time as a result of not warming up.

I wish you well.

Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj