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What Causes Pain And Tightness In Left Chest?
I have experienced a weird chest pain in my upper left chest over the last couple of months. It has only came within 5-10 minute periods and only once every week or so. It feels like tightness and small stabbing. Id say it's right underneath the arm pit, but positions right where the chest curves. More precisely it's at the same height as my nipple. I am a male and 19 years old
Wed, 26 Aug 2015
Hello. Thank you for your question and welcome to HCM. I understand your concern.
Every pain in the chest mandates further evaluation. According to your age, there is almost a zero possibility that his pain comes from the heart. However, if you continue to feel this way, just to be safe, do an EKG. There are a lot of other origins of the chest pain. Your description is a pain that lasts 5-10 minutes and is localized. Localized pain goes more for a lung origin, or musculoskeletal origin. I am assuming that, as a young fellow, you exercise. If you also smoke, and this pain, when it is present, relates to the inspiratory-expiratory cycle, then a load on your lungs and overall in your rib cage can cause this. Even this has a slight possibility to happen. The main suspicion is on the musculoskeletal origin of pain. It can happen from assuming a bad position while sleeping or a little trauma to a certain part of the rib cage. So, this may probably be produced by a trauma to a rib, a rib-joint or from intercostal (between-ribs) muscles which become sore every time there a physical activity that includes heave respirations is carried out.
I hope I was helpful. Take care.
Dr. Meriton
Every pain in the chest mandates further evaluation. According to your age, there is almost a zero possibility that his pain comes from the heart. However, if you continue to feel this way, just to be safe, do an EKG. There are a lot of other origins of the chest pain. Your description is a pain that lasts 5-10 minutes and is localized. Localized pain goes more for a lung origin, or musculoskeletal origin. I am assuming that, as a young fellow, you exercise. If you also smoke, and this pain, when it is present, relates to the inspiratory-expiratory cycle, then a load on your lungs and overall in your rib cage can cause this. Even this has a slight possibility to happen. The main suspicion is on the musculoskeletal origin of pain. It can happen from assuming a bad position while sleeping or a little trauma to a certain part of the rib cage. So, this may probably be produced by a trauma to a rib, a rib-joint or from intercostal (between-ribs) muscles which become sore every time there a physical activity that includes heave respirations is carried out.
I hope I was helpful. Take care.
Dr. Meriton
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