Chest Pain

[jennifert]

hi, i am hoping someone may be able to help me. i have been having chest pain on and off again for the last four months. sometimes on my left but mostly on my right on my right. pain is worsened if my shoulders are rolled forward or i sleep on my side. the pain is dull and achey and sometimes feels like a cramp. ribs are a bit sensitive when i rub them. i am 32 with no previous illnesses. i have been to the doctor but it seems because i am young and dont smoke they do not take this seriously. if anyone has any thoughts or advice i would truly appreciate it. thanks in advance.

[Davy9]

jennifert.... Try and isolate what makes the pain occur and precisely where it occurs. Is there one posture that always results in the same pain, in the same place? Does it occur regularly after eating? Does it occur on maximal inhalation, hard exercise? Write down all of the things that do not make it hurt and any that do and how that pains feels. You can also mark with a marker exactly where the pain is located to pinpoint its positioning.

There are so many things in the chest area. The chest cage encompasses the heart, many great vessels, the lungs (which don't directly hurt but their pleural linings and airways do), lots of musculature and lots of tendon structure, and so on. If you work at ruling in or out what makes the pain occur, precisely where it is and the way it feels (as you described here) it will help your doctor decide how to approach determining what it is.

Honestly, if it happens for various reasons, at various times, in various places, with varying intensity you will have a difficult time getting any precise answers.

[jennifert]

thanks so much for your posting.

i am trying to journal the pain so i can better describe it to my doctor.

it seems to occur in the same place and is brought on when i am lying on my side or have my shoulders hunched forward. it does not happen after eating. breathing deeply or exerrcising does not help or hurt it and it has never started as a result of either.

do you have any thoughts?

[jennifert]

thanks so much for your posting.

i am trying to journal the pain so i can better describe it to my doctor.

it seems to occur in the same place and is brought on when i am lying on my side or have my shoulders hunched forward. it does not happen after eating. breathing deeply or exerrcising does not help or hurt it and it has never started as a result of either.

do you have any thoughts?

[Davy9]

It sounds postural and like it is happening in the same place with the same intensity. On either side of the upper front rib cage are the clavicles also known as the collar bones. They attach on one end to the sternum and on the other end near the shoulders. On the end near the shoulder the clavicle attaches to the scapula and upper arm humerus bone in what is abbreviated the AC joint. The AC joint has lots of tendons and interacts with both chest motion and radial arm motions. It sounds like you might have some soreness in that joint on the one side. Could be a strain, tendonitis or arthritis. That would be my guess and I base that on the side laying and shoulder movement relationship to the pain.