Chest pain while working out may not be related to your heart, but a heart connection should always be the first problem you consider. Whether or not to seek help, and how quickly to do it, could be a lifesaving decision.
As a board-certified cardiologist, Kishore K. Arcot, MD, FACC, at Memphis Vein Center, has extensive experience diagnosing the cause of chest pain and providing preventive care and advanced treatments.
Knowing when to call 911 for immediate treatment is essential. Here, we explain the top three heart-related causes of chest pain while exercising and when to seek emergency care.
Though chest pain can signal many possible heart conditions, if it occurs during exercise or athletic activities, it's most likely due to one of these three conditions:
Chest pain that starts during exercise and feels better when resting is a classic sign of a clogged heart artery.
This type of pain is called angina, and the condition causing the pain is coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD develops when cholesterol builds up in the arteries carrying oxygen-rich blood to your heart.
You feel fine when you’re inactive or engaged in light activities that don’t exert the heart. But when you exercise, your heart works harder and needs extra oxygen. The clogged arteries can’t deliver enough blood. As a result, you have chest pain.
Here’s what to do: Stop exercising when chest pain begins, sit down, and rest. If you feel better within a few minutes, there’s a good chance your pain is due to CAD.
As long as your pain goes away within 10 minutes and you don’t have other heart-related symptoms (described below), you probably don’t need emergency attention.
But if you have any doubts or a history of heart problems, call 911. If you don’t call 911, schedule an appointment for a heart evaluation. Without treatment, CAD is the top cause of heart attacks.
There’s always the chance you’re having a heart attack if exercise triggers chest pain. CAD doesn’t always cause symptoms. You can have advanced disease and severely blocked arteries and not be aware of the problem until you have a heart attack.
Red flags that your pain is a heart attack include:
The chest pain experienced during a heart attack isn’t always sudden and severe. It may feel more like severe pressure. Heart attacks can also begin as a mild pain that gradually but persistently intensifies.
Call 911 immediately if you have any signs of a heart attack.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is another heart problem known for causing chest pain when you exercise. This condition occurs when the heart muscles thicken and stiffen, which decreases the heart’s ability to pump blood out to your body.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an inherited condition. You have a 50% chance of having the gene if one of your parents has the disease.
The symptoms include:
If your chest pain, irregular heartbeat, or difficulty breathing lasts longer than a few minutes, call 911 to get immediate care for a possible heart attack.
Of the people treated in the emergency room for chest pain, nearly one-third have an acute heart problem due to blocked blood flow.
But of those whose chest pain isn’t related to their heart, approximately 30% have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), 28% have a musculoskeletal problem like a pulled chest muscle, and 2% have pneumonia.
Physical activity may also trigger these conditions. For example, the pain of a pulled muscle worsens with activity and may feel like a heart attack.
Activity that increases breathing aggravates lung conditions. Using your abdominal muscles can trigger a GERD attack, which may cause severe chest pain.
Any time exercise causes chest pain, schedule a heart assessment. Getting an early diagnosis and starting treatment can ease your pain, help stop the disease from progressing, and prevent a heart attack. Call our Memphis, Tennessee, office or request an appointment online right away.
