Chest Pain (Muscular Cause?)

[healthneeds4567]

Hey guys,

I'm a 19 year old male with a particularly healthy life styles. I started working out this summer and on the first day after my chest workout I began getting a pain in the center of my chest that would spread to my upper left pectoral muscle. During my workout I can push through the pain with a long warm up but the day after I get a really bad  pain in the center of my chest that radiates to the left. I stopped working out August 1, 2015 and it is September 6, 2015 now and the pain is still there. I don't workout that area anymore but simply by turning on my side or flexing that area it feels as if the pain will come right back because I can feel slight pain in that area. Don't know if I should see a doctor about this pain or if I should keep waiting and eventually it'll go away with time. What can I do to expedite the recovery of this and what is this pain?

[Tuckamore]

Hi and Welcome to our Pain Management Community. I'm glad you found us and took the time to begin a new thread.

What you describes sounds like muscle strain or sprain. It's possible you injured the Sternal head of the Pectoralis Major - or another portion of that large chest muscle.

How have you been treating it besides rest? Often NSAIDs can reduce the information and help with the discomfort. I encourage you to discuss with your Pharmacist which NSAID may be right for you. Often heat applied several times a day can be comforting - ice is recommended early on but I think you may be past that point. Again I'd take the free advice of a Pharmacist regarding home treatment.

By all means if your pain has continued for over a month you may want to consult your physician. It sounds like a muscle but we should never take unnecessary chances with our health. We only have one body. Pain is our body's way of talking to us - think of pain as your body saying - "Hey - Injury, Sick - Do Something!"

As you wait for the appointment (as you probably will have to) if your pain becomes acute you should consult a medical provider asap. As Sherry said, do nothing to cause the pain. When you make the appointment they'll ask why you want to see your physician - be sure and tell them and ask if you should be seen sooner.

Please let us know how you are doing. I'll look forward to hearing from you again soon. Rest that muscle - and take care.

Best of Luck,
~Tuck

[namnam46]

I'm SOOO SORRY that you are experiencing this pain!!  

First, I want to say I'm so glad to have you join our Pain Management Community!  I need to let you know that there are no Dr.'s on this Forum, we are all Chronic Pain Patients (CPP) here to support each other and share our experiences and knowledge.  :)

In answer to your question, yes you should see a Dr.  Whenever you have pain that doesn't go away and continues such as yours has you need to check it out to be sure it isn't something serious.  Especially, if it's concerning your chest.  You never know when you might have an underlying condition that you don't know about.  Even though you are very young you still need to check it out.  Hopefully, it won't be serious and your definitely doing g the right thing in stopping your excersising until this stops.  You don't want 2 do anything that could hurt you permanently.  Chances are you've pulled something but you can never be sure.

I hope you will keep us updated on what you find out.

Wishing you the very best and look forward to hearing from you again.......Sherry :)