Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

12-year old Boy - chest pain while excercising

I have a 12-year old boy, who is experiencing chest pain during excercise, typcially, after 20-30 minutes of reasonable intensity.  The pain is central mid-line chest and causes intense enough pain that he must discontinue exercise.  The pain subsides in 10-20 mins and he is able to restart activities and excercise.  Any ideas?  growing pains, cramping, muslce issues?
4 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
Hi. You may have already gotten resolution to your chest pain issue and if so that is terrific.  If not I will share with you a problem that arrived in two of my teenagers when they started playing softball, chest pain.  My pediatrician concluded that it was excercised induced asthma.  I am not sure if it was the lack of oxygen to the heart causing chest pains or if it was their lungs causing chest pain since they are both located in the chest.  Now before they start any physical activity,  they take 2 puffs of their inhaler and they have no chest pain.  They say they do not get tired as fast and they have a huge increase in their indurance.  Bottom line, no more chest pain.  I hope this helps.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
my  12 year dtr c/o chest pain during soccer practice ,but after she rest the pain is gone . she is fine after practice is over,her MD said that is noting wrong but i'm worry a lot.
Avatar universal
Hello and welcome to our site! I would take your son to be seen again; preferrably to a pediatric cardiologist. Having said that, children who suffer from heart disease would never be able to last as long as you are describing without running into problems. Heart related chest pain in children born with congential heart disease is actually rare; there are only a few types of heart disease that this occurs in children. I would consider seeing if your son can get in to see a pediatric pulmonologist to see if there are any lung issues going on. Acid build-up does cause chest pain, in fact, people think they are having reflux issues and are actually having a heart attack (understand that this is in adults, not children). Based on the things you are writing on here, I don't think you really have too much to worry about, but have him checked out anyway, just to be sure. Take care
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I know this is an old post (2 years ago), but it's EXACTLY my situation now.  My son is 12 and experiencing chest pain, starts dull and builds to intense pain during intense exercise (hour long hockey practice).  If he pushes himself too much by mid-way through, he has to stop and then the pain stops within 5-10 minutes.  The doctor has him taking prilosec before practice but it still happens.  No other symptoms and it's only during intense exercise without breaks.  He is lactose intolerant and had colic as a baby, could this all be stomach acids or something more?
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Please have him evaluated by a pediatric cardiologist.
Avatar universal
Chest pains are caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart muscle. Usually the cause for that is CAD or Coronary Artery Disease; that would be highly unlikely in your son as it takes, on average, 20+ years to have enough build up of plague in the arteries to cause chest pains. There are some forms of Cardiomyopathy which can also cause chest pain in children, but once it reaches that point, theuy would never be able to exercise for 20-30 minutes. I would take your son to a Pediatric Cardiologist and have him checked out just to be on the safe side. It could be a lung issue or a muscle issue as well. Keep us posted.
Helpful - 0

You are reading content posted in the Pediatric Cardiology Community

Popular Resources
Fearing autism, many parents aren't vaccinating their kids. Can doctors reverse this dangerous trend?
Is a gluten-free diet right for you?
We answer your top questions about the flu vaccine.
Learn which over-the-counter medicines are safe for you and your baby
Yummy eats that will keep your child healthy and happy
Healing home remedies for common ailments