13 Reasons Why Your Chest Hurts When You Breathe (2024)

Experiencing chest pain when you breathe can range from mild discomfort to a sharp, stabbing feeling in the area between your neck and stomach. It can make everyday activities like taking deep breaths or moving around difficult.

Muscle strains, pneumonia, a blood clot in the lungs, and heart issues can all cause chest pain while breathing. Seeing your healthcare provider promptly is essential to determine what's causing the pain and get the proper treatment for your health and comfort.

To understand what can cause chest pain with breathing, it's important to know the body parts in the chest. Your chest is also known as the thoracic cavity, which includes the:

• Heart
  
• Lungs
  
• Trachea (windpipe)
  
• Esophagus
  
• Thymus (lymphatic system gland)
  
• Diaphragm
  
• Aorta (heart's blood vessel)
  
• Pleura (lung membranes)
  

These organs work together to support respiration (breathing), blood circulation, digestion, and immune function.

What Does It Feel Like?

Chest pain while breathing can feel like discomfort or pressure in the chest area that worsens with deep breathing. Depending on the underlying cause, this pain may vary in intensity and duration. You might also notice sharp, stabbing, dull, or squeezing sensations.

Several underlying health conditions can contribute to chest pain when you breathe. Understanding these causes can help you know when to seek support from a healthcare provider.

Muscle Strain

A muscle strain in your chest often results from overdoing activities like lifting heavy objects or sudden movements. This strain causes sharp or dull chest pain that worsens when you take deep breaths or move a certain way. You might also feel tenderness and stiffness in that area.

Resting, using ice packs, and taking over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers like Advil (ibuprofen) can help.

Anxiety Attack

An anxiety attack can cause sudden and intense chest pain that might be mistaken for a heart attack. The pain often feels like a sharp or stabbing sensation. This can be accompanied by difficulty breathing, rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, and a feeling of impending doom.

Anxiety attacks can be triggered by stress, trauma, or a history of panic attacks.

Heart Attack

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked for a long enough time that part of the heart muscle becomes damaged or dies. This can lead to intense chest pain, which often feels like a crushing or squeezing sensation and worsens with breathing. The pain might radiate to the arms, neck, jaw, or back.

Other symptoms may include shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, and lightheadedness.

Asthma

Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition that causes your airways to become narrow and inflamed, leading to difficulty breathing and chest tightness. The pain often feels like tightness or pressure in the chest, which can be accompanied by wheezing. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, and increased mucus production.

Asthma can be triggered by allergens, exercise, cold air, and respiratory infections.

Costochondritis

Costochondritis occurs when the cartilage that connects your ribs to your breastbone gets inflamed. It can happen after a respiratory infection (e.g., the common cold or flu) or from repetitive chest movements. The pain feels sharp and usually worsens when you breathe deeply, cough, or do physical activities. You might feel tenderness where your ribs and breastbone meet.

Treatment involves using medications like Bayer (aspirin) or Advil (ibuprofen) to reduce inflammation. Applying heat or cold packs or gently stretching your torso can help keep your chest flexible and prevent stiffness.

Pleurisy

Pleurisy causes inflammation of the lining around your lungs, known as the pleura. It causes sharp chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply, cough, or sneeze. This condition often develops after a respiratory infection like pneumonia or the flu. Besides chest pain, you might have a fever and a dry cough.

Treatment focuses on treating the infection with antibiotics (if it's bacterial) or anti-inflammatory medicines (if it's viral). If another underlying condition is causing pleurisy, the goal of treatment will be to treat the condition. Pain relievers like Advil (ibuprofen) and getting rest can help ease the discomfort.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia, an infection of the lungs caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi, causes symptoms like chest pain, cough, fever, and difficulty breathing. The chest pain associated with pneumonia can range from mild discomfort to sharp, stabbing sensations that worsen with deep breaths or coughing. Risk factors for pneumonia include weakened immune systems, chronic lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and smoking.

Treatment involves antibiotics, rest, hydration, and OTC pain relievers to manage symptoms. Severe cases may require hospitalization for intravenous (IV) antibiotics and supportive care.

Pulmonary Embolism

A pulmonary embolism (PE) occurs when a blood clot travels to the lungs, causing a sudden onset of severe chest pain that gets much worse with breathing in. This condition is life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention. In addition to chest pain, symptoms may include shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, and coughing up blood.

Risk factors for PE include prolonged immobility, pregnancy, smoking, or other medical conditions like heart or lung disease, autoimmune disorders, and cancer. Treatments like anticoagulants (blood-thinning medications) to dissolve the clot, thrombolytic therapy to break up the clot in severe cases, and supportive care in a hospital setting can help you feel better.

Pericarditis

Pericarditis causes inflammation of the pericardium (the sac around the heart). This condition leads to sharp chest pain that worsens with deep breathing, lying down, or swallowing. However, the pain can sometimes go away by sitting up or leaning forward.

Common causes of pericarditis include viral infections, autoimmune disorders, or complications following a heart attack. Treatments like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and rest can help improve symptoms.

Other Causes

While these conditions are less common causes of chest pain while breathing, the following may still cause discomfort in your chest as you breathe:

• Pulmonary hypertension: High blood pressure in the lungs that causes chest pain that worsens with exertion or deep breathing
  
• Tietze syndrome: A rare condition that causes swelling in the rib cartilage, leading to sharp chest pain, which may be aggravated by deep breathing or physical activity
  
• Rib fracture: A fracture or broken rib caused by trauma to the rib, resulting in sharp pain that worsens when you breathe, cough, or move
  
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): A digestive disorder that causes burning chest pain that worsens when you lie down or after you eat
  

If you're experiencing chest pain while breathing, it's important to see a healthcare provider. However, you should seek immediate care if you experience any of the following symptoms in addition to chest pain:

• Pain that persists for more than a few days
• Severe or intense discomfort
  
• Difficulty breathing
• Chest pain that occurs alongside arm or jaw pain
• Sweating
• Nausea or vomiting
• Dizziness
• Rapid or irregular heart rate
  

Diagnosis

When you see a healthcare provider about your chest pain, they'll thoroughly evaluate you. This evaluation will likely include taking your medical history, asking about your symptoms, learning if you've had any recent illnesses or injuries, and checking your body for physical signs of pain, tenderness, and swelling.

In many cases, healthcare providers also order other diagnostic tests to help them understand your pain's underlying cause. These include:

• Electrocardiogram (EKG): Checks for heart-related issues
• Chest X-ray: Detects abnormalities in the lungs, heart, or chest wall
• Computed tomography (CT) scan: Provides detailed images to detect lung conditions or abnormalities in the chest
• Pulmonary function test: Measures lung capacity and function
• Blood test: Looks for signs of infection, inflammation, or cardiac enzymes
• Endoscopy: Views the inside of the esophagus and stomach to diagnose GERD or other gastrointestinal conditions

Depending on initial findings, your primary care provider may refer you to a cardiologist for heart problems, a pulmonologist for lung conditions, or a gastroenterologist for digestive disorders. In emergency cases, your provider may send you to an emergency doctor or surgeon.

While chest pain can be uncomfortable, several treatments are available to help improve your symptoms. Your exact treatment will depend on the underlying cause of your pain and the severity of your condition. However, before you start home remedies, it's best to check in with your provider to learn if they're safe for you. Consider the following options.