Frequent chest pain during exercise? These 6 conditions can be the cause

Have you experienced intense chest pain while exercising? Many people often think that chest pain during exercise is caused by a heart attack. In fact, not necessarily. There are many other conditions that can be the cause, from mild to severe.

What are you curious about? Find out the answer here.

Various causes of chest pain during exercise

Here are the five most common reasons why your chest hurts while exercising:

1. Tense muscles

The bones around your chest and ribs are covered with many intercostal muscles. Without you knowing it, exercising at high speed or intensity can actually cause the muscles around your chest to tense up. As a result, you experience chest pain during exercise.

Usually this condition is caused because you do the wrong technique when lifting weights, pull up or squat . Not only that, in fact, dehydration or lack of electrolytes in the body can also cause the muscles around the chest to tighten.

2. Indigestion

You may never think that the chest pain you feel during exercise can be caused by indigestion.

One of the digestive problems that most often causes chest pain is heartburn , which occurs when stomach acid rises into the esophagus. This condition generally occurs after you eat foods that trigger stomach acid to rise before exercising.

3. Asthma

Are you one of the people who has a history of asthma? If so, the chest pain during exercise that you often experience could be due to this condition. However, not everyone with asthma will experience recurrence of symptoms when exercising.

Some people with no history of asthma may even experience asthma symptoms (such as shortness of breath and wheezing) only when they exercise.

It is important to understand that exercise does not cause asthma. However, exercise can trigger asthma symptoms in patients with certain medical conditions.

4. Angina

Angina pectoris, or better known as angina (wind sitting) is discomfort accompanied by intense pain in the chest. Basically this condition is not a disease, but is a symptom of heart disease, such as coronary heart disease. High intensity exercise and stress can trigger this condition in those who have coronary heart disease.

Lack of blood supply to the heart results in less oxygen being carried to the heart to pump blood. As a result, you will feel tightness, pain, or pain in your chest as if you are being stabbed. Chest pain that is felt can sometimes radiate to the arm, neck, jaw, shoulder, or left back.

5. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyopathy is a genetic disease that causes abnormal thickening of the heart muscles.

When exercising, all muscles move too. Including the heart muscle. When exercising at high intensity, the heart muscle of a person who has a history of cardiomyopathy will thicken. This thickening makes the heart work harder to pump oxygen so that the flow of electricity is interrupted.

This condition can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, and even chest pain during exercise. In severe cases, a person may also experience a heart attack and even sudden cardiac arrest while exercising due to cardiomyopathy.

6. Heart attack

Chest pain during exercise can be caused by a heart attack, aka myocardial infarction. A heart attack occurs when the heart muscle is damaged because it is unable to get oxygen-rich blood.

One of the common features of a heart attack is chest pain on the left suddenly with intense pain. Chest pain is described as pressure, squeezing, or tightness in the chest cavity.

You can also experience shortness of breath. In fact, some patients also experience cold sweat before finally experiencing a heart attack

People with a history of previous heart attacks are at risk for sudden cardiac arrest while exercising. This condition requires immediate medical care as it can be life threatening if not treated quickly.

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