When do I know if my chest pains are serious?
Chest pains can be caused by issues which are not life-threatening. These include muscle or tendon strain (a dull soreness), shingles (sharp, tingling pain, sometimes accompanied by rashes), and inflammation of the joint between the ribs and breast bone. Pains could also be a result of a panic attack, often accompanied by fast breathing, or digestive problems such as gallstones, gastritis, or oesophagus spasms.
These are not issues that need urgent attention. Bear in mind that heart pain is unrelenting and radiating, so momentary discomfort in your chest that changes with breathing or movement is more likely to be from musculoskeletal injury, or involve the lungs instead.
What you do need to look out for is chest pain that feels like a tight, heavy pressure, or even a squeezing or crushing pain. This pain may spread to the arms, shoulders, jaw, or back, along with shortness of breath, cold sweats, fatigue, or lightheadedness—these could be a symptom of angina or heart attack. Sudden, severe pains in the chest and upper back could be caused by a tear in the wall of the aorta; and pain in the centre of the chest could point to inflammation in the sac which surrounds the heart. Should you experience such symptoms relentlessly and for more than 10 minutes, err on the side of caution and get emergency treatment.