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Strange chest pain while running.
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I did a short run today and decided to do a fartlek for the first time. The run was going to be about 30 minutes only... maybe 4 miles. About 1/2 way through, on the cool down from a sprint, I got this pain that felt like it was under my left shoulder blade and it got worse with every stride until I had to stop. It was pretty weird. I had the same pain on a longer run a couple months ago, but it stayed pretty mild. This one made me stop.

I rested for a few blocks and then went easy all the way home and I could sort of feel it, but it wasn't that bad. The only thing I can think of is that I'm not that well hydrated today because it was my son's 1st birthday last night and a friend broke out some mezcal... ooops.

The best way to describe the pain would be a pretty sharp pain that feels like it's only back under my left shoulder blade and sort of pokes through my left front chest. Sort of strange.

Any ideas?
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Re: Strange chest pain while running. [GoBo] [ In reply to ]
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As a chiropractor this sounds like a condition that I have delt a fair amount with in 22 yrs of practise.

It could be an irritation where the rib head articulates with a thoracic vertebra causing muscle/ligimant spasm and/or irritation of the local spinal nerve. Between each of your ribs a nerve runs from the spine to your chest. If this nerve gets irritated it can pain locally in the back or can radiate around to the chest. The medical term for this condition is called intercostal neuralgia. Quite often a number of chiropractic "adjustments" or manipulations will take care of the problem.

It could also be a spasm of the rhomboid muscles that attach from the medial scapula (inside shoulder blade) to the thoracic spine. Getting someone to massage the area may help.

This just might just be a transitory condition that will go away on it's own but if it persists you should see some one about it.
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Re: Strange chest pain while running. [GoBo] [ In reply to ]
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Exertional chest pain should be taken seriously... like cervelo guy said it may be a musculoskeletal pain

However your description of a pain which is in the chest which is brought on by exertion and relieved by cessation of exertion is the classic description of Angina (cardiac chest pain)

So much so that it may be a good idea to go to your primary care doctor to check things out, they can refer you to a stress test to see if there is any pathology which may need to be addressed.

If you have anyrisk factors such as

family history of heart attack
Diabetes
Overweight
cardiac anomalies
high fat diet
High cholesterol
smoking

you should especially get it checked out.
Coronary Heart DIsease is treatable... more so the earlier you catch it.

Then again lets all hope that it is a musculoskeletal problem, if so take some advil, drink some water, and go see the Cervelo Guy
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Re: Strange chest pain while running. [taku] [ In reply to ]
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having gone during the last 3 weeks through a lot of
premature atrial contractions, then an atrial fibrillation that ended up in the ER saturday, I would definitely see a doctor.

it may be nothing, or nothing serious (like it was for me) but if you delay it, you may (if you are like me) stress over it and make symtpoms worse.

see a doc. you may do a few tests that will rule out cardiac problems.
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Re: Strange chest pain while running. [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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I guess I'll go see the doc. It's just such a pain in the ... chest. I'm pretty sure i'm super heart healthy, but who knows, I guess. It's my first year of triathlons and I should've probably been through the whole physical "work-up" before I even started.

It sure doesn't feel like my heart. Feels like a side-ache in my back. Better safe than sorry I guess.
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Re: Strange chest pain while running. [GoBo] [ In reply to ]
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I say go to a chiropractor first...cerveloguy has it nailed. EXTREMELY common complaint, and 99.9% of the time, a few adjustments will fix it. (PS, I make a living from open heart surgery, it ain't THAT kind of problem.)



Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)
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