Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsCausesTimingSymptomsNonemergency PainMedical Treatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Causes
Timing
Symptoms
Nonemergency Pain
Medical Treatment
There are several reasons why your back might hurt, and why you have chest pain. When these two symptoms occur together, it can be worrisome. There are several explanations for chest pain that appears with back pain.
This article covers causes of chest and back pain.
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What Could Cause Chest and Back Pain?
Many muscles, nerves, tendons and more run throughout your torso, so when pain strikes your chest or back, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact location and cause. Your healthcare provider will ask you questions about the location and nature of the pain to help discover the underlying cause.
There are many potential causes of pain in different areas of your chest and back, and some may require immediate medical treatment.
Heart Disease
Right-Sided
Other causes of chest pain that is focused on the right side of your chest include:
Some conditions that may be investigated or ruled out if you are having recurrent right-sided chest pain include:
What Does Sharp Pain in the Right Side of the Chest Mean?
Left-Sided
Left-sided chest pain is more often associated with cardiac events like a heart attack than right-sided chest pain. The bulk or your heart is located on the left side of your chest, so a lack of oxygen to blood, or any traumatic injury to the heart would be felt strongest in this area.
Your healthcare provider will also consider and may want to rule out all the possibilities listed above, too, since the same muscles, lung, and structural problems that can happen in the right chest can also happen in the left chest.
Why Do I Have Chest Pain on My Left Side?
Upper Back
Not only is your back the structural workhorse for your body, but it also houses your spinal cord. Nerves from all over your body run through your spinal cord, so pain signals from different areas of the body can appear in certain sections of your back.
Your back is also susceptible to muscle strain. Upper back pain may be focused on your neck and shoulders, but it can also be related to head and neck disorders, breathing problems, or other, more distant conditions.
Causes of Pain Between the Shoulder Blades
Middle Back
The middle of your back isn’t as delicate as your upper back, but it is ground zero for many muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Muscle strain is a leading cause of pain in the middle area of the back, but referred pain from other areas of the body is also a possibility.
Some other organs in the middle of your torso can also radiate pain to the back, specifically the liver or gallbladder.
Upper, Lower, and Middle Back Pain Red Flags
Timing of Chest and Back Pain
When trying to determine the cause of your chest and back pain and what is causing it, your healthcare provider will ask you questions concerning when you experience the pain and what may be contributing to it. Time of day, activities you are or aren’t doing when the pain occurs, and how long the pain lasts can all provide clues about the source of the problem.
Causes of Pain When Sleeping
Back and chest pain that happens at rest or when you are sleeping can be the result of awkward positioning. When it happens often in the chest, though, your healthcare provider may suggest that you are having vasospastic angina. Symptoms are small spasms that are usually most noticeable when you are resting late at night or early in the morning.
These spasms aren’t usually considered a medical emergency, but they could be a sign of other medical issues such as:
Talk to your healthcare provider if these spasms and pains are happening more often or in clusters, as these could be signs your chest pain is worsening and could progress to a cardiac event like a heart attack.
Causes of Pain With Activity
Pain is your body’s signal that something isn’t right, so if you are experiencing pain with strenuous exercise or during certain activities, talk to your healthcare provider. Chest pain with exertion can be a sign that your heart isn’t getting enough oxygen, and this could lead to a heart attack or other problems.
Back pain is a red flag, too, as pain with certain activities could indicate a more serious muscular or structural problem in your back. Your spine is made up of many vertebrae stacked upon each other, and these vertebrae can shift and cause pain. They can even trap nerves and other tissues that send pain from the back to other areas of the body.
Don’t Ignore These Symptoms
Pain that runs through your chest and back can be chronic, but there are somesigns you shouldn’t ignorethat could indicate that something serious is happening.Call 911 if you experience chest or back pain with the following symptoms:
Get immediate help if you have any of these symptoms. Immediate medical care is crucial to surviving a heart attack.
Describing Chest and Back Pain Symptoms
How you describe your pain will give your healthcare provider or emergency personnel valuable information about your condition. When it comes to chest and back pain, be as specific as possible when describing:
Be sure to have information ready about any other medical conditions you may have, other symptoms you’ve been experiencing such as nausea, and a list of the medications you take.
How to Relieve Nonemergency Chest and Back Pain
Chest and back pain that is chronic or that your healthcare provider has ruled out as urgent is usually attributed to muscle pain orstable angina.
For muscle pain, stretching, physical therapy, and over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers may help. If stable angina appears to be the cause,some things you can do to relieve your painmay include:
Medical Treatment for Chest and Back Pain
They may prescribe medications to support your heart health, antibiotics to clear an infection, steroids for inflammation, or even procedures to make physical or structural repairs to different areas of the body.
Chest Pain and Angina
Summary
Your chest, back, and torso contain nearly all of your vital organs, as well as the supportive structure for your entire body. Despite this, the combination of chest and back pain is not always an emergency.
Pain can be either chronic or short term. Learn the warning signs of a serious cardiac event, and know when to seek help for chest or back pain.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you have frequent or recurring chest or back pain that is making it difficult to carry out your everyday tasks.
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard Health Publishing.Other conditions may be causes of chest pain.American Heart Association.Angina (chest pain).Jin Q, Chang Y, Lu C, Chen L, Wang Y.Referred pain: Characteristics, possible mechanisms, and clinical management.Front Neurol. June 2023;14:1104817. doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1104817National Institutes of Health.Back pain.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Low back pain fact sheet.British Heart Foundation.Vasospastic angina.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About heart attack symptoms, risk, and recovery.American Heart Association.What causes chest pain?American Heart Association.Stable angina.Kohara K, Tabara Y, Ochi M, et al.Habitual hot water bathing protects cardiovascular function in middle-aged to elderly Japanese subjects.Sci Rep. June 2018;8(1):8687. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26908-1
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard Health Publishing.Other conditions may be causes of chest pain.American Heart Association.Angina (chest pain).Jin Q, Chang Y, Lu C, Chen L, Wang Y.Referred pain: Characteristics, possible mechanisms, and clinical management.Front Neurol. June 2023;14:1104817. doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1104817National Institutes of Health.Back pain.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Low back pain fact sheet.British Heart Foundation.Vasospastic angina.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About heart attack symptoms, risk, and recovery.American Heart Association.What causes chest pain?American Heart Association.Stable angina.Kohara K, Tabara Y, Ochi M, et al.Habitual hot water bathing protects cardiovascular function in middle-aged to elderly Japanese subjects.Sci Rep. June 2018;8(1):8687. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26908-1
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Harvard Health Publishing.Other conditions may be causes of chest pain.American Heart Association.Angina (chest pain).Jin Q, Chang Y, Lu C, Chen L, Wang Y.Referred pain: Characteristics, possible mechanisms, and clinical management.Front Neurol. June 2023;14:1104817. doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1104817National Institutes of Health.Back pain.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Low back pain fact sheet.British Heart Foundation.Vasospastic angina.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About heart attack symptoms, risk, and recovery.American Heart Association.What causes chest pain?American Heart Association.Stable angina.Kohara K, Tabara Y, Ochi M, et al.Habitual hot water bathing protects cardiovascular function in middle-aged to elderly Japanese subjects.Sci Rep. June 2018;8(1):8687. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26908-1
Harvard Health Publishing.Other conditions may be causes of chest pain.
American Heart Association.Angina (chest pain).
Jin Q, Chang Y, Lu C, Chen L, Wang Y.Referred pain: Characteristics, possible mechanisms, and clinical management.Front Neurol. June 2023;14:1104817. doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1104817
National Institutes of Health.Back pain.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Low back pain fact sheet.
British Heart Foundation.Vasospastic angina.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About heart attack symptoms, risk, and recovery.
American Heart Association.What causes chest pain?
American Heart Association.Stable angina.
Kohara K, Tabara Y, Ochi M, et al.Habitual hot water bathing protects cardiovascular function in middle-aged to elderly Japanese subjects.Sci Rep. June 2018;8(1):8687. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26908-1
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