Overview
Chest pain has many causes. Cardiac features (crushing pressure, exertional, with sweating/nausea, radiating to arm/jaw) deserve urgent workup. Sharp, positional, or reproducible-with-pressure pain is often musculoskeletal.
Symptoms to watch for
- Pressure or squeezing (cardiac)
- Sharp with breathing (pleuritic — lung)
- Burning after meals (reflux)
- Reproducible with pressure (musculoskeletal)
What else could this be?
- Heart attack, unstable angina
- Pulmonary embolism
- Pneumonia
- Aortic dissection
- GERD/esophageal spasm
- Costochondritis
- Panic attack
- Pericarditis
How it's diagnosed
ECG, troponin for cardiac concerns. Chest X-ray, D-dimer/CT for PE. Endoscopy for reflux.
When to book a visit
Book for chronic, mild, or clearly non-cardiac pain. Call 911 for any concerning acute chest pain.
Book online todayFrequently asked
Heart attack symptoms in women?
Women more often have atypical symptoms — jaw pain, back pain, nausea, unusual fatigue — without the classic crushing chest pain.