Chest pain in children

Adults often associate chest pain in children with heart problems. But in reality, this is far from true. Research conducted in the United States has shown that in adolescents and young children, chest pain is not associated with heart disease in 99% of cases. That's right. This study involved no less than 3,700 children from Boston with heart pain, patients at Boston Hospital, and only 1% of them were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. What are the causes of chest pain in children and what to do about it?

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Causes of Chest Pain in Children

The study we wrote about above involved children whose average age barely reached 14 years. 99% of them were diagnosed with diseases of bone tissue, the musculoskeletal system, the digestive system, and the central nervous system. Some children had chest pain due to uncontrolled use of medications that caused allergies. And only 1% of children experienced chest pain due to cardiovascular problems. Therefore, doctors strongly advise parents who have discovered chest pain in their children to first have an ECG.

This will allow you to immediately exclude the risk of cardiovascular diseases or confirm heart problems. And then you need to focus on the picture of the disease. This will allow you not to waste time on taking drugs for cardiovascular diseases, if there is no trace of them. This time will be useful for identifying the real cause of chest pain in children.

So, the causes of chest pain in children can be:

• Psychogenic pain
• Pain due to skin damage or diseases
• Pain due to muscle dysfunction
• Pain due to respiratory diseases
• Pain due to cardiovascular diseases
• Pain due to gastrointestinal tract lesions

First, you need to ask the child in detail where exactly the pain occurs, because small children very often indicate different places that hurt. Therefore, pain under the pit of the stomach, indicating diseases of the digestive system, is easily confused with chest pain - the child can call both parts of the body the chest. Also ask the child about the nature of the pain. Are they sharp, stabbing or dull, pulling? When does chest pain occur in a child? After eating, during movement, after active sports? Let's consider each of the causes of chest pain in a child in more detail.

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Pain due to skin diseases or damage

Pain from skin diseases or damage can bother a child if he has herpes or shingles. This disease tends to affect the skin with a rash, sores or blisters. And then the child complains of burning pain in the chest. They can be accompanied by a high temperature or lymph nodes that are significantly enlarged.

How to help?

Shingles, or herpes, is a viral disease that is also infectious, meaning it is transmitted from child to child. To cure it, you need to call your local doctor and follow the treatment plan he or she prescribes.

Chest pain in a child due to diseases of the musculoskeletal system

Chest pain in a child due to diseases of the musculoskeletal system can be quite strong and acute. The sources of pain can be changes in the vertebral processes after an injury, pain due to cartilage damage in the spine, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis. All these diseases lead to pinching of the nerve roots, and this is very painful.

How to help?

You need to take your child to a rheumatologist for diagnosis and treatment.

Chest pain in a child with respiratory diseases

Chest pain in a child can most often occur due to damage or inflammation of the lungs. This respiratory organ is surrounded by the pleura - a membrane that lines the chest cavity. When the pleura is inflamed, its sheets (it consists of sheets, very thin) rub against each other, and this causes severe chest pain in a child. They are very difficult to bear, the pain intensifies even more during deep breathing and can radiate to the shoulder joint.

How to help?

A child may experience such pain when pneumonia has worsened, the lungs are in a serious condition, they are inflamed and affected by the virus. In this condition, self-medication is unacceptable. You must immediately call a doctor and treat the child in a hospital, usually with antibiotics.

Chest pain in a child with cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular chest pain in a child is one of the most dangerous types of pain. It can occur with various diseases of the heart and blood vessels, in particular, rheumatism, ARVI (acute respiratory infections), which cause inflammation of the lining of the heart - the pericardium or inflamed heart muscles (the disease is called myocarditis). Cardiovascular diseases not associated with myocardial infarction or angina can be recognized by dull and nagging pain, such pain can radiate (spread) to the neck or shoulder.

If there is any doubt about what disease is causing the pain, it is necessary to listen to the child with a stethoscope. And then the doctor can hear extraneous noises in the heart area that "go in step" with each heartbeat, that is, synchronously. Pain in the child's chest with cardiovascular diseases can also become stronger during swallowing or deep breathing.

How to help?

If the heart and blood vessels are not normal, this is a great danger for the child. You need to immediately consult a doctor. He will prescribe treatment depending on the nature of the disease.

Chest pain in a child with digestive system diseases

Chest pain in a child with gastrointestinal diseases can be very strong and indicate serious health problems. These can be blockages in the digestive tract, gas reflux disease (heartburn), inflammation of the esophagus, which doctors call esophagitis, as well as poisoning with substances that can irritate the delicate mucous membrane of the esophagus or stomach.

Digestive system diseases that cause chest pain in a child may include a stomach or duodenal ulcer, a hernia of the esophageal opening, or a foreign body that the child has swallowed (for example, a bone). Such pains can be recognized by their nature: they become stronger when swallowing, in a lying position, or when the child leans forward. Accompanying symptoms include difficulty swallowing, vomiting blood, stool with black discharge, and increased salivation.

How to help?

You need to call an ambulance immediately and take the child to the hospital. First of all, he needs to undergo an esophageal endoscopy (an examination of the esophagus using computer diagnostics and a device called an endoscope). Then the doctor will prescribe treatment depending on what diseases the child suffers from.

Psychogenic chest pain

Psychogenic chest pains can begin if the child is not sick, but is experiencing acute stress. Then muscle clamps appear in the chest, and the child complains of chest pains. The child can also worry about the condition of a person close to him, for example, his mother, and imitate the chest pains that she suffers from. Psychogenic pains can be determined by the time they occur. As a rule, these pains bother the child only when awake, and in a state of sleep or when the child is engrossed in a game or an interesting book, the pains go away.

How to help?

It is necessary to give the child the opportunity to rest more, play, be in the fresh air. If the chest pain does not go away, it is necessary to show the child to a neurologist and a psychologist.

Sudden severe stabbing pain of unknown etiology

A sudden, severe stabbing pain of unclear etiology may occur in a child, most often after eating or during severe physical exertion. This pain may be accompanied by contractions in the chest area (pain attacks), localized in the upper abdomen or lower chest. As a rule, such pain is more often localized on the right. The causes of such pain may be tense ligaments between the abdominal membrane (peritoneum) and the diaphragm.

How to help?

Pain of this nature in a child should go away after he rests and calms down. The child should lie down, the ligaments of the peritoneum will relax and then all the pain will go away. Even without medication.

Chest pain in a child due to muscle strain or muscle injury

Chest pain due to muscle problems can occur after injuries, muscle strains, bruises, and also due to viral infections in the muscles. The latter disease leads to inflammation of the muscles, which is called viral myalgia. It is characterized by the fact that the child's muscles in the chest area become very painful, and this pain comes unexpectedly, it is strong, felt even with light pressure with fingers. The area of pain is usually only this one, there are no other deviations in the child's condition.

How to help?

For bruises and sprains, alternate heat and ice (for 15 minutes). Warm compresses can be salt heated in a frying pan or a warm heating pad. You can also heat a woolen scarf on a warm radiator and apply it to the child's sore chest.

If the chest hurts a lot, you can give something anti-inflammatory and painkiller, such as ibuprofen. You can also give the child Panadol - it relieves pain and inflammation well.

How to identify diseases by the nature of chest pain in a child?

If the pain increases with movement, it is most likely caused by an injury or muscle strain. It could also be a muscle strain or inflammation. Parents should pay attention to these symptoms even if there are no bruises or other signs of injury on the child's chest. An additional symptom is pain with a light touch, breathing, or coughing.

If the pain in the child's chest is concentrated in only one place, which hurts constantly, this may be the result of a rib fracture. Additional symptoms are sharp pain when moving, touching, and this pain is in the area where the ribs are located. This pain does not radiate anywhere else.

A strong and sharp pain in the child's chest, as if behind the breastbone, from behind, is a symptom of tonsillitis or a cold. Such pain can be caused by a disease of the trachea, in particular, its inflammation. The microorganisms that cause tonsillitis and tracheitis are the same. An additional symptom of this disease is a dry cough, pain that intensifies with deep breathing.

A child's chest pain in the form of a burning sensation that occurs after eating is a sign of a disease of the digestive system, in particular, the stomach. This pain is caused by acid that rises from the stomach back into the esophagus. There are children who especially often suffer from heartburn and increased acidity. To avoid this condition, do not overeat and bend over after eating, but sit upright. If these simple remedies do not work, you need to take the child to the doctor.

Pain in the child's chest during coughing is a sign of a respiratory disease, in particular, pneumonia. If the child coughs often and for a long time, then the intercostal muscles may stretch, they become inflamed and hurt. The pain worsens when palpating the chest. This pain will quickly pass as soon as the cough itself passes.

Whatever the child's chest pain, you should not overlook this symptom, because it can be a signal of serious diseases. In order not to be convinced of the presence of these diseases in practice, you need to pay attention to them at an early stage in order to diagnose and treat them in time.

Which doctors should I see if my child has chest pain?

1. Pediatrician
2. Cardiologist
3. Dermatologist
4. Neurologist
5. Traumatologist-orthopedist
6. Gastroenterologist
7. Pulmonologist
8. Psychologist