Why Does My Chest Hurt If It's Not a Heart Attack?

Henry Vandyke Carter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Pain that starts around the shoulder blades with pain that radiates to the front of the body can send off alarm bells for people. The biggest concern is that there might be something wrong with the heart. We see clients who have had these symptoms, a lot of them after seeing their medical doctor and finding nothing medically wrong.

​In these cases, what they are feeling is a musculoskeletal issue linked to joint dysfunction where the rib meets the spine and then it causes pain to radiate to the front where the rib meets the sternum. The pains are often sharp/stabbing, aching, sometimes burning, and can feel like they are "shooting through" the chest because of the attachments front and back.

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​​The common mechanisms of injury for this are prolonged amounts of time with the shoulders rounded forward (bad posture), repetitive twisting of the torso, and sudden jerking movements to the arm. Chiropractic adjustments are a great way to get these joints moving better and help get the pain to go away.

​Our office also specializes in the Activator Method of instrument adjusting, which provides a gentler adjustment and for older patients, eliminates any worry about causing a rib fracture.