Training & Nutrition - Gaining fitness - chest pains or muscle pains in chest?

I have been doing cardio and working out since around November and have lost about 32lbs so far. My fitness is increasing and I can see some great results, but lately my chest seems to have some muscle type pains in it when I breath deeply. These sometimes feel like they are between the shoulder blades too. I'm pretty darn sure they are not heart attack symptoms because it is not a tightness in the chest, but kind of a deep ache at times. Has anyone had similar growing pains while increasing fitness and losing weight? I was thinking this could be related to the diaphragm but not sure. Sometimes these pains can be more prevalent at night while I'm sleeping or trying to sleep.

There are a whole bunch of different causes of pain in the chest - my wife had some a while back and after getting her checked out at the Er, the diagnosis was "chest pain of undertermined origin".

Both deep breathing and the stress of riding hard could be a cause, but if it's enough that it's keeping you from sleeping, I'd get it checked out.

Magnesium defficiency is a strong possibility that I would look into, http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?PageType=Article&ID=541

I've suffered from simmilar symptoms which were aleviated with magnesium supplimentation. You've said that you have lost a bit of weight lately and magnesium is required for your body to burn fat and magnesium is also important for muscle function so it sounds to me like you have depleted your bodies stores.

Regards, Anthony

If I were you I'd pay a little visit to my Dr.


But then I have heart valve problems so I keep fairly close tabs on what my heart is doing.

I may be in denial, but I don't really think it is heart related. (just a feeling) no pun intended. It seems like a mucle ache, and it is not constant. Like now as I sit here by my keyboard It doesn't seem to bother me, but if I stretch the wrong way or reach down to pick something up off the floor I can feel it. The pain is not bad either, probably about 3 or 4 out of 10 perhaps. It is just bothersome. It seems if I sleep on my side, it makes it worse by the next morning. Also, If I ride my bike or jog or do some physical activity it goes away. Very strange. I will check into the magnesium supplements and I think it might be a good idea to visit a doctor just to see what is going on.



If I were you I'd pay a little visit to my Dr.


But then I have heart valve problems so I keep fairly close tabs on what my heart is doing.

The thing is, it never hurts to have a complete physical when you're increasing the amount of exercise you do. You could be right that it has nothing to do with your heart ... chances are you are right ... but that sort of pain could also be things like gall bladder or kidneys (both are often characterized by referred pain - it doesn't necessarily hurt where they are located but may hurt in the shoulder region). It might be an ulcer or a hiatal hernia, and your comments about it getting worse when you sleep led me to think of those possibilities.

It could be just tight muscles ... and so you might also want to visit a chiropractor, physiotherapist, and/or massage therapist to see if they can offer some relief and/or give you a stretching program or something.

Yeh, I have been thinking about getting into a Yoga group. I don't know if I have time to add another activity though. I have been riding indoors and out now about 50-75miles a week, and that seems to take a lot of my time after work. I don't want to cut back on my cycling, but I know I got to stretch good too!!
It's a shame I have to work! :)

Go see a doctor. Of all the muscles in your chest, I can think of one that is pretty important.

I don't know how old you are, but as you get older you should be in dialogue with your doctor about big changes in your exercise routine.

The more I think about your symptoms the more they sound just like my symptoms which through trial and error I now know were due to magnesium defficiency. I too ruled out it being heart related because I was too young, HOWEVER your heart is a muscle, and suffers from cramps and spasms the same as any muscle from magnesium defficiency.

Nowadays I DO take any chest pain seriously and take magnesium straight away which in my case always fixes the problem. There is evidence now that athletes who just die suddenly from a heart attack who would be otherwise thought of as young and fit probably suffered from accute magnesium defficiency.

Regards, Anthony

If I were you I'd pay a little visit to my Dr.

Good answer. Could be a viral lung infection hanging on; if it's been more than a few days I'd be stopping by the local sawbones.