Your heart is located between your lungs in the middle of your chest, behind and slightly to the left of your breastbone (sternum).
The heart is located within the rib cage, under and slightly to the left of the breastbone (sternum). It approximately the size of a clenched fist.
When the heart muscle does not receive enough oxygen in the coronary artery blood supply, the resulting pain under the left breast or in the center of the chest is known as angina. Associated symptoms include an uncomfortable feeling in the shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back.
It sits in the chest, slightly left of center, behind the breastbone, and between the lungs.
Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Feeling weak, light-headed, or faint.
Pain under the right breast can result from injuries, infections, muscle strain, inflammation, and gastrointestinal issues. It can sometimes be a sign of an underlying health condition. A strain or injury are common causes of pain under the right breast, and the pain usually gets better on its own.
If you feel what you would describe as new chest pain, involving pressure or discomfort in the area that worsens with activity, there's a concern that it could be a heart attack, Dr. Nazareth says.
The most likely cause of your pain is a condition known as costochondritis. This is an inflammation of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the breast plate. You may also be suffering from chest wall irritation or inflammation of the lining of the lungs. Muscle spasm is also a possibility.
The lumps are milk ducts and tissues around them that have grown and widened to form cysts. These enlarge quickly in response to hormones released near your period. The lumps may be hard or rubbery and could feel like a single (large or small) lump. Fibrocystic changes can also cause breast tissue to thicken.
There are no muscles in the breast, but muscles lie under each breast and cover the ribs. Each breast also contains blood vessels and vessels that carry lymph. The lymph vessels lead to small bean-shaped organs called lymph nodes.
Breast pain (mastalgia) can be described as tenderness, throbbing, sharp, stabbing, burning pain or tightness in the breast tissue.
Heart: An hollow organ located in between the lungs just behind the breastbone. It supplies blood to all parts of the body.
Chest discomfort due to a heart attack or another heart problem may feel like: Pressure, fullness, burning or tightness in the chest. Crushing or searing pain that spreads to the back, neck, jaw, shoulders, and one or both arms.
Pericarditis pain usually occurs behind the breastbone or on the left side of the chest. The pain may: Spread to the left shoulder and neck. Get worse when coughing, lying down or taking a deep breath.
It is very likely that you are seeing your normal heartbeat transmitted through your breast tissue. There are certain unusual and rare heart conditions that can cause the heart to beat more forcefully, such as a leaky valve that lets the blood back into the heart after the heart pumps the blood into the aorta.
Generally, intermittent left side pain is a sign of gas or indigestion and should pass on its own. But if you notice severe abdominal pain on the left side of your body in conjunction with any of the following symptoms, it's time to seek medical help: Fever. Nausea or vomiting.
Pleurisy is a condition that causes sharp, stabbing pain under your breast that can be made worse by breathing in deeply. Pleurisy is caused by inflammation of the thin membranes that surround the outside of your lungs and the inside of your chest cavity, called pleura.
However, bear in mind that when it comes to the left side of the body, a number of crucial organs are housed in there. For instance, there's the left lung, left kidney and left breast. Speaking of which, around and under the left breast, there's the heart, spleen, stomach, pancreas and large intestine.
Typical breast cancer, when it is found, also doesn't cause pain. “If a tumor grows big enough that you can feel it, it will feel like a rock in your breast tissue.
Bras can cause breast pain too, especially if they are too tight or if they have an underwire that digs into the breast tissue. This causes the ligaments that connect your breasts to the chest wall to become painful and overstretched, resulting in achy breasts.
Costochondritis: The Most Common Cause of Breast Pain
Perhaps the most common cause of localized “breast pain” is costochondritis – inflammation in the ribs behind the breast. This may be due to increased physical activity or trauma, but often there is no known cause.
If you pull a muscle under your breasts, you'll know something is wrong almost immediately. Although it can take a little while for any swelling to occur, the discomfort will be obvious in a matter of seconds. These are some of the symptoms you might experience: Tenderness.
SMI warning signs
It can feel like an uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, or pain. Discomfort in other upper-body areas, such as one or both arms, the back, the neck, the jaw, or the stomach. Shortness of breath before or during chest discomfort. Breaking out in a cold sweat, or feeling nauseated or lightheaded.