In medical practice, quite often there are situations when back pain gives into the chest. This is because in the back, namely in the spine, nerves are concentrated that transmit impulses throughout the body. Therefore, the pain behind the sternum on the right gives to the back, that is, a mirror effect occurs. Moreover, painful sensations are localized throughout the back - from the cervical to the vertebral, and the localization location indicates a variety of pathologies in the body.
Dangerous symptoms
If the back pain gives into the chest, then this is an occasion to consult a doctor. However, there are a number of symptoms in which a person needs urgent medical attention. And if he is not shown to him, then he may die.
- The pain behind the sternum on the right gives to the back, while the person loses consciousness.
- Shoulder, neck, back are paralyzed.
- Back pain does not go away within 20 minutes.
- Pain in the chest gives to the back, while a person has shortness of breath, tachycardia, increased sweating, repeated loss of consciousness.
- The pain is accompanied by a dry cough with blood.
Any of these symptoms is a sign of a dangerous pathology associated with the work of the cardiovascular system. Delay in helping often leads to death, especially if the chest pain on the left gives back.
First aid for dangerous pain
If a person has chest and back pain accompanied by loss of consciousness, cold sweat, threadlike pulse and uneven breathing, he needs urgent medical attention. Ambulance must be called immediately. Then it is necessary to lay the person on his back and give access to fresh air - to unbutton his shirt and trouser belt, open the window. You can not let the patient lose consciousness, for this you need to let him breathe liquid ammonia on a piece of cotton wool. If the seizures happened earlier, you need to give the patient the drug prescribed for him.
Pain in the back and chest of a degenerative-dystrophic origin
When back pain is given to the chest, it is first assumed that the patient has a disease of degenerative-dystrophic origin. This can be osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia, scoliosis and other diseases of the spine.
Why does back pain give back to the chest? It is transmitted along the nerves that extend between the vertebrae and stretch to the internal organs of the chest or abdomen. And if a nerve infringement has occurred in the thoracic spine, then a person feels acute pain around the heart or lungs. Many with these symptoms begin to take medications to stabilize the heart muscle, eventually leading to the development of pathologies of the cardiovascular system.
To make sure that chest pain is not related to the heart, you need to take a few deep breaths or bends forward, backward. If the pain intensifies at the same time, this means that the nerves between the vertebrae are tightened and this is not related to heart disease.
Osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia and other pathologies of the spine are acquired. They cannot be infected through blood or food. All of them are earned by the man himself, his lifestyle. For example, if you sit motionless for a long time at the computer, then the blood circulation around the spine is disturbed and various pathologies develop. Or vice versa, if you often and often lift weights or live with excess body weight, then the vertebrae quickly wear out, which causes diseases of the spinal column. There is also a traumatic sport where there is always a direct threat of a bruise or fracture of the spine - car and motorcycle racing or weight lifting. And if in youth the athlete does not feel back problems after the fracture, then by the age of 40-50, abnormal zones that cause pain form in the places of injuries.
Diseases of the spine begin to develop in childhood, if the child does not sit properly at the desk or table, stoop. Over the years, this becomes a habit, and kyphosis develops, that is, stoop, scoliosis, and sometimes both at the same time.
Therefore, when back pain gives into the chest, treatment begins only after a complete diagnosis, including an X-ray examination. The most informative method in this case is magnetic resonance imaging.
Heart disease
When a person has heart disease, chest pain gives back, especially during seizures. For example, myocardial infarction is manifested by acute pain, reflected in the space between the shoulder blades or in the left shoulder, arm, jaw. Moreover, when it hurts badly in the sternum with a return to the back, the discomfort occurs precisely in the center of the chest.
Severe pain in the sternum, extending to the back, can be a sign of a heart attack of the posterior wall of the ventricle. But in this case, the reflected pain can appear in the lower back or even in the hypochondrium, resembling pain in diseases of the stomach. This, by the way, makes it difficult to correctly diagnose on their own, because with these symptoms a person begins to suspect an attack of peptic ulcer.
If the pain between the breasts gives to the back - to the area of the scapula, then this may be angina pectoris. Especially if the manifestations are burning in the back.
These symptoms are usually associated with a feeling of panic, shortness of breath, a disturbance in the rhythm of the heartbeat. For an accurate diagnosis, an electrocardiogram and, accordingly, an MRI are used in this case.
Respiratory system diseases
The largest organ in the chest is the lungs and bronchi, that is, the respiratory system. They are prone to several dangerous diseases, a characteristic feature of which is pain behind the sternum, extending to the back.
Fortunately, the lungs themselves are devoid of nerve endings, otherwise a person would die from pain shock during an illness. Unpleasant sensations arise in the pleura surrounding the lungs. She also receives signals from nerve endings sandwiched in the thoracic spine.
Confirm the suspicion of pneumonia or bronchitis by taking a deep breath. With this disease, inhalation provokes an attack of pain. In addition, wheezing in the throat and lungs of the patient is heard when breathing.
Pulmonary diseases cause coughing and muscle spasm in the intercostal space, which causes discomfort.
Diagnosis of lung diseases includes radiography, an electrocardiogram, a blood test, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Digestive system diseases
Sometimes back pain gives into the chest due to diseases in the digestive system. The most common of them in this case is pancreatitis. Inflammation of the pancreas is accompanied by a severe pain syndrome, usually of a shingles nature, the symptoms are most manifested in the hypochondrium. Usually, in this case, pain behind the sternum gives to the back. The pain in this disease is so intense that a person sometimes cannot understand where it is localized and where its source is actually located. It seems to him that his whole back and chest hurt.
Another known disease accompanied by similar symptoms is peptic ulcer. During the perforation of the foci in the stomach or duodenum, the pain syndrome is so strong that a person cannot think adequately, falls into hysteria and can even die from pain shock.
Sometimes an attack of peptic ulcer is accompanied by vomiting with blood, which does not raise doubts about the nature of the disease.
If the back pain gives into the chest on the right, then it could well be cholecystitis - inflammation of the gallbladder. Like all diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, it occurs due to malicious neglect of the diet and abuse of alcoholic beverages. As a result, the gall bladder becomes inflamed and the outflow of bile is delayed. This leads to chronic pain in the back and chest, which is fraught with the accumulation of stones in the ducts of the organ. With this complication of the pathology, the usual treatment no longer helps and the gall bladder has to be removed.
Diagnosis of diseases of the digestive system includes MRI and gastroendoscopy. An ultrasound examination of the liver, pancreas and gall bladder is also performed. Laboratory blood tests help determine the level of amelase and bilirubin in the body.
Oncological disease
An oncological disease that affects the lungs, liver, stomach, pancreas, is manifested by constant pain in the back or chest. In this case, lymph nodes in the neck and armpits can swell and become inflamed.
Diagnosis of the disease, in addition to instrumental and laboratory studies, includes a biopsy of the tissues of the affected organ.
Injuries
If, after falling to the back from a height or other physical damage to the spine, back pain is transmitted to the chest, then this indicates serious damage to the vertebrae and intervertebral discs. In this case, you can not disturb the patient and in no case do not let him sit down and get up. The basis, the aggravating reason, is just the victim’s attempt to stand up after the injury and go on his own. Usually, it takes 1 to 3 months to treat a crack or fracture of the spine, but if the patient got up and walked after the injury, then the treatment can then be delayed for 12-18 months. Such an injury is diagnosed by radiography or MRI.
Psychosomatic causes
Pain in the sternum or in the center of the back can be caused by a mental disorder. A person with phobias such as carcinophobia - fear of cancer, cardiophobia - fear of getting a heart disease - and phthisophobia - fear of tuberculosis, will easily identify their "favorite" disease by chest pain. There are cases when a person developed serious pathologies against the background of ordinary intercostal neuralgia. The patient, fearing to die from a heart attack, brought his condition to critical, abusing drugs from the heart.
Diagnosis and treatment of such diseases is carried out by a physician, a psychotherapist. Of course, after the patient undergoes a full diagnosis for pulmonary, cardiac and systemic diseases.
Treatment and diagnosis
Pain in the middle of the sternum, radiating to the back, and pain in the back, reflecting to the chest, are the most common symptoms of a wide variety of diseases.
If they occur, you should consult a doctor and not try to diagnose the disease yourself. Indeed, it often happens that people with increased suspiciousness and phobias on this symptom alone can make themselves a very dangerous diagnosis. And worst of all, they are accepted to treat him. You need to understand that if a physically healthy person begins to take medicine for diseases of the liver, heart, stomach, and so on, then sooner and later, the body will refuse to work normally. An example of such treatment is the enthusiasm of patients with preparations containing an enzyme that helps to digest food, such as Mezim or Pancreatin. The tool, of course, helps digestion, but the pancreas gradually stops producing this enzyme on its own. And this in turn can lead to necrosis, pancreatitis and death as a result of pain shock.
So it is better to entrust the diagnosis to professionals and conduct it in specialized clinics.
Prevention
Prevention of the occurrence of pain in the chest and back consists in a number of measures aimed at preventing the development of pathologies in the body that can cause these sensations.
To reduce the risk of developing osteochondrosis, scoliosis and stoop, you need to monitor the correct posture and load on the spine from childhood. For this, the back of the chair in the workplace should be straight and stiff. You can’t sit still for more than 2 hours in a row, you need to get up and do a warm-up. And when doing sports, the load on the spine should be calculated by an experienced instructor.
The best sport for correcting posture and treating scoliosis is swimming and archery. If work is associated with prolonged standing, you need to wear a special corset that removes the load from the spine.
It is imperative to monitor your diet and not eat fatty, fried, spicy foods. This will reduce the risk of the formation of cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels, and hence the occurrence of thrombosis and, as a result, heart disease. In general, more fiber, fresh fruits and vegetables should be included in the human diet. You also need to reduce the consumption of sugar, namely pastry and sweet carbonated drinks. Remember, obesity is the cause of the development of many diseases: hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart failure and cholecystitis.
Be sure to abandon bad habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Nicotine and combustion products destroy the alveoli in the lungs, capillaries and walls of the thick vessels, thereby causing chronic bronchitis and, as a result, lung cancer.
Alcohol destroys the liver and pancreas, not to mention the stomach and duodenum. Gastritis, stomach ulcer, pancreatitis are a direct consequence of alcoholism and violation of nutrition rules.
You should regularly check your blood pressure and blood sugar. After all, if you manage to detect hypertension and diabetes mellitus in the early stages of development, you can not only keep them under control, but also prevent the occurrence of the diseases caused by them. For the same purpose, it is necessary to undergo a medical examination at least 2 times a year. The earlier a developing disease is detected, the more positive the prognosis for treatment will be. It is important to lead a healthy lifestyle - spend more time outdoors, engage in gentle sports. This will help prevent the development of many diseases.