From just a hiccup to a serious heart trouble, the chest ache is often misjudged as not what it actually as the causes are quite complex and cannot be distinguished by seeing the reaction of the sufferer. The pain can stay for a variable period of time too; can be just a minute, an hour or several weeks.

The key is to keep in mind that chest pain is never a disease but always a symptom of some or other disease. Hence it is always essential to characterize the pain on the basis of its causes. The easiest way to characterize the pain is dividing it into two forms: cardiac and non cardiac. Detection of the cause can make the treatment quite easier.

Cardiac causes

The causes that include the heart related problems come under cardiac causes. These causes are quite serious in general and require urgent medical help. They can be diagnosed only at the medical centre or the hospital where machines such as ultrasound-ray or echocardiogram are available. Major causes under cardiac causes are angina, aortic dissection, heart failure, collapsing of the walls of the heart.

Non Cardiac Causes

Quite similar to the cardiac causes in intensity and pain, the non cardiac causes are quite more in number than the former. They also are of variable intensity and can sometimes be dealt by just a fair amount of rest by the patient. These causes can be understood by the patient or the observer himself and similarly, can be dealt with certain amount of patience.

Major causes under non cardiac ones are asthmatic or breathing problems, high cough and cold diseases like pneumonia, intense pressure by some injury, choking in the oesophagus due to improper eating , choking in the wind pipe due to large foreign element etc .

Aches due to improper action of the digestive system look quite similar to the cardiac ones while are just too easy to cure. Acidity or indigestive problems can cause a fair amount of pain in the thoracic cavity for a prolonged period of time. A proper dietary habit is needed to cure the disease completely and at the time of the pain, it is need that the patient takes proper rest as well as digestive medicine is taken for the pain to slow down.

More severe can be the pain due to pneumonia which is caused due to infection in the lungs. Pneumonia is an amplified form of the normal cough and cold disease, and with pleuritis, it causes seizures in the intercoastal muscles and the diaphragm region of the lungs which can cause sustainable amount of pain which can last for a long time too. It needs an emergency treatment as the pain signifies fair amount of damage to the lungs and if the patient is weak, then even blood clots can happen in the body.

Nerves of the spinal cord can cause tremendous pain if the posture is improper. The nerve structure in the body is quite complicated, and so is the reason to understand the damage to it.

Please remember that no matter how mild the pain you will feel in your chest, call your doctor or ambulance and seek some medical advice. Most chest pain may be a minor case, but never discount the fact that it can be #life threatening.