Can a pinched nerve cause chest pain? If a nerve in your neck or collarbone is pinched, you may experience pain in your back or chest.
Too much pressure on the nerve can prevent it from working normally.
Symptoms When there is a pinched nerve: You may:
- Feel your neck ache
- Feel pain in your back or chest
- Toggle or shift from side to side
- Have frequent breathing or chest pain
- Have breathing problems while you sleep
- Have neck or back pain, or feel pain
Have other symptoms of a pinched nerve
The symptoms can be different depending on how the pinched nerve is stimulated. Some types of pain (like pinched and strained) can be the result of a pinched nerve when it is stimulated. Others (like pinched and cut) are the result of nerve irritation caused by a needle or surgical instrument.
Most of the time, pinched nerves can be treated with medications, but pinched nerve symptoms often become so severe that they need to be treated with surgery. When there is a pinched nerve: You may: Feel pain when your neck is compressed by the top of your shirt
- Feel pain when the top of your shirt is pulled back
- Be unable to breathe when the top of your shirt is pulled back
- Change breathing rhythm
- Hear your chest rise and fall, which may signal a pinched nerve
- Change the way you breathe (breathing patterns)
- Be unable to do certain tasks without assistance
- Need help adjusting your posture or using your arms and legs
Other symptoms of a pinched nerve
Have difficulty using your arms, especially when you lean forward to talk on the phone or take a phone call The symptoms can be different depending on how the pinched nerve is stimulated. Some types of pain (like pinched and strained) can be the result of a pinched nerve when it is stimulated.
Others (like pinched and cut) are the result of nerve irritation caused by a needle or surgical instrument. Most of the time, pinched nerve symptoms can be treated with medications, but pinched nerve symptoms often become so severe that they need to be treated with surgery.
Effect on your heart
How it happens Your heart valve may have one or more abnormal bulges or cavities in it.
This condition causes the valve to narrow. Your heart can also narrow or widen by one (or more) of the following: Increased blood flow causes the narrowed valve to lose water and/or reduce the force needed to push blood through it.
The valve can be replaced by an external valve that allows more blood to flow into it. An internal valve lets more blood in. These changes happen by age, illness, surgery, and stress.
Your doctor may ask you to keep a regular record of changes in your heart valve and to check it each time you get a heart attack. If your heart valve becomes narrowed, the amount of blood flowing into it will decrease. With time, it can get smaller and smaller.
How long your heart valve may get narrowed The valve may have changed size, but may not have changed shape. If it does change shape, a doctor may repair it to keep it closed. When the new valve is in place, it is called an angioplasty.
What it does in the long term If a pinched nerve is damaged or becomes pinched, a person may require an angioplasty to stop the narrowing of the heart valve. An angioplasty may be done: During surgery to treat narrowed heart valves
- In adults who have diabetes or have developed a heart valve disease
- Before birth
- When there are other underlying heart conditions
After surgery You may need to take medications, including medicines that protect your blood vessels.
