You should take seriously any strange or puzzling pain of this nature, as it may be life-threatening. Chest pain in particular may be a sign of any number of emergency threats to your health, such as heart attack, pneumonia, angina, pulmonary embolism, or even cancer. Get to a doctor or go to the hospital as soon as you can.

Pay attention to your chest and back pain symptoms. Make any notes you can on the specifics of your condition. This may help a doctor diagnose your condition for effective treatment, especially if you are being examined for such pain for the first time.

Any time you experience a condition as overwhelming as this, bring someone with you to your appointment if you can. This can help your recall accuracy later on. Don’t be afraid to slow down the doctor so that you can take notes. Also, it is fine to repeat advice back to him or her to be sure that you understand any instructions.

The main determination to make is whether the pain you are experiencing is the short-term result of a strain or injury, or indicative of a long-term, or chronic, condition.

Temporary Pain

A key point to bear in mind is that any severe muscle strain can impact muscle groups next to it. Upper back muscles and many chest muscles work together for the purpose of breathing. Muscular injury usually heals itself within a few weeks.

Sometimes chest pain happens with back pain due to spinal injury, which causes nerve endings to fire into other parts of the body. A pinched nerve in the mid- to upper spine region is a common cause of back and chest pain.

If a bone condition or spinal disk is causing the pain, any chest pain will resolve once the back pain is treated and relieved. Likewise, if the rib cage is damaged or broken, it is common for severe pain to emerge in the upper back.

Diaphragm injury is a frequent cause of upper back and chest pain together. Since the heart and diaphragm share the same pain pattern, diaphragm problems cause chest pain, as well as tightening the upper back.

Chronic Pain

Many times, chest and back pain occurs when one area grows inflamed and spreads the pain to other regions of the body. It can also occur when someone with heart disease has a heart attack. Lung inflammation or infection, such as from pleurisy, is another possible cause. Chronic pain of this nature may even have a psychological basis. When the upper back and the chest hurt at the same time, it can be difficult to know what is really happening, and this is why it often takes an exam to sort things out.

Treatments for Pain

If breathing brings on the pain, then you may need to find a breath pattern that reduces your pain. Slower, deeper breaths may be less painful than frequent, shallow ones. Anything you can do to encourage relaxation, and to avoid moving the body into positions that increase pain, is always advisable.

Drugs may provide short-term relief of inflammation and other symptoms. Rest may ease the suffering. Cold or hot compresses on the pain site may soothe the pain as well.

Various forms of massage may bring some relief, and some have found that chiropractic care helps them. Both massage and chiropractic place an emphasis on spinal alignment and muscle tissue stretching.

When this type of pain is due to heart disease or a similar condition, changes in lifestyle may be necessary in order to achieve long-term pain relief. Such changes could include exercise and diet.

Again, the main thing to remember regarding back and chest pain together is to get yourself checked out by qualified medical help immediately.