A member asked:

How can i tell the difference between heart pain and muscular/skeletal chest pain?

2 doctors weighed in across 2 answers

It's tough: Musculoskeletal pain is usually a sharper pain, like someone stabbing with a knife and has brief spurts where itsuddenly hurts a lot more. Heart pain is usually described more as an ache pain, constant and sometimes with a pressure feeling component. Also, musculoskeletal pain hurts worse when you press on it. However, don't ignore pain -it's telling you something needs attention and care.

Answered 12/8/2015

1.9k views

Thank

Chest pain.: Honestly, sometimes hard to tell. There's a significant amount of overlap symptom-wise. Heart-related pain can hurt when you press your chest, and muscular pains can happen with walking. Sometimes a good evaluation and directed testing are necessary just to be sure.

Answered 10/17/2017

1.9k views

Thank

Related Questions