If you are experiencing chest pain, it can be difficult to discern what the cause is and how best to treat it. Chronic chest pain can affect your quality of life and manifest in many different forms- ranging from mild discomfort to severe discomfort.
Fortunately, there is a multitude of medical treatments available for people experiencing chronic chest pain. Here are 7 treatment options that may alleviate your symptoms.
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What Causes Chronic Chest Pain?
Chronic chest pain can be caused by several different things. It could be due to heart conditions such as coronary artery disease, angina, or congestive heart failure.
It can also be caused by other medical conditions such as lung diseases, digestive problems, and even anxiety or depression.
It is important to speak with your doctor if you are experiencing chronic chest pain in order to diagnose the underlying cause.
Treatment Options for Chronic Chest Pain
Once the underlying cause of your chronic chest pain has been determined, several treatment options are available depending on the severity of your symptoms and the root cause.
Some common treatments include lifestyle changes such as avoiding smoking and drinking alcohol, exercising regularly, eating healthy foods, and getting enough sleep.
If these lifestyle changes don’t help relieve your symptoms, here are some other options that may provide relief:
Over-the-counter medications
Over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen may provide relief. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen also help reduce swelling in the area and can be taken orally or applied topically as a cream or gel.
However, if you find yourself needing more than two doses of over-the-counter medication per day, it might be time to seek medical attention, as this could indicate a more serious problem requiring additional treatment options.
Prescription Medications
Your doctor may decide to prescribe you stronger medications if they deem it necessary. These could include muscle relaxants or narcotics such as codeine and morphine, which have greater analgesic properties than over-the-counter medications do.
Additionally, your doctor may recommend antidepressants if your chest pain is accompanied by depression or anxiety because these prescription drugs have been found to reduce sensitivity to both physical and emotional pain.
Physical Therapy
A physical therapist may be able to suggest various exercises that will help strengthen the muscles in the affected area while reducing tension and improving flexibility in the surrounding areas of your body that are contributing factors to chest pain.
An exercise plan typically consists of deep breathing exercises, stretching activities like yoga, and strengthening exercises done with weights or resistance bands that target specific muscle groups throughout the body that support good posture and breath control – both of which contribute greatly towards alleviating symptoms of chronic chest pain.
Massage Therapy
If you sit for long on your gaming chair while playing games at Uptown Pokies, or your job requires you to stand for long hours, then massage therapy can help reduce tightness in the muscles.
It helps release tightness in the muscles around the ribcage, which can then help improve breathing capacity and reduce stress levels overall – both of which are important when trying to manage chronic chest pains associated with anxiety disorders or other mental health issues that require relaxation techniques for symptom management purposes.
Heat/Ice Packs
Applying heat or ice packs directly onto affected areas can provide temporary relief from the discomfort associated with chronic chest pains. Hot packs increase circulation, while cold packs decrease inflammation.
Both treatments should never last more than 20 minutes at a time, however. Always follow up with gentle stretches after applying hot/cold packs for the best results.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture works by stimulating certain points on the body using needles inserted into the skin tissue.
This causes a release of endorphins which work together with cortisol hormones to reduce feelings of stress and tension while increasing feelings of relaxation which helps alleviate symptoms associated with chronic chest pains due to stress-related disorders like anxiety/depression etc.
Acupressure is similar to acupuncture but instead uses pressure points instead of needles inserted into skin tissue, so it is less invasive yet still effective when trying out alternative treatments for managing chronic conditions like chest pains.
Surgery
In rare cases where all other treatments have failed, surgery may become necessary; this usually occurs when there is an underlying structural issue causing the problem, such as herniated discs, bone fractures, etc.
Surgery will often involve repairing any damaged structures followed by some type of postoperative rehabilitation depending on what type of procedure was performed and how extensive it was.
Conclusion
Chronic chest pain can have a number of different causes, and it is important to talk to your doctor about any persistent discomfort you experience so that an accurate diagnosis can be made and an appropriate treatment plan can be created for you.
The good news is that there are many treatments available that can help reduce symptoms or even eliminate them altogether. With the right approach and dedication to treatment plans provided by healthcare professionals, it is possible to manage chronic chest pain effectively so you can get back to living life without fear of painful flare-ups.
