User:M0rK & m1nDy

Chest cramp

Chest Cramp
Please Note

Cautionary note
Patients should seek emergency medical treatment immediately if:


 * The chest pain lasts longer than three to five days, and when it is accompanied by fever or a cough that produces yellow-green phlegm.


 * The chest pain is severe or is accompanied by nausea, dizziness, sweating, a racing heart or shortness of breath.


 * There is a sense of crushing, squeezing, tightening or pressure in the chest, or a pain that radiates to the jaw, neck, arm or to the shoulder blade.


 * The chest pain is a worsening 'crescendo' attack or a sudden on-set case of chest pain at rest - These are symptoms of unstable chest pain (unstable angina) and they are usually grouped with similar conditions such as acute coronary syndrome. As these may herald myocardial infarction (a heart attack), they require urgent medical attention and are generally treated as a presumed heart attack.

Difficulty in the diagnosis of Chest Cramp
Angina Pectoris - also a common cause of chest pain, has symptoms that often differ only slightly from chest cramp pain.

To briefly summarise the introductory information available on the Wikipedia page Angina Pectoris: Angina pectoris is severe chest pain[1] due to ischemia (a lack of blood & oxygen supply) of the heart muscle, generally due to obstruction or spasm of the coronary arteries (the heart's blood vessels).

Although Chest Cramp Pain is also severe form of chest pain - the pain experienced does not necessarily originate from the cardiac tissues:

There are certain characteristics that can help you determine if your chest discomfort could be coming from your heart. The hallmark of angina pectoris is that its usually precipitated by exertion or stress and promptly (within 5 minutes) relieved by rest.

Symptoms unique to Chest Cramps:


 * The Chest Cramps are not necessarily preceeded by physical exercise.


 * Chest Cramp pain is localised to the chest area.


 * Chest Cramp pain increases with coughing or with shallow chest breathing.


 * Chest Cramp pain subsides after a few minutes of deep, diaphragmatic breathing.

Immediate treatment of Chest Pain (caused by Muscle Cramp)
First aid aims:
 * To ease strain on the heart by ensuring that the casualty rests
 * To obtain medical help if necessary
 * To help the casualty with any medication
 * For the source of this quote see references section number 2

Best treatment procedure for chest pain caused by muscle cramp:
 * Stretch your hands up above you to stretch the affected muscle.
 * Breathe in deeply through the mouth.
 * - It may be necessary to use the diaphragmatic breathing method (summary below)

Other treatment strategies:
 * Apply a soft massage on the cramped muscle (if possible)
 * Drink plenty of water
 * Apply heat or cold.
 * Heat improves superficial blood circulation and makes muscles more flexible, so some people find heat to be soothing for muscle cramps. Application of excessive heat or cold to sore muscles may bring on cramps.

Diaphragmatic Breathing summary
Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing or deep breathing is the act of breathing deep into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm rather than breathing shallowly by flexing your rib cage.

This deep breathing is marked by expansion of the stomach (abdomen) rather than the chest when breathing. It is generally considered a healthier and fuller way to ingest oxygen[citation needed], and is often used as a therapy for hyperventilation and anxiety disorders.

Diaphragmatic breathing technique
(This is taken from the Wikipedia diagphragmatic breathing page)

To breathe diaphragmatically, or with the diaphragm, one must draw air into the lungs in a way which will expand the stomach and not the chest. It is best to perform these breaths as long, slow intakes of air - allowing the body to absorb all of the inhaled oxygen while simultaneously relaxing the breather.

To do this comfortably, it is often best to loosen tight-fitting pants/belts/skirts as these can interfere with the body's ability to intake air. While at first one may not feel comfortable not expanding the chest during breathing, diaphragmatic breathing actually fills up the majority of the lungs with oxygen, much more than chest-breathing or shallow breathing.

Long-term treatment plan
Prevention is better than cure.

Thomas love Peacock, Melincourt (1817) (3)

Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks go out to Monmouth Swimming Club - your specialist knowledge of how to treat cramp probably saved my life.
 * Thank you

Please do feel free to add your comments and username to show support for this article and help in getting this (often serious) medical condition adequately recognised...
(M0rK &amp; m1nDy (talk) 20:33, 9 March 2009 (UTC))