Symptom Checker
Step 4: Read and complete the decision guide to learn more about your symptoms.
Chest Pain
The most common causes of chest pain that gets worse with deep breathing (called pleuritic chest pain) are a pulled muscle in the chest wall, inflammation of the joints between the ribs and other bones in the chest area, a rib injury, irritation of the lining around the lung or heart and an infection such as bronchitis or pneumonia. Less commonly, pleuritic chest pain is caused by a partially collapsed lung called a pneumothorax or blood clots in the lung (pulmonary emboli).
The presence of shortness of breath in addition to pleuritic chest pain may indicate a problem that needs immediate medical attention, such as a pneumothorax or pulmonary emboli.
Do you have shortness of breath independent of the chest pain?
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