Pain in the chest during exercise is referred to as angina pectoris. It typically occurs when the working heart is not receiving enough oxygenated blood. Oxygen is required for the production of energy that working cardiac cells need. An inadequate supply of oxygen makes it stressful for your heart to pump and deliver blood to your body, and chest pain is a symptom of this.
Blood Flow to Coronary Arteries
Your heart is designed to supply blood to the entire body, including itself. The cardiac contraction-filling cycle affects when your blood can receive oxygenated blood. During systole, or the contraction phase of the cardiac cycle, the heart is working so hard, the tiny vessels that give it oxygenated blood are occluded by the compression. Therefore, the heart can only receive the blood it needs during diastole, the filling and rest phase.
Causes of Chest Pain
Since your working heart cells can only receive oxygenated blood during diastole, all of the circumstances must be right in order to fulfill its need. For example, if your diastolic pressure is high, then your heart may not be able to receive all the oxygen it needs. During exercise, your diastolic pressure should stay the same or decrease. If diastolic pressure is high, the coronary vessels will not be dilated as much as they could be. An increase in diastolic pressure paired with angina pectoris may indicate a heart problem. Another cause of angina can be an occluded artery. A blockage in an artery can also prevent your heart from getting an adequate blood supply, causing angina.
Assessing Angina
When you are exercising with symptomatic angina pectoris, it is OK to exercise up to a given point of pain, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. This scale is used by professionals, generally during a graded exercise test. It ranges from one to four. One is mild, barely noticeable pain. Two is moderate or bothersome pain. Three is moderately severe pain and four is the most intense pain. When you reach a level three, you should stop exercising.
Considerations
If you suffer from angina pectoris, you should contact your doctor and determine the cause. It may be that your body is telling you something is wrong with your heart. Entering a cardiac rehab program can help to improve your angina pectoris symptoms. With regular, supervised exercise, your heart can adapt to physical demands. Your heart can grow new capillaries to provide itself oxygen, reduce its resting and exercising heart rate and reduce its resting and exercising blood pressure.
References
- "Exercise Physiology"; George A. Brooks, Thomas D. Fahey, Kenneth M. Baldwin; 2005
- "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription",Whaley, Mithcell H., PhD, Brubaker, Peter H., Phd, Otto, Robert M., Phd (Eds.), 2006.
- "Clinical Exercise Physiology"; Jonathan K. Ehrman, Paul M. Gordon, Paul S. Visich and Steven J. Keteyian; 2009
