The pain on the right side of the chest can be due to many causes in both males and females. Most of the time the causes of right-sided chest pain and left chest pain are similar. However, there are some differences as well. In this blog post, we will see the potential causative factors hurting the right chest, in both men and women. Before that, to make the topic absorbable, we must have a superficial knowledge of the structures present on the right chest.

Structures on Right Side causing Right-sided Chest Pain:

The right chest comprises the following structures from the inside out:

• The right lung with associated blood and lymphatic vessels, bronchi, and bronchioles as well as the pleural coverings with a sac in between.
• The chest wall made up of ribs and intercostal muscles covers your right lung.
• Some large muscles (pectoral muscles), the breast (well developed in females), and finally skin having nipples.

Lung Issues Causing Right-sided Chest Pain:

Various lung issues like pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary embolism, pleurisy, pneumonia, pneumothorax, asthma, and COPD can hurt the right or left side alone or both sides together. These are discussed in detail in left-sided vs right-sided chest pain.

Chest wall conditions Causing Right-sided Chest Pain:

Certain chest wall conditions like broken ribs, muscular spasms, and shingles can also hurt your right chest. The muscular spasm can cause pain in the upper or lower area depending on which level of muscles are involved. These conditions are also described in detail in the post: left-sided vs right-sided chest pain. Costochondritis which is basically a central cause of chest pain is sometimes described by patients as sharp right-sided chest pain near the middle of the chest that comes and goes and increased with breathing.

Gallbladder disease or stones:

In addition to the above-mentioned causes, the gall bladder and liver must be considered here. These structures are present below the diaphragm adjacent to each other in the upper right tummy. These structures, primarily, make you feel pain in the upper right or middle of the tummy. But some patients tell it is pain just beneath the lower ribs and consider it as some chest issue.

Gallstones, mostly made of cholesterol, block the duct connecting the gall bladder to the small intestine. Your gallbladder stores fluid called bile which aids in digestion. This blockade causes fluid buildup in the gall bladder leading to sudden and rapidly intensifying pain in the right upper tummy underneath the lower rib. In addition, other symptoms are also present like nausea, vomiting, pain in the right shoulder, or pain between shoulder blades.

Conclusion:

The causes of Right-sided chest pain are more or less similar to left-sided chest pain. The only major differentiating feature is the heart and related structures, which is the potential cause of left-sided chest pain or central chest pain( sometimes).In addition, causes of pain underneath the right and left lower ribs are different depending on the structures present there.