Most Common Symptoms Of A Heart Attack

Pain In The Neck, Jaw, Shoulder, And Arms

Individuals having a heart attack may experience pain in the neck, jaw, shoulder, or arms. The pain that occurs from a heart attack in areas other than the chest tends to exhibit differences with gender variation. The pain tends to radiate around the body in a different pattern for men and women. Men are more likely to experience the radiation of pain from their chest to their left shoulder, and either up to their chin or down their left arm. Women describe a pattern where the pain is less intense and moves to either the right or left shoulder blade and arm. Pain in women during a heart attack can radiate up their neck and chin, or through the upper back. 

Women also report feeling pain sensations in their abdominal region more than men do. The radiating pain in an individual having a heart attack is more likely to be accompanied by other symptoms in women, such as nausea, pain in the jaw, shortness of breath, and vomiting. Many individuals forget the heart is a muscle itself, so the pain that occurs during a heart attack will feel somewhat like pain that occurs with ischemia of other muscle tissues.