I always emphasize maintaining safety when performing athletic activities such as trampoline bouncing. That means no exaggerated movements or untrained techniques. But when you’re in such a world where the adrenaline rush is too much, mistakes are part and parcel of an athlete’s daily life.
I have had young people coming and asking, “why does my chest hurt after jumping on a trampoline?” Trust me; it’s more common than you think. After the ankles, the chest is the most vulnerable part of your body when you’re jumping on an unstable surface like a trampoline mat.
Below, we’ll discuss why the chest hurts and what it means for an athlete.
Reasons for Chest Pain
The chest could hurt for several reasons, and it’s crucial to pinpoint the root cause before we can move to solve it. Sometimes the pain could be caused by something external, and other times the pain could originate from something purely clinical reasons.
The chest pain could be something completely unrelated to trampoline jumping. Below, we’ll state the common reasons for chest pain to explore all the plausible reasons.
External Causes
Trauma One of the prominent causes of chest pains is trauma from external forces. Your chest is strong, but it can get hurt. Even simple things like lying on your chest for a long time will cause you momentary pain in your chest.
To experience severe trauma, one has to experience an extreme external blow to the chest. It could be from a vehicle accident or something as trivial as falling hard on your chest.
Traumas become severe when there’s internal damage, such as broken ribs. While trampoline jumping rarely sees broken ribs, it has seen a fairly large amount of sprains.
- Sore Muscles
All athletes know how painful can sore muscles can get. But it’s also true that the chest muscles can endure a lot of stress once it gets accustomed to the movement.
In the gym, each time you attempt a new exercise, there’s a new muscle that becomes sore. It’s actually good for you because it means you’re improving and you’re hitting new heights.
A sore muscle means it has done more work than it’s capable of. Give it a day or two, and the pain will go away.
With regards to trampolines, this is to be expected since you’re jumping and using your hands to land and control your movements.
However, sudden twisting motions could be bad as they can rip apart more muscle fibers than normal. It will cause inflammation, and it’ll be hard to move your arms.
Internal Causes
- Angina
It’s the medical term for chest pain due to a lack of blood flow to the heart. It’s a distinct kind of pain where the person could feel sharp stabbing pain to dull pain.
If someone with plaques in their arteries attempts highly strenuous physical activity, they will most likely experience the pain of angina.
When your body is active, it needs more blood pumped from the heart to the body. But the heart also needs to receive the blood coming from the whole body. If there are plaques on the inner walls of the arteries, the blood flow is interrupted and slowed down.
The heart, then, can’t receive enough blood and starts to hurt.
- Myocardial Infarction
This is a medical term for chest pain caused by a complete blockage of blood flow to the heart muscles. It’s also known as a heart attack. While it’s similar to angina, it’s more severe in nature.
Myocardial infarction is a serious condition that needs to be checked by the doctor as soon as possible.
Now, can trampoline jumping cause it? No, it’s the body’s internal problem. However, physical activity can bring it up to the surface where it was unknown to the patient.
It’s unlikely that someone who takes trampoline jumping as a hobby will suffer from such a disease. But with all the bad food we’re consuming, nobody is guaranteed safety.
- Lungs
Yes, lung problems can cause chest pain as well. And it’s more common than one may think.
Chest pain can occur immediately after exercise. It’s caused by a spasm in the lung’s small airways. The medical term for the condition is EIB, aka exercise-induced bronchospasm. And trampoline jumping is strenuous enough to be considered the cause.
Like all other chest pain, it may have sharp pains, but the difficulty in breathing distinguishes it from other causes.
Final Words
So next time, if you hear anyone asking why does my chest hurt after jumping on a trampoline, you know the answer. Knowing the reason will prevent 90% of chest pain occurrences. And if you’re currently experiencing severe pain in your chest, you need to hurry to the hospital and get it checked out.
Last Updated on May 3, 2023