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Breast pain
Category: Women's Health · All women's health symptoms
What it can feel like
Breast pain (mastalgia) is aching, tenderness, heaviness or shooting pains in one or both breasts. Pain that follows the menstrual cycle — building before a period and easing after — is the commonest pattern. Breast pain alone, without a lump or other change, is very rarely a sign of cancer, but a proper examination underpins that reassurance.
Possible causes
A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.
Common causes
Breast pain can be associated with hormonal cycles, hormonal contraception or HRT, pregnancy, large breasts and poor support, caffeine (evidence debated), chest-wall muscle strain mimicking breast pain, and inflammation of the rib cartilages.
Other possible causes
Breast pain can also be associated with cysts, breast infection or abscess (especially when breastfeeding, with redness and fever), shingles before the rash, and referred pain from the neck or heart.
Red flags — when to seek help promptly
- Breast pain with a new lump, skin change or nipple discharge
- A red, hot, painful area of breast with fever (possible mastitis or abscess) — prompt
- One-sided breast pain that is focal, persistent and unrelated to the cycle in a woman over 40
- Breast-area pain that comes on with exertion and eases with rest — think heart, think urgent
What a clinician may do
A clinician will map the pattern (cyclical or not, focal or general), examine the breasts and chest wall, and review hormonal treatments. Imaging is arranged for focal persistent pain or any lump; management otherwise combines support, pain relief strategies and hormonal review.
Watch: related videos
Examination and clinical videos from the MedicalVideos.com library relevant to this symptom. Some clinical footage is graphic — that is the nature of a medical video library.
Related guides on MedicalVideos.com
Frequently asked questions
Why does breast pain follow my cycle?
Hormones in the second half of the cycle increase water content and sensitivity in breast tissue — fullness and tenderness build before the period and release after it. Pain that keeps this rhythm, affects both breasts, and has no lump is the most reassuring pattern of all.
Can breast pain be my heart?
Pain physically in the chest wall or breast area can be angina radiating, particularly if exertion provokes it and rest relieves it, with breathlessness or sweating. That pattern is assessed as cardiac first, and breast causes considered after.
Related symptoms — Women's Health
Browse the B section of the A–Z list or return to the Symptoms A–Z hub.