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You’re feeling short of breath, having difficulty breathing deeply, or perhaps even finding it painful to breathe. These are familiar signs of chest tightness, a symptom that people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) know all too well.
“I have bad tightness in my chest every day. I had an electrocardiogram and stress test to check my heart for problems, but they found none,” one MyCOPDTeam member shared. “I’m at my wit’s end as to why I have tightness and burning. I’m in pain every day.”
These symptoms can be difficult to cope with, especially when the cause and treatment course is unclear. Below we’ll discuss what causes chest tightness, how your doctor might treat it, and what you can do at home to manage it.
Chest tightness can make it difficult or painful to breathe. It’s a common symptom of COPD, and it can also be a sign of COPD flare-up.
One MyCOPDTeam member described this symptom: “I have a burning feeling in my chest all the time. I also have tightness, like tightening a belt way too tight. Those are my worst sensations.”
Several changes in the lungs and airways can lead to chest tightness in people with COPD. Understanding what causes this sensation may help you recognize when your symptoms are changing or when you may need medical care.
Emphysema is one type of COPD. It’s a condition that damages the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs. They’re found at the ends of the breathing tubes.
When you breathe in, the alveoli move oxygen into your blood. When you breathe out, they remove carbon dioxide.
In healthy lungs, these air sacs stretch when you breathe in. Their elasticity helps them empty as you breathe out.
But if the air sacs are damaged, they lose their elasticity. This makes it difficult to completely breathe out all of the air in your lungs, leaving trapped air.
Chest tightness is a common symptom of emphysema, along with:
Chronic bronchitis is another type of COPD. It causes swelling and irritation in your bronchial tubes (the airways that take air from your windpipe into your lungs).
Due to the irritation, these airways thicken and produce extra mucus. The tubes become narrow, leaving less room for air to pass through.
Chest tightness is a common symptom of chronic bronchitis, along with coughing, wheezing, and breathlessness.
People with COPD may also experience bronchospasms, which can cause chest tightness. This is when the muscles around the bronchial tubes tighten. As the muscles squeeze, your airways narrow, which limits the amount of oxygen you receive.
There are many things that can cause bronchospasms. Triggers such as allergens, bacterial and viral infections, smoking, poor air quality, and chemical fumes can cause irritation and swelling that lead to bronchospasms.
Other bronchospasm symptoms include:
Quick-acting inhalers like albuterol can help relieve bronchospasms. However, if you’re experiencing bronchospasm symptoms and don’t have the proper medicine to treat them, you should go to the nearest emergency room.
If you’re experiencing COPD symptoms such as chest tightness, the best way to treat this symptom is to follow your COPD treatment plan. There are several treatment options your doctor may recommend.
Your doctor may prescribe a short-acting medication for immediate relief, a long-lasting medication to control your COPD, or both.
These medications may include:
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a program for people with lung disease. It can provide support for people managing COPD. It may include:
The program is adjusted to your health and abilities. It may take place in a group, one-on-one, at a medical center, or through a home-based or online program.
Pulmonary rehabilitation can help you become more active, feel less short of breath, and improve your quality of life.
There are a number of ways you can ease COPD symptoms or prevent them from occurring in the first place.
An important step in managing COPD is understanding what triggers your symptoms. Knowing your triggers will help you create a plan to minimize exposure to them. Although triggers can vary from person to person, below are some common ones.
SmokeCigarette smoke is a major trigger of COPD symptoms. If you smoke, talk to your doctor about quitting. They can provide different resources that can help.
Secondhand smoke can also trigger symptoms, so avoid it when possible. Other sources of smoke can also trigger COPD symptoms, including smoke from fireplaces, campfires, or burning yard waste.
Dust, Fumes, and ChemicalsExposure to dust, chemicals, and other fumes is another trigger. If you regularly come into contact with these on the job, talk to your workplace to see if you can reduce exposure.
Strongly scented items such as perfumes, incense, and cleaning supplies can trigger symptoms in some people.
Outside Air Quality and WeatherAir pollution, smog, and car exhaust can trigger COPD symptoms. If you’re sensitive to these, check the air quality index before leaving home.
Pollen can be another potential trigger. If you also have asthma or allergies, talk to your doctor about ways to manage these conditions.
Lastly, extreme hot or cold temperatures and high humidity can trigger COPD symptoms in some people.
If you have COPD, you have a higher risk for infections. Infections that affect the lungs and respiratory system (such as the flu, COVID-19, RSV, and pneumonia) can trigger COPD symptoms, including chest tightness.
Make sure you receive all your vaccinations to help prevent these infections.
It’s important to stay physically active if you have COPD. You might feel like being less active when you’re experiencing symptoms, but exercise can strengthen the muscles that help you breathe. Talk to your healthcare providers about which exercises are right for you.
In people with COPD, the lungs can lose elasticity over time. This makes it difficult to fully exhale. When air gets trapped in your lungs, there’s less space for your diaphragm to work (the muscle that helps you inhale).
Breathing exercises done regularly can help you fully exhale stale air from your lungs, thus helping the diaphragm when you breathe in.
There are two exercises commonly used by people with COPD, and they can be combined.
Also called diaphragmatic breathing, this technique helps train the diaphragm to do most of the work of breathing.
To do this exercise, follow these steps:
Relax your neck and shoulders.
Slowly breathe in through your nose and feel your belly expanding while your chest stays relatively still.
Breathe slowly out through your mouth.
Try to make your exhale two to three times longer than your inhale.
This technique helps keep your airways open longer and increases the amount of air you breathe in and out.
Follow these steps:
Breathe in slowly through your nose.
Purse your lips and breathe out through your mouth, as if you’re blowing out a candle.
Try to make your exhale at least twice as long as your inhale.
People with COPD may have periods when symptoms such as coughing, mucus, chest tightness, wheezing, or breathlessness get worse. These are called COPD exacerbations, or flare-ups. They may last for several days or longer.
Contact your healthcare provider promptly if your symptoms are getting worse, your usual treatment is not helping, you have a fever, or the amount, color, or thickness of your mucus changes.
Call 911 or your local emergency number right away if you:
Don’t drive yourself to the emergency room if your symptoms are severe.
On MyCOPDTeam, people share their experiences with COPD, get advice, and find support from others who understand.
What methods do you use to relieve chest tightness? Let others know in the comments below.
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