Chest pain in 9 year old son when exercising, anyone know what it could be?

[pandorasof]

Hi

My DS gets a sharp pain in the lower part of his chest, left hand side, it lasts for a few minutes but quite painful sometimes brings him to tears. It usually happens during exercise or when he's nervous or excited etc. He's probably experienced it on and off for over a year and he's been to the doctors once but he gave me ibruprofen gel. He has had it today whilst playing tag rugby and got it when doing a fun run last year but he goes on his BMX a lot and has never got it on there, and joined the cross country team and didn't get it every time he ran??? It's pretty random really. The gel is useless, I am either not there or by the time I'd even get to put gel on the pain would of gone. I used to tell him that it was just a stitch but I really don't think that it what it is any more.

It's starting to put him off joining clubs, but he loves to get involved and I would hate him to loose his enjoyment of sport.

Has anyone else had any similar experience?

Thanks

My DS1 had something similar for a while at that age after exercising - playing football etc. Took him to the doctor but could find nothing wrong. Not happened for a while, nearly 11 now

has he been tested for 'exercise induced asthma'

I was going to suggest asthma too.

my ds has just been diagnosed with asthma,his main symptom was as you describe-chest pain on exercise.he also gets out of breath easily and coughs alot especially at night.he doesnt get wheezing though so it is possible your ds could have mild asthma?

Thanks for the suggestions, I will take him back to doctor and have decided to keep a diary of when it happens.

He's rarely out of breath but worth looking into.

Thanks again.