A:
It does not sound like your daughter's chest pain is a major problem. But, it is still important to touch base with her doctor to check for the possibility of any serious health condition causing this discomfort after exercise. Your daughter may have a touch of asthma because the pain always happens with exercise.
Your daughter's doctor should review her medical history and do a physical examination. The doctor can decide if your daughter needs treatment, more tests, or if you should continue to monitor her symptoms at home.
Chest pain is a common problem for people of all ages. It sends many people to doctors' offices and emergency rooms. Chest pain in adults makes us think someone may be having a heart attack.
We can't always figure out for sure what's causing chest pain in children. It could be:
- muscle pain from lots of exercise
- stress
- asthma
- air leaking out of the lungs into the chest cavity (pneumothorax)
- trouble with digestion caused by heartburn (stomach acid reflux)
In children, chest pain is much less often related to the heart. It usually does not mean heart disease and does not often even indicate sickness.
Henry H. Bernstein, D.O., is a senior lecturer in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. In addition, he is chief of General Academic Pediatrics at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth and professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. He is the former associate chief of General Pediatrics and director of Primary Care at Children's Hospital Boston. 
