Breasts are milk-producing glands that are made up of fat and other tissue, including nerves, blood vessels and milk ducts (small tube-like paths). Breast pain can occur in a variety of forms - from a slight tenderness to a dull ache to a stabbing pain. Approximately half of all women experience breast pain at some point in their lives, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health.

The medical terms for breast pain include mastalgia, mastodynia and mammalgia. It is usually caused by normal hormonal changes in a woman’s body, such as those associated with menstruation. Because of its strong association with hormones, breast pain or tenderness is more common in premenopausal women than in postmenopausal women. Some experts believe that stress can be another factor that affects the development and severity of breast pain. Other conditions that commonly cause breast pain include:

• Pregnancy
• Breastfeeding
• Fibrocystic breast changes
• Breast cysts (fluid-filled sacs inside the breast)
• Breast infection (mastitis)
• Injury or trauma to the breast
• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
• Water retention (common during menstruation)
• Surgery to the breast (e.g., breast implants)

Other, less common conditions that can cause breast pain include:

• Poorly fitting bra or uncomfortable clothing
• Medications, such as antidepressants, cardiovascular agents or oral contraceptives
• Excessive caffeine consumption
• Breast cancer
• Nipple piercing that becomes infected
• Mondor’s disease (a blood clot in the breast)
• Liver damage from alcoholism
• Shingles (a viral infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox)
• Arthritis or a pinched nerve in the neck area
• Inflammation of a rib joint
• Muscle pulls or strains