I'm a 49 y.o. white male in pretty good shape, not overweight (well, maybe 5-10 lbs), and overall pretty healthy. Three times in the past several weeks I've experienced a suddenly appearing, very sharp, widely distributed pain lasting some 10 seconds and then fading over about another 15-30 seconds. The pain extended across my entire chest (but not my abdomen), one or both arms, and the front of my neck. All occurred while my chest was being "stressed"--- the first time was when I had briefly vomitted (I had choked on an almond), the next time was when I had just sneezed, and the most recent time upon my doing a big stretch (arms overhead, kind of bending back). A co-worker mentioned some harmless affliction dealing with the sternum, but I haven't found anything very useful on line about this. It seems unlikely to be associated with any real heart problem, seeing as how I'm pretty healthy, still young(ish), and there is no history of heart problems in my family. Thoughts?

Not to scare you, but I had a friend, 53 yrs. Old, healthy, active, no history of heart problems , no family background of heart disease. He started having chest pains, made an appointment with the doctor, not telling them what it was about. They scheduled him for three weeks from then. Well, 10 days later, he didn't come back from feeding the cows, his son found him lying face first in the pasture, dead. It devastated his family and friends, and shocked me because he was the epitome of healthy aging. I learned that if it ever happened to me ( chest pains) , I would at least go in a EKG. Don't take chances. What's there to lose?

It is the major sign of heart problems, you should be checked as soon as possible.

It can also be a pinched nerve in the back,

And I am sure other issues,