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What is abdominal pain?

Abdominal pain is discomfort anywhere in your belly region — between your ribs and your pelvis. We often think of abdominal pain as “stomach pain” or a “stomachache,” but pain in your abdomen could be coming from other organs besides your stomach, too.

Your abdomen is home to your:

• Stomach.
• Liver.
• Gallbladder.
• Pancreas.
• Small intestine.
• Large intestine.

These are all organs in your digestive system. But pain can also be in your abdominal wall, the skin and muscles that make up the outer shell of your abdomen. And sometimes, the pain that you feel in your belly may be coming from somewhere else, like your chest, pelvis or back.

Abdominal pain can take many forms and can mean many things.

It may feel:

• Mild or severe.
• Dull or sharp.
• Burning or achy.
• Crampy or colicky.
• Constant or intermittent.
• Localized (in one spot) or generalized (all over).

Ultimately, abdominal pain is a subjective symptom that only you can describe. Since your healthcare provider can’t measure it, it's what you say it is. Your healthcare provider will always take your abdominal pain seriously.

How common is stomach pain?

Just about everybody will experience abdominal pain at some point. Most of the time, it’s not serious and resolves by itself. However, it can be a sign of serious illness or even an emergency. Abdominal pain causes 5% of emergency room visits.

What are the four types of abdominal pain?

Since your abdomen it is home to many organs, your healthcare provider may want to narrow down the kind of pain you’re having by narrowing down the region you’re feeling it in. Healthcare providers often divide the abdomen into quadrants, or four parts. They may ask if your pain is in the:

• Upper part / lower part. Upper abdominal pain is above your belly button. Lower abdominal pain is below it.
• Right side / left side. The midline of your abdomen runs from your sternum through your belly button.

What does abdominal pain location tell you?

Location is an important clue to your abdominal pain, though it’s not the only factor. It may indicate which organs are involved. For example, pain in the upper right quadrant may indicate a problem with your liver or gallbladder.

However, your healthcare provider will also want to know more about what your pain feels like, how often you feel it, and how severe it is. This will give them additional clues about what kind of condition you may have.