MODEL RELEASED. Medical consultation between a doctor and an overweight patient who is clutching his left arm in pain. The patient could be showing the doctor what the pain felt like. Pain down the left arm can be a symptom of a heart attack (myocardial infarction). This is an example of referred pain, where pain in one part of the body is felt in a different part of the body. Being overweight is one of the risk factors for a heart attack, along with eating a diet high in fatty cholesterols. The most common cause of a heart attack is the blocking of the coronary arteries of the heart by plaques of cholesterol and other fatty materials. This blocking and hardening of the arteries is known as atherosclerosis.