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Overview of Arm Pain: Meaning, symptoms, causes & treatment

Team AckoDec 4, 2024

Arm pain (AP) can range from a mild ache to sharp, debilitating discomfort stemming from various causes. Understanding its root cause is crucial for effective treatment and to prevent complications. AP is a common issue affecting many, often involving the wrist, elbow, or shoulder. It may result from injuries, repetitive strain, or even serious conditions like a heart attack. While cardiac issues are a notable concern, persistent arms pain without cardiac involvement warrants attention. Exploring its causes and symptoms is essential for relief and better management. Read on to gain insights into what triggers arm joint pain and how it can be addressed to improve your well-being.

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Contents

What is Arm Pain?

Arm pain refers to discomfort or aches experienced anywhere along the arm, ranging from mild to severe. It can result from various factors such as injuries, overuse, or underlying medical conditions like a heart attack. The pain may be localised to a specific area or spread throughout the arm. It often comes with other symptoms like swelling, stiffness, or weakness. Depending on the cause, the pain can appear suddenly, fade quickly, or develop gradually. Identifying the underlying cause of arms pain is crucial for effective treatment and to avoid potential complications.

What Causes Arm Pain?

Arm Pain can develop due to several causes, including the following:

1. Pinched Nerve

When tissues or bones in your elbow, shoulder, or neck compress or press against a nerve, numbness, sharp arm joint pain, tingling, and muscle weakness can occur.

2. Muscle Soreness

This common discomfort arises after strenuous activity and physical workouts in the gym. Lifting weights and engaging in intense exercise can cause muscle tears. The soreness may linger for 24 to 48 hours and eventually subside. Muscle soreness can cause muscular discomfort, arm and shoulder heaviness, and difficulty doing physical activities.

3. Muscle Sprain

The straining or tearing of tendons or ligaments causes sprains. These are common injuries that occur frequently. The symptoms may include swelling, bruising, impaired joint movement, and an unstable joint.

4. Tendonitis

This happens when your tendons get damaged, commonly in the wrists, elbows, or shoulders. It can induce mild to severe pain. Tennis elbow is one such example of tendonitis. It might be the consequence of an injury or overuse. It can cause minor swelling, soreness, and dull, throbbing pain.

5. Rotator Cuff Injury

The rotator cuff is a muscle and tendon structure in your shoulder. It enables the shoulder to move or remain stationary. As humans age, the tendon inside the rotator cuff starts wearing off or breaking. A specific group of people, such as painters and basketball or baseball players, tend to experience this pain since they perform upward movements daily, which may cause discomfort and damage. It can induce dull to severe AP and arm weakness.

6. Broken Bones

Broken or cracked bones can induce excruciating pain in the arm, including swelling, bruising, a deformed structure, and the inability to move your hand.

7. Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that primarily affects the joints and can induce pain in different body parts, including the arms. It can cause warm, swollen, tender, stiff joints, followed by weakness.

8. Angina

Angina is a type of chest discomfort that develops when your heart lacks oxygen. It can produce arm and shoulder pain and heaviness in the chest, neck, and back. Angina usually indicates an underlying cardiac disease. Additional signs and symptoms may include chest pain, nausea, breathlessness, and dizziness.

9. Heart Attack

Heart attacks happen when blood cannot reach the heart because of a blockage that prevents the heart from receiving oxygen. If oxygen does not return immediately, this might cause parts of the heart muscle to die. You may also experience other symptoms, such as pain in one or both arms, breathing difficulty, pain in other parts of your upper body, nausea, a cold sweat, chest pain, and dizziness.

10. Overuse Injuries

Another typical leading cause of arms pain is overuse. There are numerous syndromes in which overuse is implicated, for example:

Bursitis: Bursitis occurs when the bursae swell, causing pain in certain body parts.
Tennis elbow: When you overload the tendons in your elbow, you can develop inflammation, degeneration, and tissue tearing.

11. Traumatic Injuries

Such arm injuries have major causes like traumas such as car accidents or even falls.

Humerus Fracture: The upper arm bone breaks when there has been an unnatural force, known as a humeral fracture. The part it injures, which causes arms pain, is the entire upper arm. In loss cases, surgery is a necessity.
Scaphoid fracture: This type of damage occurs when the wrist is injured. It consists of fractures at the point of the scaphoid bone, a small bone located at the base of the thumb.
Smith Fracture: This concern captures yet another format of a broken wrist. It happens when you fall on your wrist while flexing toward your torso.
Boxer's Fracture: This sort of fracture occurs when the neck of the fifth metacarpal arranges a connection between the pinky and wrist. It is an injury that affects the hand.

12. Other Injuries

There are other methods to injure an arm:

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve is compressed in a person's wrist, causing pain and numbness in the hand.
Brachial Plexus Injury: When the nerves in the brachial plexus, which extend from the spinal cord at the neck level to those inside the arm, cease to function, it can result in an abrupt, catastrophic injury.

Symptoms of Arm Pain

The most common symptoms of Arm Pain may include the following:

Pain in the wrist, elbow, or shoulder
Weakness in the arms
Discomfort in one or both arms
Upper Arm Pain
Sudden Arm Pain
Skin discoloration or redness on the arm
Swelling of the arm, wrist, or elbow swelling
Arm joint stiffness
Pain that becomes worse as you exercise
Tingling or numbness
Muscular pain and tenderness
Limited range of motion

Diagnosing Arm Pain

To identify the cause of pain in forearm, your doctor will review your medical and family history and conduct a physical examination. Based on your symptoms, they may recommend specific tests, including:

Physical Examination: Your doctor may ask you to perform simple movements like raising your arms to evaluate mobility and pinpoint the origin of pain or injury.
Blood Tests: These can detect underlying conditions such as diabetes or joint inflammation that may contribute to arms pain.
X-ray: Used to diagnose fractures or bone injuries.
Cardiac Check-Up: If heart-related issues are suspected, tests may assess heart function and blood flow.
Ultrasound: High-frequency sound waves produce images of joints, tendons, and ligaments to identify potential disorders.
MRI and CT Scans: These provide detailed visuals of soft tissues and bones to uncover hidden injuries or abnormalities.

Treatment of Arm Pain

The treatment for arm pain varies based on its cause and severity. Common approaches include:

Medications: Severe pain in forearm may require over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers like aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen to provide relief.
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: If the pain stems from inflammation, corticosteroids or other anti-inflammatory medications can target the root cause. These are available in oral, injectable, or intravenous forms.
Physical Therapy: This may be necessary to improve mobility and manage pain, particularly in limited arm movement cases.
Surgery: For critical conditions such as fractures or torn ligaments, surgical intervention may be needed to restore function and alleviate pain.

At-Home Treatments

Apart from the medication, you can try the following at-home treatments for Arm Pain.

Avoid strenuous exercises and get enough rest.
Apply an ice pack to reduce swelling and inflammation.
Use over-the-counter painkillers to help alleviate mild cases of AP.
Use a brace or an elastic bandage that may prevent you from extending a joint too far and help reduce the inflammation, thereby encouraging healing.
Elevate your arm to help relieve swelling and inflammation.

How To Prevent Arm Pain

Sometimes, AP is caused mainly by a simple disease or injury. However, the damage and pain can be avoided by the following.

Never forget to do stretching, especially before doing workouts.
Exercise using the correct techniques to avoid injury.
Use safety measures when participating in sports.
Maintain your fitness by doing regular exercise.
While lifting heavier objects, do it with caution.
Try to avoid doing the same arm and hand movements repeatedly.

Key Takeaway

Arm pain is undoubtedly one of the most frequent ailments you may be experiencing and could have countless causes. It may appear a minor annoyance and go away through massage and painkiller capsules. Thus, do not take arm pain lightly; heed the following advice. If there's arm pain with chest pain or any other sign of a heart attack, go to an emergency unit immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s a list of common questions and answers related to Arm Pain.

What is Arm Pain and its causes?

Arm Pain is a discomfort that is felt in the arm and can range from mild to severe. The pain can be localised to a specific arm area or felt throughout the entire arm. Causes include repeated actions, injury, etc.

What is the best treatment for Arm Pain?

Some potential treatment options for AP include Over-The-Counter medications, physical therapy in the case of restricted mobility, and surgery in the case of serious conditions like broken bones or torn ligaments. However, some at-home treatments can also be tried in case of mild injury and pain, including taking enough rest, applying ice packs to the affected areas, using braces and elastic bandages, and elevating your arm and hand to help alleviate swelling and inflammation.

What can be the reason for Arm Pain?

There can be several potential reasons for Arm Pain, such as a pinched nerve, muscle soreness, muscle sprain, tendonitis, rotator cuff injury, broken bones, rheumatoid arthritis, angina, and a heart attack.

What is the possible complication or risk of having arm pain without treatment?

Arm pain hampers one's ability to carry on normal activities in daily life. When the RICE method and OTC medication do not relieve the pain, it is time to see a healthcare provider for proper treatment. Failure to treat the condition would lead to serious damage to arm tissues by some causes, which may take extensive treatment, such as surgery, later.

I have been having problems with my neck. Can the pain in my arms be connected with that?

There is a chance that neck problems are causing arm pain. In some situations, pain in the arms or hands can be caused by either disc protrusion/herniation or degenerative changes in the cervical spine.

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Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is based on industry experience and secondary sources. It is not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a qualified expert for health or insurance-related decisions. Content is subject to change. Refer to current policy wordings for specific ACKO details.