Learn the Cause behind the Pain in Your Right Arm Your hands do a lot in the entire day. You may not realize how much of work they do the entire day till they actually show some signs of aches or pains. Pain in the arms may be a result of a number of factors. Your right arm particularly is the more overworked due to constant work it does to carry out your everyday activities. You may get a pain or a strain due to certain activities that you may have done involving strain to the right hand, but those are not the pains we are talking about here. Some of the common causes that could cause pain in the right arm include: • Sprain: A simple sprain could often cause you to suffer with severe pain in the arms. This normally happens when you overwork your hands and arms more than what you usually do. A sprain normally indicates a pull or stretch caused to the tissues of the arm. In a sprain the tissues are only twisted or stretched and not damaged as a fracture. A sprain usually calls for giving the affected arm a lot of rest and using an ice pack until the pain goes off. • Tennis elbow and golfer's elbow: This is a medical condition that may be the reason behind pain in your right arm particularly around the elbow area. The pain could be anywhere around the elbow both inside and outside the elbow. It often is caused after one undertakes an activity where the muscles and joints near the elbow are exercised. This primarily occurs in sports like tennis or golf. The pain from the tennis elbow or the golfer’s elbow can last for a long time almost up to a few weeks or months but with some home remedies and rest the condition gets better on its own. • Bursitis: Repeated movements of the arm could lead to an accumulation of fluids over and around the elbow joint. This condition is known as olecranon bursitis, referring to the olecranon which is the bony tip of the elbow. This condition could cause inflammation of the elbow joint and is often accompanied with a lot of pain. Most of the times bursitis is treated at home with certain painkillers however sometimes complications could occur. Complications from bursitis usually include severe infections that could even require certain antibiotics. The infection could occur due to scratch or any other form of injury to the arm. Normally the pain is known to subside in a time frame of a few weeks; however the inflammation or the swelling could last a little longer until it completely becomes normal again. • Squashed or trapped nerve: As a natural process our joints and bones undergo certain amount of wear and tear with time. In some cases the normal wear and tear is caused due to age and this can lead to the nerves located in spinal cord to undergo some amount of deterioration. In medical terms it is a condition where in the nerves of the spinal cord get squashed or trapped leading to a shooting pain that travels from the neck to the arms and feels like poking of sharp needles. This form of wear and tear is referred to as spinal arthritis or cervical spondylosis. The intensity of pain that people experience in their arms due to cervical spondylosis differs from person to person with even the symptoms differing from one person to another. There
can be good days and bad in this condition. Your doctor may be able to manage the symptoms of pain by recommending certain painkiller medications to deal with the pain. Over the counter medicines are also known to be helpful depending upon the extent of damage and the intensity of the pain. In most of the cases there would be light exercises that are recommended to prevent the arm from losing motion. A trapped nerve could even occur in the arm instead of the spinal cord. A similar condition may occur in the wrist which is known as carpal tunnel syndrome or in the elbows known as cubital tunnel syndrome. There are certain conditions that can trigger both pain and other sensations in the arms and hands like tingling sensation. These may not have any connection with the neck pain and often originate due to the following conditions: • Angina: Angina is known as a condition of the heart that occurs due to a restriction of blood supply to the muscles of the heart. It normally occurs as the arteries in the heart that carry the blood to and fro begin to harden or narrow down. Angina normally leads to a faint, heavy or a tight chest pain which could translate to the arm, neck, jaw or back. This pain however is more on the left side where the heart is situated. The pain could be caused due to a physical activity; the pain is usually triggered by physical activity or some form of physical stress and is often restricted only for a few minutes. However, in a few cases, angina may cause a pain to be only felt in the arm and not in the chest or other regions as mentioned above. Hence, it is important to speak to your doctor immediately if the arm pain begins after an exercise and is relieved with some rest or on its own after a short span of time. Angina could be a warning sign from the body of a heart attack, stroke or any other such serious conditions that could lead to medical complications. • Repetitive strain injury: Repetitive strain injury is more of an occupational hazard that is caused due to a strain to the arm or the elbow due to a repetitive task. A number of people working with computers, heavy machinery etc. as a part of their profession may undergo this pain. However the pain is likely to cease once the activity is stopped. In some cases this form of pain could also be due to some underlying problems like bursitis or tendonitis.