What Causes Arm Pain?

Arm pain and injuries are widespread. Arm pain can occur as a result of either sudden, traumatic or repetitive overuse. The causes can be related to sports injuries, work injuries or simply everyday arm use.

Arm pain can be a local injury, musculoskeletal injury or could even be referred from nerves in your neck (cervical radiculopathy). This can result in neck-arm pain.

Causes of Arm Pain by Region

• Neck Pain
• Shoulder Pain
• Elbow Pain
• Wrist Pain
• Hand Pain

Causes of Arm Pain by Structure

• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Ligament Injury
• Muscle Pain
• Tendinopathy (Tendinitis-Tendinopathy-Tendinosis)

Neck-related Arm Pain

• Cervical Radiculopathy
• Neck Arm Pain
• Pinched Nerve
• Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Shoulder-related Arm Pain

• AC Joint Injury
• Biceps Tendinopathy
• Broken Shoulder - Fractured Humerus
• Bursitis Shoulder
• Dislocated Shoulder
• Frozen Shoulder
• Rotator Cuff Calcific Tendinopathy
• Rotator Cuff Syndrome
• Rotator Cuff Tear
• Shoulder Arthritis
• Shoulder Impingement
• Shoulder Tendonitis
• Swimmer's Shoulder

Elbow-related Arm Pain

• Tennis Elbow
• Golfers Elbow
• Olecranon Bursitis

Wrist-related Arm Pain

• Broken Wrist / Fractured Wrist
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• de Quervain's Tenosynovitis

Hand-related Arm Pain

• Finger Sprain
• Hand or Wrist Arthritis
• Thumb Sprain

Muscle-related Arm Pain

• Cramps
• DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
• Muscle Strain (Muscle Pain)
• RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury
• Overuse Injuries

Other Sources of Arm Pain

• Stress Fracture
• Fibromyalgia
• Lupus
• Psoriatic Arthritis
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Common Causes of Arm Pain

The most common sources of arm pain include shoulder pain, wrist pain and elbow pain.

• Your rotator cuff or frozen shoulder most commonly causes shoulder pain.
• Elbow pain is most commonly caused by tennis elbow or golfers elbow.
• Wrist & hand pain can be related to carpal tunnel, wrist arthritis or even a thumb tendon condition known as de Quervain's tenosynovitis.

Referred Arm Pain

As mentioned earlier, arm pain can be referred to from another source. Cervical radiculopathy is a common source of referred arm pain. Cervical radiculopathy will not respond to treatment where you feel the arm pain. However, it will respond positively to treatment at the source of the injury (e.g. your neck joints).

Professional assessment from a health practitioner skilled in diagnosing both spinal-origin and local-origin (muscle and joint) injuries (e.g. your physiotherapist) is recommended to ensure an accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment directed at the arm pain source.

Arm Pain has Diverse Causes.

The causes of your arm pain can be extensive and varied. Due to this diversity, your arm pain should be assessed by a suitably qualified health practitioner to attain an accurate diagnosis, treatment plan and implementation specific to your arm pain.

What Arm Pain is Associated with a Heart Attack?

Left-arm pain can be an early sign of a life-threatening cardiac issue. Based on this, a professional medical assessment that involves an accurate history, symptom analysis, physical examination and diagnostic tests to exclude a potential heart attack is important to exclude this potentially life-threatening source of arm pain.

For more information, please consult with your health practitioner, call an ambulance on 000, or visit a hospital emergency department to put your mind at ease.

• Chest Pain: Is it a Heart Attack or Your Spine?

Good News. Most Arm Pain is NOT Life-Threatening.

Luckily, life-threatening arm pain is far less likely than a local musculoskeletal injury. Arm pain caused by a localised arm muscle, tendon or joint injury should be assessed and confirmed by your health practitioner before commencing treatment.

Arm Pain Prognosis

The good news is that arm pain, and injury will normally respond very favourably to medical or physiotherapy intervention when early professional assessment and treatment is sought. Please do not delay in consulting your healthcare practitioner if you experience arm pain.

Common Arm Pain Treatments

With accurate assessment and early treatment, most arm injuries respond extremely quickly to physiotherapy or medical care, allowing you to resume pain-free and normal activities of daily living quickly.

Please ask your physiotherapist for their professional treatment advice.