Pain in the right arm

Pain in the right arm in clinical practice is often called right-sided brachialgia (from the Greek words - brachion - shoulder and algos - hurts, pain). This is a common complaint, which is one of many manifestations of the underlying disease causing pain. It is extremely difficult to differentiate such a pain symptom, as well as to diagnose it, since its causes are very diverse.

The complexity of diagnosis is due to the following factors:

• Pain in the right arm as a symptom is almost identical in sensation to other algic manifestations in the shoulder or neck, since most often it is a pain syndrome of one common pathology.
• A painful sensation in the right arm can be a reflected, radiating symptom, the cause of which is located in almost any area of the body - from the distal areas (fingers) to the spinal cord. Any pathological process occurring in the complex "head-neck-shoulder-arm" system can clinically manifest itself in each part of this system. According to statistics, complaints of pain in the cervical-shoulder region, in the arm are some of the most common among various forms of regional myalgia, they make up about 40%.
• The difficulty lies in the fact that brachialgia may be accompanied by concomitant vascular, vegetative or trophic pathologies, which is understandable from the point of view of the anatomical and physiological structure of the shoulder girdle and arm. They contain many nerve endings, muscles, ligaments, joint capsules, and blood vessels.

Reflected pain in the arm may be a consequence of a myalgic impulse from damaged or inflamed areas of the upper abdomen or chest.

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Causes of pain in the right hand

Right-sided brachialgia or pain in the right arm can be caused by a variety of etiological factors, which are classified into three groups:

1. Vertebrogenic diseases and injuries are the most common causes of pain in the right arm.
2. MBS (myofascial syndrome) is a somatogenic myalgia characterized by the appearance of small painful seals in muscle tissue.
3. Pain of unclear etiology, often undifferentiated due to a complex combination of symptoms.

Among the causes that cause pain in the arm, the following diseases are most often identified:

• Vertebrogenic pathologies and injuries.
  • Cervical osteochondrosis accompanied by pain in the arm.
  • Benign or malignant spinal neoplasm (tumor).
  • Residual effects of whiplash injury, accompanied by radicular damage and reflected by pain in the arm.
  • Plexopathies caused by trauma, tumors or developing as a consequence of radiation therapy. Among the lesions of the shoulder area are Duchenne-Erb syndrome, partial paralysis of the hand - Dejerine-Klumpke syndrome.
  • Separation or damage of a spinal root as a result of injury or a fall (Horner's syndrome).
• Neurovascular, neurodystrophic causes of pain in the right arm.
  • Frozen shoulder syndrome is a scapulohumeral periarthritis in which the arm may hurt as a result of limited movement (shoulder muscle contractures), and then the pain symptom is caused by severe swelling of the wrist and carpal joint (Paget-Schroetter syndrome).
  • Anterior scalene syndrome, scalenus syndrome or Naffziger syndrome.
  • Pseudocardialgia or pectalgia, a syndrome associated with reflex disorders in the pectoral muscles, manifested by pain in the left or right arm, chest pain similar to symptoms of heart disease.
  • Idiopathic plexopathy or Persnage-Turner syndrome. Amyotrophy is symptomatically similar to radicular syndrome, and manifests itself as pain in the shoulder, right or left forearm.
• Causes of pain in the right arm of myofascial etiology.

Pain has specific receptor triggers located in the following muscles:

• Musculus supraspinatus – supraspinatus muscle.
• Musculi scaleni – anterior, middle and posterior scalene muscles of the brachial plexus.
• Musculus infraspinatus – infraspinatus muscle.
• Biceps, musculus biceps brachii – two-headed muscle.
• Musculus coracobrachialis – coracobrachial muscle.
• Triceps, musculus triceps brachii – three-headed muscle.
• Musculus brachialis – shoulder muscle.
• Forearm muscles - Musculus extensor pollicis longus, Musculus extensor digitorum manus, Musculus extensor carpi ulnaris - extensors of the fingers and wrist.
• Musculus palmaris longus – long muscle of the palm.
• Musculus supinator is a supinator muscle that provides external rotation of the forearm.

Factors that provoke myofascial pain in the hand:

• Muscle strain in a static position.
• Long-term immobility, immobilization.
• Hypothermia.
• Pressure.
• Injuries.
• Stretching.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a cause of compression-ischemic etiology, the following factors provoke the wrist syndrome:

• Work that requires maintaining a static posture and performing repetitive hand movements is a professional factor.
• Long-term immobilization due to surgery or immobilization of the arm after a fracture.
• Endocrine pathologies – acromegaly, hypothyroidism, menopause.
• Taking hormonal drugs, including oral contraceptives.
• Metabolic disorders in diabetes mellitus.
• Disrupted metabolism due to alcoholism, drug addiction.

Tunnel neuropathies accompanied by pain in the arm have the following varieties:

• The most common type is carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Pronator syndrome (constant pressure on the palm).
• Ulnar neuropathy, Guyon's syndrome.
• Neuropathy nervus radialis - radiation syndrome or Roth-Bernhardt disease, which is called "tennis elbow".

Causes of pain in the right arm of arthrogenic etiology

Pain can be caused by the following diseases:

• Osteoarthritis.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Dermatomyositis.
• Systemic lupus erythematosus.
• Psoriatic arthritis.
• Gout.
• Neurogenic arthropathy (Charcot's disease).
• Reiter's syndrome.

The causes of pain in the arm may be associated with polyneuropathy, visceral-radicular syndrome, pathologies of the bronchopulmonary system, gallbladder, and angina pectoris.

Symptoms of pain in the right hand

The symptoms of arm pain depend on the underlying cause and can be classified by type.

1. Radiculoalgia. Symptoms of pain in the right arm of this type are characterized by lancet (dagger-like, sharp) sensations. The pain is often paroxysmal, localized indistinctly and quickly spreads from the main source to distal zones. All manifestations of radicular damage are typical for this type of pain - numbness of the arm, tingling and a sensation of "crawling ants" (paresthesia). Muscle strength of the arm is noticeably reduced, all reflexes are slowed (hyporeflexia).
2. Neuralgia. The pain in the right hand is most often aching, constant, it can increase with physical exertion or when palpating the hand. Neuralgia is somewhat reduced when the hand is immobilized, fixed.
3. Myalgia. The pain symptom is felt deep in the thickness of muscle tissue (trunk pain). The pain is constant and intensifies when the muscles are stretched.
4. Dysaesthesia, dysesthesia - abnormal, inadequate sensations not associated with a provoking factor.
5. Thermalgia - a feeling of warmth when cold is touched.
6. Hyperpathy is a feeling of severe pain in the arm in the absence of a real painful stimulus, for example, when stroking.
7. Polyesthesia is multiple sensations in response to one specific stimulus.
8. Paresthesia is a tingling sensation.
9. Allodynia is a strong, acute perception of a painless stimulus.
10. Synesthesia is a polysensation when one sense organ is affected (the visual factor causes auditory or tactile sensations, including in the hand).

Pain in the right arm can be a primary symptom, for example, in case of injury, also quite often the pain sensation is a clinical manifestation of a reflected, radiating symptom. Depending on where the pain is given, it is possible to determine the factor causing right-sided brachialgia.

The pain radiates to the right arm

• Steinbrocker syndrome or shoulder-hand syndrome most often develops as a result of scapulohumeral periarthritis or injury.
• Complication of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine (compression syndrome).
• Spinal tumor.
• Whiplash injury.
• Plexopathies.
• Diabetic neuropathy.
• Pain radiates to the right arm in case of bronchopulmonary pathologies, diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts.
• Rarely, referred pain in the arm can be a consequence of angina.

Pain in the right hand

It may have such reasons

• Rheumatoid arthritis, characterized by intense pain at night. As a rule, the disease manifests itself with symmetrical symptoms on both hands, but it can "start" with one, for example, the right hand.
• Gout, developing from the toes and spreading upward through the joints. In addition to the fact that a person experiences pain in the right hand, the wrist, elbow, and, less often, the shoulder suffer. The pain is very characteristic - sharp, burning, pulsating.
• Osteoarthritis of the hand, manifested by aching, dull pain, most often during the daytime.
• Arthritis, causing immobility or limited movement of the hand.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome is a typical disease associated with occupational factors.

Pain in the elbow of the right hand

It can develop as a result of the following diseases:

• Osteochondrosis.
• Gout.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Tumor of the elbow joint.
• Tendinitis.
• Osteoarthritis.
• Cubital tunnel syndrome.
• Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow).
• Medial epicondylitis (golfer's elbow).
• Pain in the elbow of the right arm may be a sign of bursitis, inflammation of the joint capsule.
• Neurotrophic arthropathy (Charcot's disease).
• Intervertebral hernia in segments C5 or C6.
• Elbow injury.

Pain in the wrist of the right hand

• Injuries - fractures of the lunate or scaphoid bone.
• Dislocation, stretching of the ligaments holding the carpal bones.
• Wrist tendonitis.
• Pain in the right wrist can be caused by stenosing tendovaginitis, a disease of the tendon. The disease most often affects women and is characterized by severe pain and almost complete loss of ability to work.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome or carpal tunnel syndrome is a typical disease of the right hand, since it is the working hand. The syndrome is provoked by a purely professional factor.
• Damage to the extensor tendons - peritendinitis.
• Hypertrophic osteoarthritis.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Necrosis of the skeletal system involving the wrist bones (avascular). This is a pathological softening of bone tissue leading to deformation of the wrist.

Aching pain in the right arm

Most often associated with reflex neurovascular syndromes associated with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine. The source of pain is usually located in the damaged fibrous ring itself, where there are many pain-sensitive receptors. Also, a pain impulse to the arm can come from inflamed longitudinal ligaments and the capsule of the shoulder joint. Aching pain in the right arm is localized in the shoulder, forearm or hand, but can move to the back of the head. The pain symptom intensifies with a change in posture, turns, movement of the body or arm. Most often, right-sided brachialgia develops as a consequence of scapulohumeral periarthritis or Paget-Schroetter syndrome (shoulder-hand syndrome). In addition, aching pain in the right arm can be a primary signal of developing cholelithiasis or an inflammatory process in the lungs, bronchi.

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Severe pain in the right arm

These are almost all types of radiculoalgia, in which the pain symptom is intense and acute. The pain is characterized as cutting, dagger-like. In addition, severe pain in the right arm can be caused by some neuropathic syndromes, such as radial nerve neuropathy, which manifests itself as acute, shooting pain. Neuralgic amyotrophy, complex regional syndrome (CRPS), accompanied by burning pain, swelling of the arm, movement disorders, various arthritis, osteoarthrosis, gout - this is far from a complete list of diseases that can cause severe, intense brachialgia.

Sharp pain in the right arm

This is pain that is characterized as shooting or dagger-like. This may be a compression-radicular form of brachialgia, and sharp pain is also characteristic of a rupture or damage to a spinal root during an injury, fall, or blow. The pain symptom is acute, sharp, often spreads along the damaged root and completely immobilizes not only the arm, but the entire human body. In addition, sharp pain in the right arm may be associated with Parsonage-Turner syndrome (amyotrophy), a disease of infectious etiology that affects the shoulder and forearm. Intense, sharp pain is caused by mechanical injuries, stretching of tendons and ligaments.

Pain in the little finger of the right hand

It can be a symptom of the following diseases:

• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.
• Dislocation, finger injury.
• Raynaud's syndrome.
• Neuropathy of the ulnar or wrist nerve.
• Ganglinary cyst of the wrist.
• Trauma or fracture of the elbow joint.
• Elbow bursitis.
• Less common - tunnel syndrome.
• Osteomyelitis is a purulent, necrotic process in bone tissue, usually affecting the hand and fingers, including the little finger.

Pain in the little finger of the right hand may be a manifestation of epicondylitis - a degenerative-dystrophic disease of the elbow joint.

Aching pain in the right arm

Most often it is provoked by shoulder periarthritis, a disorder of the structure of the cervical spine. The pain curls gradually and spreads from the shoulder to the arm, which significantly reduces the motor activity of the upper limb. Shoulder-scapular periarthritis is rarely secondary, it is a typical neurodystrophic disease. Also, a nagging pain in the right hand is the main symptom of an occupational disease - tunnel syndrome, the cause of which is the pinching of nerve endings in the wrist as a result of constant stress or an uncomfortable position of the hand during work. Static, long-term stress on the muscles of the hand, performing monotonous movements leads to mechanical damage to the median nerve, located between the tendons and bones.

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Diagnosis of pain in the right hand

Pain in the right arm is a rather complex symptom complex in the diagnostic sense, therefore the examination plan may include various methods and techniques. Since the main causes of the pain symptom of brachialgia are neurological diseases associated with vertebrogenic, traumatic or neuroreflex factors, the diagnosis of pain in the right arm is usually carried out by several doctors - a vertebrologist, a chiropractor, a surgeon and a neurologist. In order for diagnostic measures to be effective, both standard examination schemes and paraclinical methods are used.

First of all, anamnesis is collected, all information about previous diseases, conditions, heredity, treatment, lifestyle, etc. It is very important to specify the nature of the pain, its localization, distribution, trigger points and determine the list of provoking factors. The following research methods are mandatory:

• X-ray of the spine, X-ray of the limbs (joints).
• Neurological examination and tests.
• Computer and magnetic resonance imaging.
• Electromyography (recording of electrical potentials of the muscular system).
• Blood test (complete blood count, biochemical).
• Dopplerography of vessels as indicated.

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What to do if your right arm hurts?

Therapeutic measures directly depend on the identified cause of pain.

Treatment of pain in the right arm with an intense, acute nature of sensations is primarily aimed at relieving the symptom. It is possible to perform a novocaine blockade, prescribe antineuralgic drugs, local anesthesia with ethyl chloride. If the pain is associated with an exacerbation of cervical osteochondrosis, traction and fixation of the damaged area are prescribed. Also, treatment of pain in the right arm involves a long course of physiotherapy procedures, acupuncture, massages.

To consolidate the therapeutic result, ointments containing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory substances, vitamin-mineral complexes are prescribed, both in injections and in tablet form. Vitamins of group B, calcium, magnesium are standard drugs for the treatment of brachialgia. In addition, a special diet, especially with diagnosed gout, can significantly alleviate the symptoms and speed up the recovery process.

Prevention of pain in the right hand

Prevention of pain in the right hand is a set of measures that help prevent the development of the underlying, provoking disease. Compliance with the following recommendations, which relate not only to the prevention of brachialgia, but also help maintain activity and normal health in principle, does not require material or physical effort, they just need to be implemented in your life to be healthy:

• Giving up bad habits, especially smoking.
• During the illness and treatment, physical activity should be limited, but a set of therapeutic exercises should be performed systematically.
• Compliance with the rules of healthy eating, which should include vitamins and microelements that support the bone and muscular system in order.
• A regular examination of the body, which must be carried out at least once a year.
• Compliance with all medical recommendations and refusal to experiment with self-medication.
• With static tension, which is required by the profession, work, it is necessary to take regular breaks, change positions, and do warm-ups.
• At the first signs of discomfort or symptoms, it is necessary to seek medical help to prevent the development of the disease and its exacerbation.

Prevention of pain in the right hand is, first of all, prevention of osteochondrosis, which today is one of the most common diseases and factors that provoke many pain symptoms.