The following symptoms and complaints may occur along with arm pain:
Leading symptoms
- Acute versus chronic arm pain
- Sharp versus dull pain
- Radiating pain
- Load-dependent pain
Associated symptoms
- Movement restriction
- Neurological symptoms such as paresthesias (misfeeling).
Warning signs (red flags)
- Anamnestic information:
- Smoker → think of: Pancoast tumor (synonym: apical sulcus tumor) – rapidly progressive peripheral bronchial carcinoma in the area of the lung apex (apex pulmonis); rapidly spreading to the ribs, soft tissues of the neck, brachial plexus (ventral branches of the spinal nerves of the last four cervical and first thoracic segments (C5-Th1)) and vertebrae of the cervical and thoracic spine (cervical spine, thoracic spine)); disease often manifests with a characteristic Pancoast syndrome: shoulder or Arm pain, rib pain, paresthesia (sensory disturbances) in the forearm, paresis (paralysis), hand muscle atrophy, upper influence congestion due to constriction of the jugular veins, Horner’s syndrome (triad associated with miosis (pupil constriction), ptosis (drooping of the upper eyelid) and pseudoenophthalmos (apparently sunken eyeball)).
- Arm pain + paresthesias → prompt examination by a neurologist.
- Arm pain + sensorimotor deficits (interplay of sensory and motor performance concerning) → immediate action inevitable!
- Thoracic pain (chest pain) + arm pain → think of: Angina pectoris (“chest tightness”; sudden pain in the heart area; due toacute coronary syndrome (AKS or. ACS, acute coronary syndrome; spectrum of cardiovascular disease ranging from unstable angina (iAP; engl. unstable angina, UA) to the two main forms of myocardial infarction (heart attack), non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)), coronary artery disease/coronary artery disease (CAD)).
