Associated symptoms

Accompanying symptoms vary greatly with the underlying cause of underarm pain. The accompanying symptoms often provide the decisive indications for a final diagnosis. If the patient reports a recently shaved armpit and now itching, pain, swelling and redness under the armpit, an inflammation is likely.

Inflammations that occur in other ways also trigger the typical inflammatory signs of redness, swelling, restricted function, overheating and pain. Muscular complaints, which are very common in the armpit, are correspondingly accompanied by pressure, touch and movement pain. In the case of strains, sore muscles or tears in a particular muscle group, the corresponding movements are therefore restricted and usually painful.

Diseases of the joint or the bones involved are also often accompanied by movement-related pain. However, completely different symptoms can be found in pain whose primary cause is not in the armpit area. For example, in the case of a heart attack, the pain in the left arm is only an expression of the pain in the chest, which is accompanied by a feeling of tightness and difficulty breathing.

Malignant systemic diseases vary greatly in their symptoms. Often the first physical signs are rapid weight loss, fatigue and reduced general well-being. Inflammations caused by other means also trigger the typical inflammatory signs of redness, swelling, restricted function, overheating, pain.

Muscular complaints, which are very common in the armpit, are correspondingly accompanied by pressure, touch and movement pain. In the case of strains, sore muscles or tears in a particular muscle group, the corresponding movements are therefore restricted and usually painful. Diseases of the joint or the bones involved are also often accompanied by movement-related pain.

However, completely different symptoms can be found in pain whose primary cause is not in the armpit area. For example, in the case of a heart attack, the pain in the left arm is only an expression of the pain in the chest, which is accompanied by a feeling of tightness and difficulty breathing. Malignant systemic diseases vary greatly in their symptoms.

Often the first physical signs are rapid weight loss, fatigue and reduced general well-being. The armpit is a very important collection point of lymph vessels in the body. Excess tissue fluid from the entire body collects in lymph node stations in the armpits and groin and is then channelled back into the venous blood.

The lymph nodes filter the tissue fluid for foreign substances and pathogens to sensitize the body to them and then produce antibodies. Swelling of the lymph nodes is usually caused by infections with bacterial or viral pathogens. For example, in the typical viral childhood diseases, viruses accumulate in the lymph nodes and cause swelling and slight painful inflammation.

In most cases, the swelling goes down after the disease has healed. Lymph nodes can also swell in malignant diseases, for example of the breast. Malignant cells are transported through the lymph to the lymph nodes, where they cause small metastases.

If the cancer is treated, they must also be removed, otherwise malignant cells can spread quickly through the lymphatic system. A pressure-dependent pain under the armpit primarily indicates a local inflammatory process. Malignant diseases do not usually cause painful lymph nodes, which is why they are very unlikely to occur.It is more likely to be an infectious disease that can affect the entire body or only the armpit.

Complaints of the skeletal and muscle apparatus can also include pressure pain. Acute injuries of the bone or muscle often lead to local inflammation as a reaction of the body. These also lead to pressure-related pain.

Complaints in the chest that are accompanied by pain under the armpit should definitely be clarified by a doctor. Here too, only inflammation may be present. Inflammation of the breast can occur more frequently during maternal breastfeeding.

If the changes in the breast are mostly painless, for example palpable lumps, a feeling of tension in the breast or retractions of the nipple, cancer may be present in rare cases. Even if benign lumps are significantly more common, a hardening should be diagnosed precisely. In case of additional well palpable, painlessly enlarged lymph nodes in the armpit, there is an increased suspicion of a malignant disease.