Diseases of the upper arm
A fracture of the upper arm is also called humerus fracture, where the humerus is broken or broken through. It is a fairly common fracture, usually occurring after falling on the shoulder or arm or due to external force in an accident, for example. Often the humerus breaks below the end at the shoulder because it is particularly narrow there and thus breaks more easily.
However, there is also an increased risk of fracture in certain diseases. These include tumor diseases or osteoporosis. Due to osteoporosis, women in old age suffer from a fracture of the upper arm much more often than men, as their risk of osteoporosis is much lower.
If the arm is broken, pain spreads to the upper arm, it can swell and may have a malposition. The bruise on the arm is usually conspicuous. Moving the arm is then often painful and can also make noises.
An open fracture is easily visible from the outside and should be presented to a doctor immediately. In order to be able to make his diagnosis, the doctor will ask exactly how the accident happened, examine the affected arm and make a physical examination. As an imaging support, the broken arm will be x-rayed and possibly a computer tomography will be performed.
On the basis of the x-rays, a decision is made whether the arm should be treated conservatively or whether it needs surgery.Non-operative therapy is often used for arm fractures, in which the bone is straightened if necessary and then immobilized so that it can grow back together on its own. For this purpose, either a bandage, a splint or a cast is applied for several weeks. If the bone is broken into several fragments that have shifted, the arm is surgically straightened.
The base of the upper arm is the humerus, which is connected to the trunk by the shoulder joint and to the forearm by the elbow joint. Many muscles, nerves, tendons, fasciae and vessels surround the humerus and can thus be the cause of pain. Painful injuries often occur from outside, from an accident or a fall.
These include bruises, contusions or fractures. It is also possible, however, that overstrain, due to intensive sporting activity, has overstrained the muscles and causes pain. In the most harmless case, this is merely a sore muscle, which disappears on its own after the arm is relieved.
However, if the muscle pain results from a permanent incorrect strain, the muscles of the upper arm can harden and tense. The resulting increased muscle tension presses on the surrounding tissue and causes pain. The pain on the upper arm can be very different, it can be pulling, stabbing, pounding at certain points or spread over a large area.
If nerves are to blame for the pain, a sensory disturbance is usually added as an accompanying symptom. This can manifest itself as a tingling or numbness in the arm. In such a case it is possible that a nerve is pinched.
Another possible cause of upper arm pain can also be a heart attack, i.e. an organ. However, other symptoms such as heart pain, tightness in the chest etc. usually occur.
A muscle strain on the upper arm is caused by a sudden, unnatural stretching of a muscle. Such an uncoordinated movement often occurs during sports. The muscle fibers are not damaged, they harden as they contract in a spasmodic way.
This contraction protects structures in the muscle that cannot stretch well from injury. This causes cramp-like pain that gradually increases and hardens the muscle. If this occurs during sports, one should immediately take a break and spare the arm, cool it down and put the arm up because less blood flows into it and thus counteracts the pain.
After taking it easy for about one to two weeks, the strain is usually healed again. An enchondrome in the shoulder area is almost always located at the humeral head. It is a benign cartilage tumor, the exact cause of which is unknown.
Scientists suspect that a hereditary component could play a role. Since an enchondrome can grow in childhood but causes hardly any symptoms, it is usually discovered in adulthood as a chance finding. They can be seen on X-rays or magnetic resonance tomography images taken because of other complaints.
After diagnosis, the enchondromas on the upper arm are usually treated, as they can degenerate into malignant tumors. During surgery, the enchondrome is removed and the resulting free space is filled with a bone filling material (bone graft). Muscle twitching can occur in very different muscle groups of the body, but is particularly common in the extremities, including the upper arm.
These are involuntary, i.e. not deliberately controllable, sudden contractions of the muscles of the upper arm. The strength and duration of the twitches can be quite variable. It is possible that these are twitches that are hardly visible to the eye, but it is also possible that the twitches are so strong that the whole arm moves. Nerve cells transmit the impulses for contraction to the muscle, which is why sometimes a disease of the nervous system must be considered as a trigger. Furthermore, deficiency symptoms, medication or circulatory disorders may also be possible causes.
