Pain in the left upper arm

Introduction

Pain in the upper arms is very often reported by patients and can be caused by various diseases. If the pain moves to the left arm, this usually triggers special attention. The reason is that left-sided pain in the area of the upper arm can also have heart involvement as a cause.

In most cases, however, there is another explanation. Muscular tension in the upper arm area is a particularly common cause of pain. Furthermore, signs of wear and tear of the shoulder joint can also be the cause.

Pain in the adjacent arm is also reported in the case of arthrosis in the shoulder joint, which often occurs. Muscular problems of the left upper arm are relatively easy to diagnose and can be distinguished from a heart attack as the cause if a heavy physical load was applied immediately before the onset of pain or if heavy physical work was performed days before. Above all, unaccustomed movements in the upper arm muscles can lead to pulling pain.

For this reason, it is particularly important to ask about the time, duration and development of the pain. In addition, accompanying symptoms that could indicate a heart attack must always be clarified. Thus, symptoms such as shortness of breath, pain of destruction in the chest, racing heart and loss of performance indicate heart involvement.

In any case, an ECG should be taken as a primary diagnosis in case of left-sided arm pain. Furthermore, pain in the left arm can also be caused by constrictions, which are either muscular (so-called myogeloses) or caused by bone protrusions. Through anatomical constrictions pressure is exerted on the nerves pulling into the upper arm, which can lead to a pulling pain in the upper arm. Bony constrictions can be detected by an X-ray. Whether a nerve is trapped at the level of the upper arm can be determined by measuring the nerve conduction velocity, which would be significantly reduced in the case of a constriction.