If the arm between the shoulder and the elbow hurts, the reasons for this can be very different. As a rule, we are talking about joint, muscle or neurogenic pain. The first are provoked by inflammatory processes in the joints or in the tissues. Also, if the arm between the shoulder and the elbow hurts, the case may be in degenerative-dystrophic changes in the limbs. It is quite difficult to find out the nature of what is happening without the participation of a doctor. And self-medication can be extremely dangerous at all.
First steps
Remembering that it is only a doctor who can accurately determine why hands from shoulder to elbow hurt, the best solution would be to consult a specialist with the appearance of the first complaints. If the discomfort in the limbs is chronic, it is all the more important to get a complete diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes the pain is due to local problems. But sometimes they serve as an indicator of a systemic failure, talking about a big disorder in the body or that a dangerous disease is progressing in it.
Disease
If the left hand hurts from the shoulder to the elbow, the causes may lie in cardiac pathologies. This symptom is a companion of myocardial infarction. But if the same thing happens with the right limb, while the fingers go numb, this may be a sign of the appearance of a hernia of the intervertebral discs. It is important to listen to the body, because if it is really a hernia, in the absence of treatment it all ends with disability.
Injuries
Most often, the arm hurts from the shoulder to the elbow due to injuries. They can be of a different nature - stretching, rupture of tendons, muscles, ligaments leads to such consequences. Joint diseases, for example, arthritis or arthrosis, tissue pathologies near the joints, pinching of nerves, myositis, or muscle spasms can result in a very painful arm from the shoulder to the elbow.
Sometimes such discomfort is accompanied by pain in other parts of the body. Sometimes pain occurs in a seemingly completely healthy person.
Osteochondrosis
If the arm hurts from the shoulder to the elbow, the causes are most often associated with this disease. There are several most common types of ailment.
This disease manifests itself in the defeat of cartilage. If diagnosed with osteochondrosis of the spine, the intervertebral discs become inelastic. They contract, as a result, compression of the nerves occurs, which begin in the spinal cord. There are several types of osteochondrosis - it happens lumbar, cervical and thoracic.
If the shoulder and elbow of the right hand hurts, the reasons may be that the nerve is often squeezed. It is pressed by a deformed cartilage. As a result, a person suffers from intense pain.
Osteochondrosis is manifested due to the fact that the patient does not move much, sits a lot. As a result, the loads on the spinal column become strong, and if this is supplemented by the wearing of heavy weights, osteochondrosis occurs quite quickly.
The easiest way, if there is a suspicion of this disease, to perform magnetic resonance imaging. It is done by a neurologist. He gives direction to this examination.
Atherosclerosis
In cases where a person experiences discomfort during physical activity, this is most often provoked by atherosclerosis. This disease is directly related to vascular pathologies.
Atherosclerosis is a rather dangerous ailment. It is caused due to the presence of deposits in the vessels. These are atherosclerotic plaques, and when they grow, blood circulation is blocked.
Deposits accumulate due to the fact that a person does not eat properly, suffers from excess weight. In addition to atherosclerosis, such patients often develop a heart attack or stroke.
Due to the fact that the gaps in the vessels become extremely small, when a person is engaged in physical activity and the body needs additional oxygen, poor patency prevents him very much. The most dangerous violations in the blood circulation of the heart. This can lead to death. To identify these pathologies, you need to pass a stress test. It is carried out quite simply. You need to sit on a bicycle ergometer, which looks like an exercise bike. Sensors are connected to this device. And when the patient rotates the details, there is a measurement of the characteristics of his heartbeat.
Through such stress tests, it is determined how the blood supply to the body is carried out at rest or during exercise. In cases when during the activity the blood supply is determined insufficient, special therapy is necessary. It is aimed at overcoming the manifestations of atherosclerosis. As a rule, they prescribe that they complain that the arm from the shoulder to the elbow hurts at night and suffers from atherosclerosis, they recommend a diet in combination with moderate physical activity.
In cases where such a diagnosis has been made, the patient is advised to stop consuming flour. It is necessary to refuse products with animal fat. After all, all this leads to the fact that fat cells accumulate in the body.
If the arm from the shoulder to the elbow hurts, the reason lies in atherosclerosis, patients are advised to eat more products with a low glycemic index. It contains a lot of dietary fiber. We are talking about broccoli, beets, spinach, carrots.
It is necessary to refuse pork meat, fatty beef varieties. These products are replaced by boiled chicken, fish. It is important to lower salt intake, because this leads to the fact that water is retained in the body. The load on the internal organs increases.
Thanks to the timely initiation of therapy, the risks of death from a heart attack or stroke are reduced. It is necessary not to delay with a visit to a doctor. Self-medication is also excluded. Its results can be dangerous and cost only more.
Gallstones
Another common reason that the right arm from the shoulder to the elbow hurts is the presence of stones in the gall bladder. Stones can affect the nerve endings. And it is through them that the transmission of pain in the limbs is carried out. In cases where the right arm hurts from the shoulder to the elbow, it is important to conduct an ultrasound examination of both the abdominal cavity and the gallbladder. It is likely that the cause of the pain syndrome lies in gallstone disease.
Styloiditis
Sometimes uncomfortable sensations in the limbs arise as a consequence of inflammatory processes - for example, styloiditis or tendonitis. The first begins at the junction of the tendon and bone. The second is inflammation of the tendon itself.
The reason may lie in radiation styloid. This is a pain syndrome in the wrist joint. There is also ulnar styloiditis. In addition, tendonitis can provoke pain that occurs in a wide variety of joints.
If the pains are aching, they intensify when a person is engaged in physical activity, and the patient himself feels weakness in the hand - surely the reasons lie in one of these phenomena.
If tendonitis occurs, pain spreads from the center of the limb - from the elbow or from the shoulder. The joint is inactive, there are redness, swelling.
Epicondylitis is inflammation in the area in which the muscle attaches to the bone in the elbow area. For this reason, the right arm hurts from the shoulder to the elbow, and the epicenter is located in the latter. The brush becomes weak enough. If a person extends his fingers, moves his hand, the pain syndrome becomes only stronger. Sometimes pain occurs in this case in the palms.
How to treat
Often, the treatment of such diseases consists in combining several treatment methods. As a rule, they combine the achievements of eastern medicine (acupuncture, acupressure) with shock wave therapy methods. The latter activates blood circulation, allows you to get rid of inflammation in a short time. In addition, she anesthetizes the affected area. As a result, the mobility of the injured limb is restored quite quickly.
Arthritis
If the right arm hurts from the shoulder to the elbow, the therapy will be determined by the location of the pain site, as well as by the causes - inflammatory processes in the tissues that are directly related to metabolic disorders. If inflammation occurs, the patient is likely to suffer from arthritis. In this case, the damaged limb will be red, swollen. Locally, the temperature in the joint area will increase.
In this case, therapy begins with the fact that the patient eliminates inflammation. As a result, pain is relieved. To this end, acupuncture is performed. Then resort to phytotherapy methods. This stimulates the metabolic process, there is an outflow of fluid that has accumulated in the joints. As a result, the swelling disappears, there is an increase in local immunity.
Osteoarthrosis
Osteoarthrosis is a dystrophic process in the cartilage tissues of the joints. A similar pathology arises due to the fact that metabolic processes are disrupted, the production of collagen, which is the main building material in articular cartilage, is impaired. The reason may be a violation of blood circulation, a lack of synovial fluids, through which the joints are lubricated.
In cases when arthrosis occurs, a person hardly moves a limb, it crunches. During physical activity, the pain syndrome tends to intensify.
Therapy in this case is the elimination of pain directly, as well as the normalization of blood supply, tissue nutrition in the joints. The activity of internal organs is normalized without fail. Collagen production needs to be put in order.
As a result, due to such a complex effect, the symptoms of the disease disappear in a fairly short time.
Bursitis
Sometimes bursitis causes intense pain in the limbs. In this case, swelling occurs in the affected areas. This is due to the inflammatory process in bursitis, which is a periarticular bag. This inflammation is manifested in the accumulation of fluid - exudate. This is the cause of edema.
Some medical institutions use quite effective methods of therapy. Their success is due to the complex effect. Often useful are the methods of Tibetan medicine. The complex effect leads to the elimination of inflammatory processes, pain. As a result, the body's immune forces are strengthened. This eliminates pain in the limbs that are provoked by bursitis.
Tunnel syndrome
Tunnel syndrome is associated with the nerves being pinched. It's all about the pressure that the adjacent tissues exert. This is the cause of pain in the hands. Similar diseases include carpal tunnel syndrome. In this case, the pain is combined with general weakness, impaired mobility of the hands.
Tunnel syndrome appears in the elbow joint when the ulnar, radial, median nerve is pinched. For example, the right extremity can also hurt because the patient has been using the mouse for a long time.
This ailment is eliminated by acupuncture, acupressure. All this leads to the elimination of edema in the tissues, improving the passage of nerve impulses. As a result, the body relaxes. If the muscles of the arm hurt from the shoulder to the elbow, these methods help to relax them. As a result, a person gets rid of spasms.
Anterior scalene syndrome
Also, if the muscles of the arm hurt from the shoulder to the elbow, the causes may be a cramp. It is associated with cervical osteochondrosis. The pain syndrome in this case develops due to the syndrome of the anterior scalene muscle. Then a person suffers from pallor, weakness, his hands are cold.
The peculiarity of this reason lies in the fact that pain increases with a deep breath. Also, the pain manifests itself brighter if the patient takes his arms to the sides, moves the body. At night, it intensifies. Sometimes the arm bone hurts from the shoulder to the elbow.
Effective therapy in this case is carried out using the methods of acupuncture, acupressure, and other types of procedures. It has a negative effect on the cervical spine. Similar methods eliminate the negative manifestations of osteochondrosis.
Chondrocalcinosis
If chondrocalcinosis occurs, pain is caused by the deposition of calcium salts in the joints. Therapy with oriental medicine shows quite positive results, especially if they are combined with shock wave therapy methods. In addition to salts, uric acid salts and urate are deposited in joints. Therapy is aimed at eliminating the main disease - gout.
Ulnar neuritis
If the pain is aching and occurs in the elbow, the cause may lie in neuritis of the nerve. And often then the patient suffers from numbness of the fingers, the mobility of the hand is impaired. The treatment will be effective, including acupuncture, acupressure. Integrated exposure is considered the most effective.
In any case, it is important to consult a doctor with the appearance of the first symptoms, and not to choose therapy yourself.
Conclusion
Many people face such negative manifestations. Pain is sharp, aching. Sometimes they increase with physical activity, due to exposure to cold. Sometimes the pain affects the entire limb, it can be located on a fairly limited area. The variety of such symptoms is due to a whole range of reasons. To find out what exactly was the reason, the specialist will be able to. Self-medicating, a person loses time. He risks treating the wrong disease while the underlying disease develops further.