Pain From The Shoulder To The Hand
Many causes of right shoulder and arm pain are localized in the area of the shoulder and upper arm. But some can cause pain that can be felt all the way down to your hand. These include:
- Cervical radiculopathy: This condition can cause sharp pain that can move from the area of your neck and shoulder all the way down your arm.
- Thoracic outlet syndrome: Pain from TOS can be present from your shoulder down to your hand and fingers.
- Brachial plexus injuries: As discussed earlier, this type of injury could affect your arm and hand.
What Are The Most Common Causes Of Chest Pain
Although most people think of chest pain as a sign of a heart issue/heart attack, many things can cause it. Chest pain can be a symptom of:
Heart and vascular problems
Heart attack
Heart muscle dies when it cant get enough oxygen because of a blockage in the coronary artery supplying its blood.
Coronary artery disease
Cholesterol buildup can narrow and block the blood vessels that carry blood to your heart. Its typically worse with exercise because you cant get enough blood to the heart muscle and clogged coronary arteries.
Coronary artery dissection
A coronary artery wall can rip, create a bulge and block your artery. This causes pressure or pain in your chest, and it could lead to a heart attack.
Pericarditis
An infection or other cause can start inflammation in the lining around your heart, causing a sharp pain in your chest. The pain can spread to your left shoulder and arm. The pain can be worse when youre lying down and worse when taking deep breaths.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
The muscle walls of your pumping ventricles become thick and stiff. With this issue, you cant get enough blood into or out of your hearts chambers, and your heart has a harder time getting oxygen-rich blood. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy usually happens because of a problem in the genes you got from your parents.
Aortic dissection
Aortic aneurysm
Mitral valve prolapse
Digestive issues
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
Ulcer
Muscle spasms in your esophagus
Esophagitis
Digestive issues
How To Tell Whether Youre Experiencing Stress Or Anxiety
Not sure whether stress or anxiety is behind your symptoms?
Take a step back and think of whats going on in your life right now. What kinds of things do you tend to worry about? Are they specific threats or events?
Consider car troubles. Maybe you know you really need new tires, especially now that its starting to snow. But you cant afford to replace them just yet.
For the next few weeks, you feel uneasy about driving. What if you slide on a patch of ice? What if you get a flat on your way home from a late-night shift on that stretch of road with lousy reception?
A few weeks later, you have a fresh set of tires and stop worrying about driving to and from work safely. In this case, your nervousness was due to stress, triggered by having old tires.
But maybe you get new tires and dont really notice a change in your symptoms. Youre still nervous about driving and feel a vague sense of unease that you cant quite put your finger on. Or, your tires were never an issue in the first place, but you can shake an overall feeling of nervousness about getting on the road. That would be anxiety.
If you can tie your feelings back to a specific trigger, theyre likely the result of stress. But if the exact cause isnt clear, or your symptoms stick around after the initial trigger goes away, it may be anxiety.
Stress typically happens in response to physical or mental pressure. This pressure might involve a big life change, like:
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When To See A Gp
See a GP if you have sharp stabbing chest pains when you breathe or other symptoms of pleurisy.
Pleurisy can usually be diagnosed based on your symptoms.
The GP will listen to your chest. A distinctive dry, crunching sound may suggest you have pleurisy.
Further tests may be needed to find out what’s causing pleurisy and how severe it is.
These tests include:
- a biopsy where a small sample of pleural tissue or lung tissue is removed for further testing
Get immediate medical help if you have severe chest pain, particularly if you also have other symptoms, such as coughing up blood, feeling sick or sweating.
Chest Pain That Hurts When Youre Coughing A Lot
Excessive coughing from the common cold, pneumonia, or an inflamed lung condition gives the chest, back, and abdomen muscles quite a workout during coughing fits.
Pneumonia is an infection that inflames your lungs air sacs, filling them with fluid or pus. Symptoms include fever, chills, trouble breathing, and lots of coughing. All that coughing makes your chest hurt when you take a deep breath.
Coughing helps your body remove mucus, but your doctor may recommend a cough suppressant so you can get some rest. Your doctor may suggest NSAIDs for pain and possibly prescribe antibiotics, depending on the type of pneumonia you have.
Pleurisy in the chest wall occurs when there is swelling of the pleura, which is the thin lining around the chest cavity and lungs. It can be caused by bacterial and viral infections. Swelling causes the lungs to rub up against the chest, causing pain. Inhaling becomes painful, which forces quick and shallow breathing, causing more discomfort.
On the side where the pain is, the chest muscles move less than those on the other side. Treatments include NSAIDs to help relieve chest pain, and if the infections stem from bacteria, antibiotics are necessary. To help you sleep easier, your doctor may prescribe cough medicine for the dry cough that comes with pleurisy.
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Pain Between The Shoulder And Elbow
In some cases, pain can be felt in both the area of the right shoulder and further down towards your right elbow. Some causes are:
- Rotator cuff disease: Pain can begin to radiate from your shoulder into the side of your upper arm.
- Torn rotator cuff: Shoulder pain may radiate down your arm to the area of the elbow.
- Dislocated shoulder: The pain from a dislocated shoulder can radiate down the upper arm.
- Upper arm fracture: A break in your upper arm can cause pain thats localized around the area of your shoulder and throughout your upper arm.
- Frozen shoulder: Pain from a frozen shoulder may also spread into your right bicep.
- Calcific tendinitis: Similarly to frozen shoulder, pain from calcific tendinitis can spread down into your bicep area.
What You Should Do During A Heart Attack
If you think you are having a heart attack, you or someone nearby should call emergency services immediately. Its unsafe to drive yourself to the hospital during a heart attack, so call an ambulance. While you may feel awake and alert enough to drive, the chest pain could get so severe that you may have trouble breathing or difficulty thinking clearly.
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Bone Muscle Or Nerve Problems
Sometimes chest pain may result from overuse or an injury to the chest area from a fall or accident. Viruses can also cause pain in the chest area. Other causes of chest pain include:
Rib problems. Pain from a broken rib may worsen with deep breathing or coughing. It is often confined to one area and may feel sore when you press on it. The area where the ribs join the breastbone may also become inflamed.
Muscle strain. Even really hard coughing can injure or inflame the muscles and tendons between the ribs and cause chest pain. The pain tends to persist and it worsens with activity.
Shingles. Caused by the varicella zoster virus, shingles may prompt a sharp, band-like pain before a telltale rash appears several days later.
Pain In Right Side Of Chest And Shoulder Blade
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When Should I Call My Doctor
See your doctor if the angina becomes worse or occurs more often. Sometimes its hard to tell a severe attack of angina from a true heart attack. Call your doctor or 911 or go to a hospital emergency room right away if:
- You have chest discomfort with light-headedness
- You are sweating a lot during an attack of angina
- You have chest discomfort that lasts more than 10 minutes or goes away and comes back.
You still have pain 15 minutes after taking one nitroglycerine tablet every five minutes.
Cardiac Pain That Isnt A Heart Attack
Cardiac pain, or angina, refers to discomfort in the chest because of something going on with the heart. The first thing a cardiologist will try to determine in a patient with cardiac pain is whether the pain is caused by clogged arteries.
Several conditions of the heart can cause cardiac pain but arent related to clogged arteries, including:
- Pericarditis: inflammation of the two thin layers of tissue that surround the heart
- Dissection: when the aorta splits and causes severe chest and back pain
- Myocarditis: inflammation of the heart muscle
- Cardiomyopathy: diseases of the heart muscle
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If You Have To Go To The Doctor
If you talk with your doctor about right shoulder and arm pain, they may recommend the following, depending on the severity of your condition.
- Immobilization: In some cases, limiting the movement of your shoulder or arm may help it heal. This is often achieved using a sling, brace, or cast. Your doctor will let you know when it can be removed.
- Corticosteroid injections: This is a type of medication that your doctor can inject into the affected area to help reduce inflammation.
- Prescription medications: Prescription pain medications may be given for severe pain. Oral corticosteroids can help ease inflammation. If you have RA, your doctor will likely prescribe a disease-modifying drug.
- Physical therapy: Your doctor may give you a list of exercises to do that can help you regain strength, flexibility, and range of motion. In some cases, they may recommend that you work with a physical therapist.
- Surgery: Surgery may be recommended when other treatments havent been effective or when damage is severe. The specific procedure thats used can depend on whats causing your condition.
Right Shoulder Pain And Chest Pain
The pain in the right shoulder and chest are not generally due to heart disorders. There are various causes of chest pain on the right side. Stress and anxiety may lead to chest pain and causes numbness of hands and feet. Other causes of right-side chest pain include
The pain from the chest may radiate to the shoulders.
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When To See The Doctor For Chest Pain
When in doubt, call your doctor about any chest pain you have, especially if it comes on suddenly or is not relieved by anti-inflammatory medications or other self-care steps, such as changing your diet.
- A sudden feeling of pressure, squeezing, tightness, or crushing under your breastbone
- Chest pain that spreads to your jaw, left arm, or back
- Sudden, sharp chest pain with shortness of breath, especially after a long period of inactivity
- Nausea, dizziness, rapid heart rate or rapid breathing, confusion, ashen color, or excessive sweating
- Very low blood pressure or very low heart rate
- Fever, chills, or coughing up yellow-green mucus
- Problems swallowing
- Severe chest pain that does not go away
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Can Shoulder Pain Cause Chest Pain
Shoulder pain may be caused due to various reasons including arthritis, accidental trauma, infection, and overusing the shoulders. Tendonitis affects the movement of shoulders, and extending the arm beyond the limit may lead to shoulder pain and chest pain. When there is any muscle strain in the shoulder, it may also cause pain into the chest. Repetitive activities and long stretch work may also result in shoulder pain with chest pain.
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Gallbladder Or Liver Inflammation
The gallbladder and liver are two organs of the abdominal cavity that are located on the right side of the body. When they become inflamed or are not functioning correctly, pain can be felt on the right side. Although it is more common for pain to be felt in the abdominal area, in some cases, pain can radiate to the chest too.
In addition to pain, problem with the gallbladder or the liver can produce other symptoms like vomiting, loss of appetite, general malaise, and jaundice.
What to do: If you suspect you have gallbladder inflammation or a liver problem, its important to consult a gastroenterologist for assessment and to start appropriate treatment. Gallbladder inflammation is usually quite serious, especially if a gallbladder duct is obstructed by a stone. In these cases, the pain is very strong, and fever and vomiting can occur. If this happens, go to the hospital immediately.
What Are The Complications Of Pericarditis
There is a small amount of fluid between the inner and outer layers of the pericardium. Often, when the pericardium becomes inflamed, the amount of fluid between these layers increases. This is called a pericardial effusion. If the amount of fluid increases quickly, the effusion can keep the heart from working properly. This complication of pericarditis is called cardiac tamponade and is a serious emergency. A thin needle or tube is put into the chest to remove the fluid in the pericardium and relieve pressure on the heart.
Chronic constrictive pericarditis occurs when scar-like tissue forms throughout the pericardium. Its a rare disease that can develop over time in people with pericarditis. The scar tissue causes pericardial sac to stiffen and not move properly. In time, the scar tissue squeezes the heart and keeps it from working well. The only way to treat this is to remove the pericardium with a special type of heart surgery.
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After You Call Emergency Services
When you call emergency services, the dispatcher may ask you about the medicines you take and your allergies. If you dont currently take a blood thinner and you arent allergic to aspirin, the dispatcher may advise you to chew an aspirin while youre waiting on medical attention. If you have nitroglycerin tablets, you may also wish to use these as directed by your doctor to reduce chest pain.
If you have a list of medications you currently take or any information about your medical history, you may wish to take this information with you. It can speed your medical care.
The Value Of Early Exercise
Similar studies have since confirmed the value of early exercise for all but the most severe sprains. They have also shown benefits for balance training for example, standing on the injured foot with your eyes closed which improves the function of nerves in the joint and can increases stability.
Citing evidence like this, a 2012 editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggested replacing RICE and PRICE with POLICE protection, optimal loading, ice, compression and elevation.
But the ICE part of the treatment also remains poorly tested. In some trials, patients who received cold treatments did better than those who did not. In others, there was no difference.
We do know its a good pain reliever, says Thomas Kaminski, who helped devise the National Athletic Trainers Associations official guidelines on ankle sprains, published last year. Most experts continue to recommend some kind of cold treatment, with the reasoning that people can start moving their sprained joints more quickly if they hurt less.
The same problem applies to compression and elevation. Tightly wrapping a sprained wrist or ankle reduces swelling. A less swollen joint is easier to move, and theoretically the pressure can reduce internal bleeding. But hardly anyone has actually compared healing in patients who receive this sort of compression with those who dont.
Fewer studies still have examined the effects of elevation. Putting your foot up might reduce swelling in your ankle,
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What Are The Symptoms Of Pericarditis
The main symptom is a sharp pain in the center or left side of your chest. The pain may spread to the shoulder blade. For some people, this pain is dull instead of sharp. It may be worse when you lie down or take a deep breath.
The pain lasts for hours or days and doesn’t get better when you rest. It’s different from a type of chest pain called angina, which only lasts a short time and usually gets better with rest.
Other symptoms may include a mild fever, weakness, and feeling very tired.
Pericarditis usually isn’t dangerous. But your chest pain could be caused by something more serious, like a heart attack. Getting diagnosed and treated early can help keep pericarditis from leading to other problems. That’s why you should call a doctor right away if you have any kind of sudden chest pain.
Chest Pain Pressure And Discomfort
Most people with heart attacks experience some sort of chest pain or discomfort. But its important to understand that chest pains dont occur in every heart attack.
Chest pain is a common sign of a heart attack. People have described this sensation as feeling like an elephant is standing on their chest.
Some people dont describe chest pain as pain at all. Instead, they may say they felt chest tightness or squeezing. Sometimes this discomfort can seem bad for a few minutes and then go away. Sometimes the discomfort comes back hours or even a day later. These could all be signs your heart muscle isnt getting enough oxygen.
If you experience chest pains or tightness, you or someone around you should call 911 immediately.
Pain and tightness can also radiate in other areas of the body. Most people associate a heart attack with pain working its way down the left arm. That can happen, but pain can also appear in other locations, including:
American Heart Association , some women may even think their heart attack symptoms are flu-like symptoms.
A heart attack can cause exhaustion due to the extra stress on your heart to try to pump while an area of blood flow is blocked. If you often feel tired or exhausted for no reason, it could be a sign that something is wrong.
Fatigue and shortness of breath are more common in women than men and may begin months before a heart attack. Thats why its important to see a doctor as early as possible when you experience early signs of fatigue.
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