Right arm pain in women

Heart attack and arm pain in woman: A troublesome misconception

Many women fear pain in their arms, as they will have heard stories of pain in the right arm being the first sign of a heart attack. For this reason, each time their right hand aches or feels unusual in any way, many people are scared and worried that this right arm pain could indicate a heart attack in women.

All women experiencing pain and discomfort in their right arms may rest assured that it isn't a usually sign of heart attack. Rather, they are most likely dealing with a joint, bone, ligament or tendon injury due to overstraining, a pinched nerve, or similar uncomfortable but mostly harmless causes.

Heart attacks do have slightly different symptoms in women, so seek prompt medical attention if besides arm pain, you also experience:

• Persistent pressure, squeezing, or tightness of the upper chest.
• Pain in your jaw, neck, or stomach.
• Shortness of breath (even if your chest doesn't feel tight).
• Feelings of weakness, nausea, fainting, lightheadedness, or cold sweat.

Possible reasons behind right arm pain in women

While pain in the left arm can be a symptom that points to a heart attack, right arm pain is most likely to be caused by some sort of physical injury.

The cause of discomfort in the right arm may be a simple night of sleeping while holding your right arm in an unnatural position. However, there can be a more serious cause, too. Namely, you may experience severe bone pain due to a possible fracture. You might have sustained a fracture (broken bone) some time ago without any obvious effects or symptoms. Nevertheless, as the fracture increases and evolves, the pain becomes more present and severe.

Alternatively, when you feel pain in your arm, one of your muscles may be hurt, instead of your arm bone. You may have pulled a muscle due to overstraining while doing physical exercises, therefore mostly affecting athletes or people with physically-active jobs. When hurt, muscles start to twitch and cause significant pain.

Sometimes, inflammations may take place, directly causing a woman's right hand to ache. Nerves may be trapped or compressed in a woman's shoulder or neck area, triggering pain in her arm due to the resulting inflammation. A wrist nerve may suffer from this inflammation as well, possibly causing a radiating pain in the rest of the arm.

Right hand or shoulder tendons may get inflamed as a result of excessive use or straining, manifesting through pain and discomfort, as well as movement difficulties. This is called tendonitis.

In the same manner, some diseases can cause inflammations in a woman's joints. Then, she is unable to move her joints, and may experience swelling and pain around the area, possibly spreading onto the entire right arm.

Possible treatment for right arm pain

In all cases of arm injury, resting is the best medication. Therefore, a woman suffering from right arm pain should restrain herself from using this limb as much as possible. Rather, she should apply warm or cold compressions to the troublesome and painful spots, possibly immobilizing it and allowing the painful arm to rest. Anti-inflammatory medications as well as painkillers may be of assistance in alleviating the pain. In adequate recovery conditions, the right arm pain should decrease and eventually go away over a period of several days or weeks.

However, if the pain in your right arm remains persistent or escalates, seek medical attention as soon as possible — and anyone who believes they could have broken a bone should also see a doctor.