Symptoms of arm pain

Pain in the Arm

Many people who play sports may experience arm pain symptoms due to various exercises, injuries or even overuse of the arm muscles. If you experience any of the arm pain symptoms, you should visit a doctor immediately as this condition tends to be caused by some serious medical conditions. There are various treatments for this condition, but they all depend on the level of the pain that a patient experiences.

Causes

The pain itself is usually the main symptom and it can be often followed by wounds, abnormal redness and swelling. Weakness and arm pain sometimes go together, while other arm pain symptoms include various injuries to the bones, ligaments, tendons or the muscles of the arm. Medical conditions such as diabetic neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia can be some of the causes of the arm pain, but there are also other causes like bites by insects or snakes, strains and sprains, pinched nerve, fractures, fibromyalgia, cellulites, bursitis, and stings.

Treatment

There are many possible treatments for the pain in the arm. You can try them at home or you can have the help of the professional. If you opt to stay home and treat arm pain by yourself, you should first make sure to rest your affected arm as much as you can. Try not to use the affected arm for difficult activities that may worsen your right or left arm pain. In case of any kind of the arm injury, you should immediately apply the ice pack and use it on the arm for about 15 minutes. For the best results, you should do this three or four times a day. Avoid stuff that can aggravate the pain and increase the swelling, which means to avoid alcoholic beverages, hot tubs and packs and hot showers. A couple of days after the injury you can start doing some exercises for the arm and you can use heat to treat the affected area.

Another method that will help you reduce the swelling is a crepe bandage wrapped around the affected area of the arm, but be careful in wrapping the bandage and try not to cause the tingling, numbness, increased pain or coolness by tying it too forcefully. Avoid wearing bracelets, wrist watch, rings or any other jewelry as they may lead to complications like hampered blood flow. Jewelry may also be very difficult to remove once the swelling occurs. You can massage the affected area of the arm to reduce the pain a bit. You should definitely stop smoking since it slows down the process of healing. Keep in mind that sometimes left arm pain can be a symptom of the heart attack. In case you didn`t find any of the above mentioned treatments helpful, then you should visit a doctor as soon as possible.