Nerve-related arm pain
What is nerve-related arm pain?
Nerve-related arm pain can range from mild and annoying to severe and highly stressful. When symptoms are unpredictable, disruptive and scary, it can make us feel anxious and as though life is on hold.
Fortunately, 88% of people improve within four weeks and the vast majority of people will make a substantial improvement in the first 4-6 months. You will find practical information on this page to better understand this condition and how you can best approach it, setting you up for success.
What is referred arm pain?
Nerve-related arm pain can be a symptom related to a range of conditions, including pain from the neck or the shoulder. This page is going to discuss more about nerve-related arm pain when one or more nerves from the neck is affected or irritated, resulting in pain down the arm. However, please note that pain down the arm is not always caused by a nerve.
Sometimes the nerve function can be disturbed, leading to tingling, numbness or weakness in the arm. It can occur at any stage of life but it’s most commonly found in people around 50 years old.
Symptoms of referred arm pain include:
- Pain in the neck, shoulder, shoulder blades and/or arm.
- Pain in the arm, hand and/or fingers is often described as burning, shooting pains, electric shock-like sensations.
- Symptoms in the arm, hand and/or fingers may also include numbness, tingling or odd sensations which may be difficult to describe or unlike anything you’ve felt before.
- Neck movement may be restricted.
- Neck movements, especially looking up and turning the head to the affected side, can elicit arm symptoms.
- Pain can be severe and can wake you up from your sleep.
- Resting the arm in a raised position, such as placing your hand on your head, may temporarily alleviate pain.
Call 999 or go to A&E if you experience:
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- A loss of feeling (numbness) or persistent pins and needles in part of your face, an arm or hand
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- Weakness or difficulty coordinating your arms or legs
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- Problems with walking or sitting upright
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- Persistent dizziness, fainting, double vision or problems with your speech or swallowing
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- An “electric shock” feeling in your neck/back which may go into your arms/legs
- Addition of chest pains or shortness or breath
3 FACTS ABOUT NERVE-RELATED ARM PAIN
Disc bulges are seen as normal. They occur all the time and we usually do not feel them. Most disc bulges shrink over time. Surgery is considered if there is pressure on the nerves that is not resolving. It can help relieve pain in the arm but long term there is little difference between those having surgery and those who persist without.
Learning to relax and move the neck in all directions is safe and healthy for the neck. Nerves particularly love movement as it increases the blood flow to them: which helps with recovery.
Scans are important but only in a minority of people. They may be indicated if there has been a traumatic injury or a loss of sensation and power in the arms. A thorough clinical exam, such as one carried out by your GP or physiotherapist, can provide information about the likely cause of the arm pain, as well as the health of the nerves potentially involved. Scans, when carried out unnecessarily, have been shown to actually worsen people’s recovery, as they can show scary sounding changes such as disc degeneration, arthritis and disc bulges, which are common, even in people without neck pain.