Arm pain can be a very mild experience or an extremely painful one. Arm pain can even be life-threatening, as it can be associated with symptoms of a heart attack (myocardial infarction). In instances of a heart attack, symptoms other than arm pain may include difficulty breathing, pressure on or around the chest area, and nausea. More often, however, arm pain is caused by an injury to the skin, muscles, joints, or bones in the arm. Arm injuries can happen from playing sports, performing manual labor duties, repetitive overuse, trauma, and improper exercise technique.

The symptoms that can accompany arm pain will depend on the cause. They may include:

• Arm redness
• Stiffness in the arm
• Swelling in the arm
• Swollen lymph nodes under the arm
• Tingling in the arm
• Numbness in the arm
• A sharp pain in the arm
• Arm muscle weakness
• Pain with gripping / grasping

Possible reasons for arm pain:

Other instances of arm pain can be a result of any number of factors, including: skin injuries; muscle strain; nerve injuries; nerve damage; joint injuries; fractures or injury of the skin, nerves, bones, joints, blood vessels and soft tissues of the arm.

• Skin injury on the arm
• Pinched nerves in the arm
• Nerve damage in the arm
• Arm sprains
• Elbow tendinitis
• Wrist tendinitis
• Rotator cuff injury
• Broken bones in the arm
• Rheumatoid arthritis in the arm joints
• Angina
• Torn tendon in the arm or bicep
• Ruptured bicep tendon
• Growth plate inflammation
• Golfer’s elbow
• Tennis elbow
• Little League elbow