Some patients come to the hospital for pain in the left arm, and no major problems were found for examination, but the patients are still worried about what disease they have. There are three main causes of pain in the left arm, the first is musculoskeletal problem, the second is heart problem, and the third is anxiety disorder.
Musculoskeletal problems
Common ones include bursitis , rotator cuff tear, neck disc herniation, etc. Although the pain characteristics and locations on the arms are different, pain caused by musculoskeletal problems generally have the following characteristics:
- is mainly stinging or knife cutting pain.
- pain occurs for a few seconds to more than ten seconds each time.
- mainly manifests as local pain and only occurs in part of the arm.
- Pain is the main symptom, and it may last for several days when it occurs.
And heart disease
Angeal pectoris can also cause pain on the inner side of the left arm, and the impact range is larger than that of the musculoskeleton. It is often accompanied by discomfort in the shoulder, neck, back or chin, and may also radiate to the forearm and fingers. The patient feels that half of the body is pressed by stones, each attack lasts for three or five minutes, which is rare for more than fifteen minutes.
According to the characteristics of pain attacks, angina is divided into two types:
Stable angina: occurs when active , For example, climbing stairs in too cold or too hot weather, the symptoms can generally be relieved by themselves after the attack.
Instable Angina: can occur suddenly during rest, for longer, more severe pain, and more frequent attacks.
Anxiety
This is the most easily overlooked problem at present. Many patients can't find the cause of arm pain after checking it all. Finally, they found out that they had anxiety disorder. It mainly has the following characteristics:
- Muscle tension, If muscle tension in the neck, shoulder, back and arms exist for a long time, gradually developing into pain, this is the characteristic of anxiety disorder. The pain in some parts may be more obvious than in other parts. Pain in the left arm is a common pain area for anxiety.
- over-ventilation , anxious people are in tension and fear for a long time, unconsciously excessive inhalation and exhale, exceeding the normal respiratory function. Over-ventilation can simulate the symptoms of heart attacks and cause pain in the left chest and left arm. When is severe, muscle spasm occurs, and severe pain in may even radiate to the forearm. However, it is normal for patients to frequently check the heart.
- overcompensation, People with anxiety disorder may not know it themselves, and their bodies will unconsciously change their movement habits and compensate with abnormal or exaggerated behaviors, such as the habit of sitting or sleeping, and the postures of hands and arms when sleeping are different from before, which may cause arm pain.
- is overly sensitive. patients with anxiety disorder have lower pain threshold and become sensitive and afraid of pain. If they press on their arms while sleeping, or accidentally twist their arms, things they didn't care about before may cause obvious pain. Although some pain will disappear soon, patients are often more hypochondriatic, fear aggravates the anxiety symptoms, paying too much attention to the pain in their arms, and the result is more painful.
The heart pain is often ignored. Patients pay more attention to physical symptoms, but ignore the real problem lies in the brain. Simply put, it is the thing that does not hurt before, which is reflected in the brain. When this pain occurs, you usually feel a little bit of pain in the arms, and then you are nervous, and then you become more and more painful. A common example. When an anxiety patient understands the symptoms of heart attacks, when he learns that heart attacks will cause pain in the left arm and chest, the pain in these parts of the patient becomes more frequent and serious.
Medical science popularization, for reference only.
