Shoulder & Arm Pain

ARM PAIN AND SHOULDER PAIN: SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT What causes arm pain & shoulder pain? In most cases where there is a combination of arm pain and shoulder pain, the cause arises from entrapment of nerves within the neck or where these may be pinched between the clavicle and the chest wall. For the sufferer, where neck pain is not evident and once causes in the shoulder itself have been ruled out, the source of the pain may be elusive because the actual causes of arm & shoulder pain can be difficult to locate using conventional diagnostic techniques.

Why is the pain so hard to locate? Conventional diagnosis relies upon patterns of pain, clinical examination and MRI scans. These may be inconclusive. The scan may only show mild degeneration of the intervertebral discs; often referred to as a degree of 'wear and tear' simply from modern daily living. However this may have resulted in an alteration in posture that has either allowed the nerves to be nipped in the neck, between the clavicle and the chest wall or has overloaded the flexion or extension of vulnerable discs. At the same time, nerves related to the arms and shoulders follow a long pathway as they exit the spinal column and are thus vulnerable to problems at more than one point and multiple causes may be involved.