Aa
left arm head and chest pain
i have a relly bad pain in my left arm right down to my hand,i can hardly lift any thing i also get bad pain at back of my head. i have chest pains asell , wat would it be?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
The first thing to be ruled out is a heart attack by getting a 12 lead EKG. If this is normal then your symptoms could be due to three main possibilities. One is a pinched cervical or upper thoracic spinal nerve. The other possibility is Scalene Myofascial Pain Syndrome (SMPS). When scalene muscle is the cause of pain, the pain is referred chest, inner lining of scapula, shoulder, posterior and lateral sides of the arm right up to the thumb and index finger. When this muscle shortens, this can press on brachial plexus and the subclavian artery and can compress or irritate these structures and cause symptoms such as abnormal sensation, cold extremity, claudication, and lymphedema in the involved extremity. The third possibility is TOS or thoracic outlet syndrome which occurs as the result of narrowing of space below and behind the collar bone. You probably have neurogenic variant of TOS characterized by non specific symptoms like neck stiffness, pain on raising the arm above the head, neck pain and headaches and a tired feeling in arm. SMPS is also a major cause of TOS. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Do consult your PCP and get a referral for a neurologist.You may need MRI and CT scans for diagnosis. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
The first thing to be ruled out is a heart attack by getting a 12 lead EKG. If this is normal then your symptoms could be due to three main possibilities. One is a pinched cervical or upper thoracic spinal nerve. The other possibility is Scalene Myofascial Pain Syndrome (SMPS). When scalene muscle is the cause of pain, the pain is referred chest, inner lining of scapula, shoulder, posterior and lateral sides of the arm right up to the thumb and index finger. When this muscle shortens, this can press on brachial plexus and the subclavian artery and can compress or irritate these structures and cause symptoms such as abnormal sensation, cold extremity, claudication, and lymphedema in the involved extremity. The third possibility is TOS or thoracic outlet syndrome which occurs as the result of narrowing of space below and behind the collar bone. You probably have neurogenic variant of TOS characterized by non specific symptoms like neck stiffness, pain on raising the arm above the head, neck pain and headaches and a tired feeling in arm. SMPS is also a major cause of TOS. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Do consult your PCP and get a referral for a neurologist.You may need MRI and CT scans for diagnosis. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
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