Why Is There Pain/Numbness Going Down My Arm?
- Jeremy Tarwater PT, DPT
- Nov 7, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated November 4th, 2022
Introduction
Do you have pain, numbness, or tingling going down one or both of your arms? Read on. Would you like to prevent ever having this feeling in the first place? Keep reading. Symptoms that move down an arm or a leg are very common, due to the high sensitivity of our nerves and the multitude of injuries that can cause this issue. I plan to go over the two most likely causes below, with exercises to both help fix the issue and prevent it. This condition is usually seen among the population of manual labor workers, especially those who use their shoulders even more when they get home (through more projects, yardwork, or even playing an instrument that requires repetitive use of your shoulders…).
Just to be clear, this isn’t an article about how you need to stop doing all of these things. I would like to teach you tips and exercises you can use throughout your day to make sure you can continue to make money and do the things you enjoy without pain.
Blame The Neck
We are going to start with the less obvious of the two most common causes of symptoms down the arm. When we think about symptoms radiating (or traveling) to another body part or through multiple muscles/tendons, the first thought should be NERVES. When a nerve is aggravated, it can show you who’s boss by causing pain or numbness anywhere along its path of destruction. All of our nerves originate in the spinal cord and exit from each vertebrate in the spine, as shown below.
Those who spend a lot of time in poor posture and have to repetitively use their shoulders throughout the day are more vulnerable to an injury to the neck, since most of the shoulder muscles connect to the neck as well. I will include some quick videos for improving posture and reducing neck pain, but if you want to learn more check out my POSTURE and NECK PAIN articles.
Blame The Shoulder
So what about the shoulder? Nerves don’t originate in the shoulder right? Not exactly, but the nerves do pass through the shoulder to reach down and supply the entire arm. Notice how in the picture above, there isn’t a lot of “breathing room” for those nerves. So an injury to the shoulder that causes swelling or frequent forward motions of the shoulder can hinder the nerves ability to communicate with the structures they intend to.
To counteract all of this forward motion throughout the day (from shoveling, lifting, gripping, and possibly drumming), an individual needs to perform stretches and exercises to “open up” this area. I put that in quotations because I don’t want you to actually open up the shoulder (just in case you’re a surgeon). What I mean is that if all of our tasks throughout the day require forward motion or across the body movements, then we need to balance that out. Check out my videos below for how to get this done. Use them throughout the day to avoid that awful feeling of pain shooting down your arm!
Conclusion
When it comes to pain or other symptoms traveling down the arm, my best suggestion is to give everything a try to see what works. Even if you don’t believe your injury is stemming from your neck, it is still worth doing the stretches to reduce stiffness and avoid further injury or complications. What I personally tell my patients is this: it really doesn’t matter to me if the problem started in your neck or shoulder, what matters is that we get it fixed and stop it from ever coming back again. Sometimes when you fix the root of the problem, you don’t actually find out what the root of the problem was. But you learned the movements, posture, and exercises you need to do daily to stop it from becoming a problem again in the future (1).
References
Brotzman, S. and Wilk, K., 2007. Handbook of orthopaedic rehabilitation. Edinburgh: Elsevier Mosby.
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