84 Years Old. Noticed Swelling On Arms And Hands. Reason?

Posted on Fri, 19 Apr 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 Answered on

Mon, 13 May 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : My mother is 84 and is bedridden. Her left arm and hand has started swelling. Why?

Answered by Dr. Ram Choudhary (51 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXX,Thanks for writing in.The cause of swelling of upper limb in bed ridden person is most likely postural and ideally should be treated with 3hourly posture changes and limb physiotherapy.Rarely an infection may cause such swelling but patient would look very sick and mostly fever would be a feature.Another cause in such patients is thrombosis of deep veins and a doppler venography of affected limb should be done to detect if a thrombus is a cause, it should be managed by a local clinician supervision.I hope the advise would be helpful.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ram Choudhary (7 minutes later)

Infection in the arm or in any part of the body?

Answered by Dr. Ram Choudhary (10 hours later)

Hi XXXXXX.
Welcome back.
A local infection if present would cause such swelling, in elderly such infections cause local redness and raised temperature.
Complete blood counts show a raised TLC.
I hope the answer would be helpful for you.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar