Suggest Treatment For Persistent Pain In The Arm And Underarm

Posted on Sun, 17 Apr 2016

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

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 Answered on

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : Pain in left triceps that feels like a vice grip around arm and under armpit. Starting to ache in middle of arm. Had pain for 3 months. But it would hurt only with certain movements. Now it aches most of the time. Sometimes it shoots pain underneath my armpit and down the arm

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (29 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You should consult orthopedist.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Do you have any neck or headaches? Does the pain radiates to the fingers, if so to which fingers? When has this pain started? Was there any injury?

Such symptoms can be caused by muscle overload/injury and inflammation or nerve compression. The compression can be present in the cervical spine (causing neck pain, stiffness and headaches), elbow (the pain radiates to the last two fingers) or carpal (the pain radiates to the first 3 fingers).

Muscle inflammation can appear due to overload or injury. Once it becomes inflamed, its hard to make it healthy without proper treatment and rest.

I suggest you to consult orthopedist with this issue. Physical examination should determine the reason of your pain. If its spine, MRI should be done. If its muscle, ultrasound is a good idea.

For a temporal relief you may try hot bath and Ibuprophen.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

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