Causes of pain in the right hand

Pain in right arm in clinical practice it is often called right-sided brachialgia (from the Greek words – brachion – shoulder and algos – hurts, pain). This is a common complaint and is one of many manifestations of an underlying disease causing pain. It is extremely difficult to differentiate such a pain symptom, as well as to diagnose it, since its causes are very diverse.

The difficulty of diagnosis is due to the following factors:

• Pain in the right arm as a symptom is almost identical in sensation to other algic manifestations in the shoulder or neck, since most often it is a pain syndrome of one general pathology.
• Pain in the right hand can be a reflected, radiating symptom, the cause of which is located in almost any area of ​​the body – from the distal areas (fingers) to the spinal cord. Any pathological process occurring in the complex “head-neck-shoulder-arm” system can clinically manifest itself in every part of this system. According to statistics, complaints of pain in the cervico-brachial region, in the arm, are among the most common among the various forms of regional myalgia, they amount to about 40%.
• The difficulty lies in the fact that brachialgia can be accompanied by concomitant vascular, autonomic or trophic pathologies, which is understandable from the point of view of the anatomical and physiological structure of the shoulder girdle and arm. They contain many nerve endings, muscles, ligaments, joint capsules, and blood vessels.

Referred pain in the arm may be the result of a myalgic impulse from damaged or inflamed areas of the upper abdomen or chest.

Causes of pain in the right hand

Right-sided brachialgia or pain in the right arm can be caused by a variety of etiological factors, which are classified into three groups:

• Vertebrogenic diseases and injuries are the most common causes of pain in the right arm.
• MBS (myofascial syndrome) is a somatogenic myalgia, characterized by the appearance of small painful compactions in muscle tissue.
• Pain of unknown etiology, often undifferentiated due to a complex combination of symptoms.

Among the causes of pain in the hand, the following diseases are most often identified:

• Vertebrogenic pathologies and injuries.
  • Cervical osteochondrosis, accompanied by pain in the arm.
  • Benign or malignant spinal neoplasm (tumor).
  • Residual manifestations of whiplash injury, accompanied by radicular damage and reflected by pain in the arm.
  • Plexopathies caused by injuries, tumors, or developing as a result of radiation therapy. Among the lesions of the shoulder region there are Duchenne-Erb syndrome and partial paralysis of the hand – Dejerine-Klumpke syndrome.
  • Severance or damage to a spinal root as a result of injury or a fall (Horner’s syndrome).
• Neurovascular, neurodystrophic causes of pain in the right hand.
  • Frozen shoulder syndrome is glenohumeral periarthrosis, in which the arm may hurt as a result of limited movement (contracture of the shoulder muscles), and then the pain symptom is caused by severe swelling of the hand and wrist joints (Paget-Schretter syndrome).
  • Anterior scalene syndrome, scalenus syndrome or Naffziger syndrome.
  • Pseudocardialgia or pectalgia, a syndrome associated with reflex disorders in the pectoral muscles, manifested by pain in the left or right arm, chest pain, similar to symptoms of heart disease.
  • Idiopathic plexopathy or Persnage-Turner syndrome. Amyotrophy is symptomatically similar to radicular syndrome, and manifests itself as pain in the shoulder, right or left forearm.
• Causes of pain in the right hand of myofascial etiology.

Pain has specific receptor triggers located in the following muscles:

• Musculus supraspinatus – supraspinatus muscle.
• Musculi scaleni – anterior, middle and posterior scalene muscles of the brachial plexus.
• Musculus infraspinatus – infraspinatus muscle.
• Biceps, musculus biceps brachii – biceps muscle.
• Musculus coracobrachialis – coracobrachialis muscle.
• Triceps, musculus triceps brachii – triceps muscle.
• Musculus brachialis – shoulder muscle.
• Forearm muscles – Musculus extensor pollicis longus, Musculus extensor digitorum manus, Musculus extensor carpi ulnaris – extensors of the fingers and wrist.
• Musculus palmaris longus is the long muscle of the palm.
• Musculus supinator – muscle – supinator, which provides external rotation of the forearm.

Factors that provoke myofascial pain in the arm:

• Muscle overstrain in a static posture.
• Prolonged immobility, immobilization.
• Subcooling.
• Pressure.
• Injuries.
• Stretching.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (carpal tunnel syndrome) is the cause of compression-ischemic etiology; the following factors provoke carpal tunnel syndrome:

• Work that requires maintaining a static posture and performing similar hand movements is a professional factor.
• Prolonged immobilization due to surgery or fixation of the arm after a fracture.
• Endocrine pathologies – acromegaly, hypothyroidism, menopause.
• Taking hormonal medications, including oral contraceptives.
• Metabolic disorders in diabetes mellitus.
• Impaired metabolism due to alcoholism, drug addiction.

Tunnel neuropathies, accompanied by pain in the hand, have the following varieties:

• The most common type is carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Pronator syndrome (constant pressure on the palm).
• Ulnar nerve neuropathy, Guyon’s bed syndrome.
• Neuropathy nervus radialis – radiation syndrome or Roth-Bernhardt disease, which is called “tennis elbow”.

Causes of pain in the right hand are of arthrogenic etiology.

Pain can be caused by the following diseases:

• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Dermatomyositis.
• Systemic lupus erythematosus.
• Psoriatic arthritis.
• Gout.
• Neurogenic arthropathy (Charcot’s disease).
• Reiter’s syndrome.

The causes of pain in the arm may be associated with polyneuropathy, visceral-radicular syndrome, pathologies of the bronchopulmonary system, gallbladder, and angina.

Symptoms of pain in the right hand

Symptoms of arm pain depend on the underlying cause and can be classified by type.

Pain in the right hand can be a primary symptom, for example, in case of injury, and quite often the sensation of pain is a clinical manifestation of a reflected, radiating symptom. Depending on where the pain goes, you can determine the factor causing right-sided brachialgia.

Pain radiates to right arm

• Steinbrocker syndrome, or shoulder-hand syndrome, most often develops as a result of glenohumeral periarthritis or trauma.
• Complication of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine (compression syndrome).
• Spinal tumor.
• Whiplash injury.
• Plexopathies.
• Diabetic neuropathy.
• The pain radiates to the right arm with bronchopulmonary pathologies, diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts.
• Rarely, referred pain in the arm may be due to angina.

Pain in right hand

May have reasons like this

• Rheumatoid arthritis, characterized by intense pain at night. As a rule, the disease manifests itself with symmetrical symptoms on both hands, but it can “start” from one, for example, the right hand.
• Gout starting from the toes and spreading up the joints. In addition to the fact that a person experiences pain in the right hand, the wrist, elbow, and less often the shoulder suffer. The pain is very characteristic – sharp, burning, throbbing.
• Osteoarthritis of the hand, manifested by aching, dull pain, most often in the daytime.
• Arthritis, causing immobility or limitation of hand movements.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome is a typical disease associated with occupational factors.

Pain in right elbow

May develop as a result of the following diseases:

• Osteochondrosis.
• Gout.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Tumor of the elbow joint.
• Tendinitis.
• Osteoarthritis
• Cubital tunnel syndrome.
• Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow).
• Medial epicondylitis (golfer’s elbow).
• Pain in the elbow of the right hand can be a signal of bursitis, inflammation of the joint capsule.
• Neurotrophic arthropathy (Charcot’s disease).
• Intervertebral hernia and segments C5 or C6.
• Elbow injury.

Right wrist pain

• Injuries – fractures of the lunate or scaphoid.
• Dislocation, sprain of the ligaments holding the carpal bones.
• Wrist tendinitis.
• Pain in the right wrist can be caused by stenosing tenosynovitis, a disease of the tendon. The disease most often affects women and is characterized by severe pain and almost complete loss of ability to work.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome or carpal tunnel syndrome is a typical disease of the right hand, since it is the working hand. The syndrome is provoked by a purely professional factor.
• Damage to the extensor tendons – peritendinitis.
• Hypertrophic osteoarthritis.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Necrosis of the skeletal system involving the bones of the wrist (avascular). This is a pathological softening of bone tissue, leading to wrist deformity.

Aching pain in right arm

Most often associated with reflex neurovascular syndromes associated with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine. The source of pain, as a rule, is located in the most damaged fibrous ring, where there are many highly sensitive pain receptors. Also, a pain impulse in the arm can come from inflamed longitudinal ligaments and the capsule of the shoulder joint. Aching pain in the right arm is localized in the shoulder, forearm or hand, but can move to the back of the head. The pain symptom intensifies when changing position, turning, moving the body or arm. Most often, right-sided brachialgia develops as a consequence of glenohumeral periarthritis or Paget-Schroetter syndrome (shoulder-hand syndrome). In addition, aching pain in the right arm may be the primary signal of developing cholelithiasis or an inflammatory process in the lungs and bronchi.

Severe pain in right arm

These are almost all types of radiculoalgia, in which the pain symptom is intense and acute. The pain is characterized as cutting, dagger-like. In addition, severe pain in the right arm can be caused by certain neuropathic syndromes, such as radial neuropathy, which causes sharp, shooting pain. Neuralgic amyotrophy, complex regional syndrome (CRPS), accompanied by burning pain, swelling of the arm, movement disorders, various arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout – this is not a complete list of diseases that can cause severe, intense brachialgia.

Sharp pain in right arm

This is a pain that is characterized as shooting or dagger-like. This may be a compression-radicular form of brachialgia; sharp pain is also characteristic of separation or damage to the spinal root due to injury, fall, or blow. The pain symptom is acute, sharp in nature, often spreads along the damaged root and completely immobilizes not only the arm, but the entire human body. In addition, sharp pain in the right arm may be associated with Personage-Turner syndrome (amyotrophy), a disease of infectious etiology that affects the shoulder and forearm. Intense, sharp pain is caused by mechanical injuries, sprains of tendons and ligaments.

Pain in the little finger of the right hand

May be a symptom of the following diseases:

• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.
• Dislocation, finger injury.
• Reynaud’s syndrome.
• Neuropathy of the ulnar or wrist nerve.
• Ganglinar cyst of the wrist.
• Injury or fracture of the elbow joint.
• Elbow bursitis.
• Less commonly, carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Osteomyelitis is a purulent, necrotic process in bone tissue, usually affecting the hand and fingers, including the little finger.

Pain in the little finger of the right hand may be a manifestation of epicondylitis, a degenerative disease of the elbow joint.

Nagging pain in right arm

Most often it is provoked by brachial periarthritis, a violation of the structure of the cervical spinal column. The pain develops gradually and spreads from the shoulder to the arm, which significantly reduces the motor activity of the upper limb. Humeral periarthritis is rarely secondary; it is a typical neurodystrophic disease. Also, nagging pain in the right hand is the main symptom of an occupational disease – carpal tunnel syndrome, which is caused by pinched nerve endings in the wrist as a result of constant stress or an uncomfortable position of the hand during work. Static, long-term load on the arm muscles, performing monotonous movements leads to mechanical damage to the median nerve located between the tendons and bones.

Diagnosis of pain in the right hand

Pain in the right arm is a rather complex symptom complex in a diagnostic sense, so the examination plan may include a variety of methods and methods. Since the main causes of the painful symptom of brachialgia are neurological diseases associated with vertebrogenic, traumatic or neuroreflex factors, the diagnosis of pain in the right hand is carried out, as a rule, by several doctors – a vertebrologist, a chiropractor, a surgeon and a neurologist. In order for diagnostic measures to be effective, both standard examination schemes and paraclinical methods are used.

First of all, anamnesis is collected, all information about previous diseases, conditions, heredity, treatment, lifestyle, and so on. It is very important to specify the nature of the pain, its localization, distribution, trigger points and determine the list of provoking factors. The following research methods are required:

• X-ray of the spinal column, X-ray of the limb (joints).
• Neurological examination and tests.
• Computed and magnetic resonance imaging.
• Electromyography (recording of electrical potentials of the muscular system).
• Blood test (CBC, biochemical).
• Dopplerography of blood vessels according to indications.

What to do if your right hand hurts

Therapeutic measures directly depend on the identified cause of pain.

Treatment of pain in the right hand with an intense, acute nature of the sensations is primarily aimed at relieving the symptom. It is possible to carry out a novocaine blockade, prescribe antineuralgic drugs, and local anesthesia with chlorethyl. If the pain is associated with an exacerbation of cervical osteochondrosis, traction and fixation of the damaged area is prescribed. Also, treatment of pain in the right hand involves a long course of physiotherapeutic procedures, acupuncture, and massages.

To consolidate the therapeutic result, ointments containing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory substances and vitamin-mineral complexes are prescribed, both in injections and in tablet form. B vitamins, calcium, magnesium are standard drugs for the treatment of brachialgia. In addition, a special diet, especially if gout is diagnosed, can significantly alleviate symptoms and speed up the recovery process.

Prevention of pain in the right hand

Prevention of pain in the right hand is a set of measures that help prevent the development of the underlying, provoking disease. Compliance with the following recommendations, which relate not only to the prevention of brachialgia, but also help to maintain activity and a normal state of health in principle, does not require material or physical effort, you just need to implement them into your life in order to be healthy:

• Quitting bad habits, especially smoking.
• During illness and treatment, restriction of physical activity is indicated, but a complex of physical therapy exercises should be systematically performed.
• Compliance with the rules of a healthy diet, which should include vitamins and microelements that keep the skeletal and muscular system in order.
• Regular examination of the body, which must be carried out at least once a year.
• Follow all medical recommendations and refuse to experiment with self-medication.
• In case of static tension, which is required by the profession or work, it is necessary to take regular breaks, change positions, and do warm-ups.
• At the first discomfort or symptoms, you must seek medical help to prevent the development of the disease and its exacerbation.

Prevention of pain in the right hand is, first of all, prevention of osteochondrosis, which today is one of the most common diseases and factors that provoke many pain symptoms.