At one point or another in your life, you’ve experienced pain. It’s a normal human function everyone deals with. You’ve probably experienced numbness and tingling as well, especially when hitting your funny bone. Now imagine hitting your funny bone, and feeling that sensation for long periods through your arms, hands, and fingers. It doesn’t sound very nice, does it? For many people who have nerve entrapment disorder or other nerve problems, this is how it feels for them.
Nerve pain isn’t something to immediately worry about, and the same goes for numbness or tingling. It’s when it’s for long periods of time (such as after five days) that it raises serious alarms. A pinched nerve can happen anywhere on the body, including the legs, but another common area is the arms. It’s often pinched nerves that cause that pain. If nerve pain in the arm is something you’re experiencing, then continue reading on to learn more about it.
What is Nerve Pain in Arms?
Nerve pain in the arms can be very debilitating and can cause a lot of discomfort. The discomfort is usually felt as a tingling sensation that varies from person to person. Nerve pain in the arms can be caused by many factors, such as:
- Repetitive Use of the Arm or Hands: Constantly using the arm or hand for any activity may eventually lead to nerve damage and nerve pain in the arms. Such activities could be typing, painting, or playing sports like tennis.
- Medical Conditions: These include injuries and other medical syndromes such as carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), arthritis, and diabetes.
- Menopause: Hormonal changes during menopause are one of the reasons for this type of pain.
- Injuries: Injuries can also play a major part in why nerve pain is occurring. Past injuries can also have the same effect.
There could be a variety of reasons pain, tingling, or numbness occurs. Even genetics might play a part. The human body is complex, which can make it difficult to determine the underlying reason.
What Are the Risk Factors of Nerve Pain?
Ulnar Nerve Entrapment, otherwise known as “nerve pain”, can create a significant amount of discomfort. If this pinched nerve goes untreated for a long time, it can have the potential to cause permanent damage. While some treatments may involve surgical procedures, not all causes can be treated this way.
Muscles controlled by the nerve can have the potential to shrink, and muscle wasting cannot be reversed. Since this can cause irreversible damage to someone, you must seek a doctor if you’re experiencing serious pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness in your hand and arms. Even if the discomfort you’re experiencing may feel minor, this is serious. Seek medical attention if this persists for more than a week.
How To Get Relief From the Discomfort of Nerve Pain in Arms
A variety of factors can cause nerve pain in the arms, and the treatment is something that could vary as well. Nerve pain in arms is a common condition that affects people in different ways. Since various conditions can cause this, including carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome or nerve damage, all the treatments for getting relief from this discomfort can be different.
To get relief from the discomfort of nerve pain in your arms, one needs to consult a qualified physician for advice and treatment options. We cannot stress enough how important it is to see a physician if the nerve pain you’re dealing with has been present for over five to seven days.
Most people are not aware of the symptoms until they experience them for themselves. One should always take care to identify this condition early on so that it can be treated before it worsens. If left untreated, nerve pain in arms can cause irreversible damage to the body’s nerves.
What Are the Forms of Treatment for Nerve Pain in the Arms?
There are several forms of treatment for ulnar nerve entrapment. Once you’ve been diagnosed by a physician, they’ll decide the best treatment plan for you. Depending on the severity of the condition, nerve pain treatment can be as mild as medicine or as major as surgery. Some of the nonsurgical treatments for nerve pain can include:
- Wearing a splint or brace, which will keep your elbow straight.
- Exercises, such as nerve-gliding exercises, may be assigned to help guide one’s nerves.
- Physical and occupational therapy, which is where a therapist will help a patient increase their strength and flexibility throughout their arm and hand.
- Medications, such as NSAIDs, may be recommended as they can lower elbow pad. This type of pad helps in applying pressure to the joint on the elbow.
After attempting nonsurgical nerve pain treatment, if the nerve pain still continues, a surgical procedure will probably be recommended. The goal of surgery will be to remove pressure from the nerve. This can even consist of moving the nerve sometimes. There are different surgical treatments such as Cubital Tunnel Release, Anterior Transposition, and Medial Epicondylectomy. While it is rare that surgery is needed for nerve pain, there’s always the possibility.
Don’t Wait to Seek Nerve Pain Treatment
Different reasons can cause arm pain, so it’s important to understand what the underlying issue is. If you are not dealing with the root cause, it will only get worse.
There are many ways to treat arm pain, but it is important to find what works for you. Some of the best ways to relieve arm pain are through massage, exercise, and seeing a specialist at the Excelsia Injury Care. We’re always here to help patients whenever they have a concern regarding their health. If you’re experiencing nerve pain in your arms, your hands, fingers, or shoulders, contact us today to schedule an appointment.