Science- Pain in your left arm can be due to a number of causes, not just a heart attack.
- Other causes like a muscle sprain, pinched nerve, or angina could be at fault.
- Check your other symptoms to determine if you need to seek emergency medical care.
Arm pain can have many causes, but left arm pain particularly can sometimes be a sign of a serious problem with your heart — especially if it's accompanied by chest pain or tightness.
That's because the heart and left arm share nerve pathways to the brain, so a problem with the heart can create referred pain in the left arm.
Here are seven causes of left arm pain and when it's a medical emergency.
1. Angina
Angina typically occurs after a moment of exertion or stress, though it can also happen at rest. It's a result of when the heart is deprived of oxygen due to a lack of blood supply, which causes pain in the chest and, sometimes, the left arm.
Angina feels like a "squeezing, pressure, or dull aching pain in the center of the chest. It can radiate to the arm, but it typically doesn't pass from the wrist into the hand," says Adedapo Iluyomade, MD, a preventive cardiologist at Baptist Health's Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute. You may feel it in the center or to the left of the chest.
The pain usually lasts just a few minutes. In additional to chest and left arm pain, symptoms of angina include:
- Pain in the jaw, neck, and shoulder
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain
- Shortness of breath
- Diaphoresis
Angina is usually due to coronary artery disease and estimated to affect 10-18 million people in the United States. Men over age 45 and women over age 55 are more likely to experience it.
In addition to coronary artery disease, some conditions that increase your risk of developing angina are:
How to treat it: You should always get unexplained chest pain evaluated by a doctor to determine the underlying cause, but after a stable angina diagnosis from your doctor, the symptoms noted above are not a medical emergency.
Your doctor will likely recommend lifestyle changes, like exercise and a healthier diet, and may prescribe medications to prevent or decrease the intensity of angina attacks.
However, Iluyomade says if you experience angina that does not go away with rest, progressively worsens over time, or is associated with sweating or shortness of breath, you should seek emergency care. This is called unstable angina and can be a precursor to a heart attack.
2. Heart attack
A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is a medical emergency caused by lack of blood flow to the heart, possibly leading to permanent cardiac damage or death.
Just as in angina, heart attacks can cause sudden left arm pain. A 2013 study found that 17% of the surveyed people who had heart attacks also had radiating pain down the shoulder, upper arm, and forearm.
Other symptoms of a heart attack may include:
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea or upper abdominal discomfort
- Anxiety or feeling of dread
- Sweating, dizziness, trouble breathing
While angina typically lasts a few minutes and is relieved by rest, symptoms of a heart attack usually last uninterrupted for 10-15 minutes.
Risk factors for a heart attack include:
- Family history of heart attacks
- Being male over age 45
- Being female over age 55
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Tobacco smoking
- Alcohol and drug abuse
- Obesity
How to treat it: A heart attack is a medical emergency. Call 911 if you or someone near you is experiencing symptoms.
3. Muscle sprain and strain
While sprains and strains are both usually caused by sports injury, overuse, or accidents, they are two distinct things:
- A sprain is damage to ligaments — the tissue that connects bones together.
- A strain is a stretched or torn muscle or tendon — the tissue that attaches muscle to bone.
Both sprains and strains of your shoulder, biceps, and muscles of the forearm will cause pain, swelling, and inflammation. A muscle strain tends to also feature spasms, weakness, or cramping, while both conditions can cause difficulty moving the involved joint.
How to treat it: Mild sprains and strains can be treated at home with rest, ice, compression, elevation, and NSAIDS.
"Many sprains or strains just need a few weeks to recover from. However, with most orthopedic injuries if the pain has not substantially subsided in 3-4 weeks you should seek expert care," says Robert Anderson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Summit Orthopedics.
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4. Broken bone
A broken arm, also known as a fracture, can happen to any of the three bones in the arm, the radius and ulna, which make up the forearm, or the humerus — the upper arm bone.
Fractures are common across all ages, happening most often due to accidents, like in a car accident or falling on an outstretched arm from playing sports. As you age, fractures are more common because your bone density decreases, causing more brittle, breakable bones.
Broken arms usually cause significant, sharp pain along with:
- Swelling
- Bruising
- Numbness
- Difficulty moving without pain
How to treat it: If you think you have a broken arm you should see a doctor as soon as possible. Simple breaks can be set and then treated with just rest, ice, and a sling, but more severe breaks may require a cast and/or surgery.
5. Rotator cuff injury
The rotator cuff refers to the muscles and tendons surrounding the shoulder. Injuries to this area are common, with up to two million people a year seeing a doctor for rotator cuff issues.
Tears of the rotator cuff muscles are often due to degeneration so they increase with age. Various estimates may differ but approximately 15%-30% of rotator cuff injuries occur in adults in their 60s and 70s and 36%-62% in adults over age 80.
Anderson says rotator cuff injuries main symptom is arm pain, especially with use of the arm out and away from the body and overhead. You can also have weakness, stiffness, numbness in your shoulder and arm along with increased pain at night.
You are at higher risk for rotator cuff injuries if you have a family history of shoulder issues and if your regular activities involve repetitive overhand shoulder movements like swimming, hammering, tennis, or lifting weights above your head.
How to treat it: Options for rotator cuff tears depend on the severity. About eight out of 10 cases of partial tears improve with rest, physical therapy, NSAIDS, and steroid injections. More severe cases, however, may require surgery.
6. Tendinitis
Tendinitis happens when tendons become inflamed or irritated due to overuse. It commonly occurs at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
Just as in rotator cuff injuries, tendinitis can occur if you have a job or activity that uses repetitive motion. In addition to pain, you might have tenderness and swelling at the affected area and experience a dull, achy feeling.
Some types of tendinitis of the arm include:
- Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, causes pain on the outside of the elbow and up the forearm extensor muscles.
- Golfers elbow, or medial epicondylitis, causes pain on the inside of the elbow and up the forearm flexor muscles.
- Biceps tendinitis, or bicipital tendinitis, causes pain in the front of the shoulder where the biceps tendon lies in a groove of the humerus bone.
How to treat it: You can treat tendinitis similar to a rotator cuff injury with RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Physical therapy and steroid shots can also be effective for more serious cases, and there are surgical options for the most severe cases.
7. Pinched nerve
If nerves in your neck are compressed or irritated it can cause a radiating pain down the arm, called radiculopathy.
Radiculopathy can be caused by injury or spinal degeneration as you age. It happens when the discs in your spine stiffen and flatten, creating less space for spinal nerves, which can put pressure on them.
Depending on what spinal nerve is affected, you will have pain that can be sharp or burning in a specific area of your arm, sometimes with weakness, tingling, and numbness. The pain may be constant or come and go.
Nerves on the arm itself can also be compressed or pinched. This can cause cubital tunnel syndrome, which affects the inner forearm and hand, or carpal tunnel syndrome, which affects the middle forearm to hand.
How to treat it: Cervical radiculopathy is treated similarly to other orthopedic conditions, with a combination of RICE, NSAIDs, physical therapy, immobilization (aka a collar), and steroids. More severe or unresponsive cases may require surgery, though that is rare, says Anderson.
Insider's takeaway
Left arm pain can be a red flag for a serious heart issue. If you have left arm pain along with shortness of breath, sweating, and chest discomfort seek emergency medical care.
Other causes of left arm pain are less urgent and usually treatable with some simple at-home care and medical treatment.