If your shoulder pain began as a simple annoyance but has since progressed to constant shoulder pain that radiates down your arm to your fingers, you may be wondering if this is something serious. In some cases, the pain can extend from your shoulder straight down into your fingers, which can interfere with your daily life.
Pinched or damaged nerves can be associated with shoulder pain as well as hand and finger numbness. While in most cases, these issues can be fixed with non-surgical or surgical options, it’s still best to consult an experienced spine doctor from NJ Spine & Orthopedic to get the treatment and support you deserve. Our Concierge Team can also help make your experience stress-free.
Shoulder pain can be a sign of a variety of conditions, from rotator cuff injuries to arthritis. Nerve pain, often resulting from pinched or damaged nerves, adds a distinct type of discomfort that can exacerbate shoulder issues. It’s crucial to understand the underlying causes of your shoulder pain, as treatments can vary widely. For instance, physical therapy might be recommended for a rotator cuff injury, while surgery could be necessary for more severe conditions. If you’re experiencing persistent or severe shoulder pain, it’s important to seek medical advice to determine the best course of action. For more information on shoulder pain and its treatments, visit this link.
Why Is My Shoulder Pain Radiating Down My Arm?
A plexus is a branching nerve fiber network that sends signals to a certain part of the body, including the interconnected shoulder and arm regions. Your brachial plexus is a type of nerve connection to your shoulders, chest, forearms, upper arms, and hands, crucial for the stability and function of the shoulder muscles. Your cervical plexus is a type of nerve connection to your shoulder, neck, and head.
Inflamed, pinched, or damaged nerves in these areas can lead to radiating or shooting pain that travels down your arm and into your fingers. Tingling, weakness, a burning sensation, or numbness might also be experienced.
Types of Medical Conditions That Can Cause Shoulder Pain That Radiates to Your Arm and Fingers
Various conditions can lead to shoulder pain that radiates down your arms and into your fingers, including:
- Frozen shoulder, a condition characterized by pain and limited movement in the shoulder, often without a known cause. It can be associated with diabetes and may require treatments such as physical therapy, steroid injections, or surgery for severe cases.
- Rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory condition that affects the joints, including those in the shoulder, potentially leading to pain that extends to the arm and fingers. Treatment may include medication or joint replacement surgery for severe cases.
- Rotator cuff issues, including calcific tendinitis, torn rotator cuff, and rotator cuff disease, which can cause inflammation, weakness, and pain in the shoulder, radiating to the arm and fingers. Treatment options vary from pain management to surgical intervention for severe cases.
1. Cervical Radiculopathy
This condition generally develops from degenerative changes that you experience in your spine as you age or if you sustain an injury. Nerves control movement and feeling, and a pinched nerve root often leads to weakness, numbness, or a pins-and-needles feeling in your arm or hand. In severe cases, cervical radiculopathy may involve the spinal cord, potentially leading to more serious conditions such as myelopathy, which involves dangerous compression of the spinal cord in the neck, or cervical spinal stenosis, which can compress the spinal cord itself, causing symptoms such as weakness or coordination problems in the arms and legs. You may experience pain in your shoulder and your hand and arm. The pain you experience may be a mild, constant ache or a recurring, intense shooting or burning pain.
If the pain is intense and hasn’t gone away, it’s important to reach out to a skilled doctor before it becomes more serious.
2. Brachial Plexus Neuritis
Inflammation of your brachial plexus causes this condition. It leads to intense pain in your shoulders and upper arms. Numbness, weakness, and tingling are frequently felt from the neck and shoulder directly into the arm and hand.
The underlying cause behind this condition isn’t well established. It could be associated with an irregular immune response to other illnesses or diseases, but weakness and pain frequently occur without any reason. A doctor can help diagnose this condition and treat it before it affects your life more fully.
3. Understanding Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: A Cause of Shoulder and Arm Pain
Your brachial plexus nerves must move through a narrow space between your ribs and collarbone, referred to as the thoracic outlet. Your blood vessels also move through this area. If this space starts to get too small, it can squeeze your blood vessels or brachial plexus. This squeezing can result in a number of symptoms known as thoracic outlet syndrome.
Certain movements can make your symptoms worse, especially raising your arms overhead. They may also become worse after activity, sleeping, or at the end of the day. You are more likely to experience pins-and-needles, tingling, or numbness in your ring and pinky fingers.
4. Brachial Neuritis
With brachial neuritis, you have inflammation of your brachial plexus. This is a fairly rare condition that can lead to tingling, pain, weakness, or numbness anywhere along your brachial plexus pathway, from your shoulder and neck straight down into your arm and hand. Around 20% of cases impact both sides of the body.
Your symptoms may come on suddenly and then go away in a few days or months. Rarely does this condition become permanent, particularly if it’s treated. Brachial plexus inflammation may be linked with a chronic disease like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Reach Out to NJ Spine & Orthopedic Today About Your Radiating Shoulder Pain
Ignoring symptoms of severe pain, especially severe shoulder pain, can lead to serious health issues. If you’re experiencing shoulder pain that radiates down your arm and into your fingers, it could indicate something serious, so you don’t want to hesitate to have it looked at by a professional pain specialist. Here at NJ Spine & Orthopedic, our pain specialists are ready to give you a proper diagnosis so you can begin treatment promptly.
Call NJ Spine & Orthopedic at (866) 553-0612 or fill out our online form to speak with one of our pain specialists about your symptoms of radiating shoulder pain.