It hurts when I raise my arm

The upper limbs have a lot of activities, so problems can easily occur. The most common one is soreness and pain caused by excessive fatigue. Of course, the pain caused by different causes is different. The key is to find the cause. In daily life, some people experience pain when they raise their arms. If this persists, it should be taken seriously as it may be caused by a disease. So, why does it hurt when you raise your arm?

Pain when you raise your arm may be caused by frozen shoulder, which is also known as periarthritis of the shoulder, commonly known as frozen shoulder or frozen shoulder. It is a chronic specific inflammation of the shoulder capsule and its surrounding ligaments, tendons and bursae, with the main symptoms being gradual onset of shoulder pain, especially at night, which gradually worsens and limits the shoulder joint function and becomes increasingly severe. It gradually eases after reaching a certain level until it finally recovers completely. Scapulohumeral periarthritis is a common disease with shoulder joint pain and difficulty in movement as the main symptoms. The disease is most common in people around 50 years old, with a slightly higher incidence in women than in men, and is more common in manual laborers. If not effectively treated, the functional activities of the shoulder joint may be seriously affected. There may be widespread tenderness in the shoulder joint, radiating to the neck and elbow, and varying degrees of atrophy of the deltoid muscle may also occur.

Clinical manifestations

1. Shoulder pain

At first, the shoulder pain is paroxysmal, most of which are chronic. Later, the pain gradually intensifies or becomes dull, or knife-like, and is continuous. Climate change or fatigue often aggravates the pain. The pain can spread to the neck and upper limbs (especially the elbows). When the shoulder is accidentally collided or pulled, it often causes tearing pain. Shoulder pain is lighter during the day and heavier at night, which is a major feature of this disease. If the pain is caused by cold, the patient will be particularly sensitive to climate change.

2. Limited shoulder joint movement

The movement of the shoulder joint in all directions may be restricted, and it is more obvious in abduction, elevation, internal rotation and external rotation. As the disease progresses, long-term disuse causes adhesion of the joint capsule and soft tissues around the shoulder, and the muscle strength gradually decreases. In addition, the coracohumeral ligament is fixed in a shortened internal rotation position, which restricts the active and passive movement of the shoulder joint in all directions. Actions such as combing the hair, dressing, washing the face, and putting hands on the waist are difficult to complete. In severe cases, the function of the elbow joint may also be affected. When the elbow is flexed, the hand cannot touch the shoulder on the same side, especially when the arm is extended backward, the elbow flexion cannot be completed.

3. Fear of cold

Patients are afraid of cold shoulders, and many of them wrap their shoulders with cotton pads all year round. Even in summer, they dare not let the wind blow on their shoulders.

4. Tenderness

Most patients can feel obvious tenderness points around the shoulder joint, which are mostly located in the tendon groove of the long head of the biceps brachii, the subacromial bursa, the coracoid process, the attachment point of the supraspinatus muscle, etc.

5. Muscle spasms and atrophy

In the early stage, the deltoid muscle, supraspinatus muscle and other muscles around the shoulder may experience spasm, and in the late stage, disuse muscle atrophy may occur, with typical symptoms such as acromion protrusion, difficulty in lifting, and inability to extend backward. At this time, the pain symptoms are actually alleviated.