Why does my left arm feel heavy and weak

If your arm hurts, there could be a number of reasons why. Arm pain is usually described as pain, discomfort, or stiffness that occurs anywhere from your shoulders down to your fingers in one or both arms. Most often, it’s caused by an injury or overuse. But there are many other health conditions that can cause your arm to hurt.

Table of Contents Show

Heart Problems
Other Conditions
1. Angina
2. Heart attack
3. Muscle sprain and strain
4. Broken bone
5. Rotator cuff injury
6. Tendinitis
7. Pinched nerve
Insider's takeaway
Why do I have heaviness in my left arm?
How do you know if left arm pain is heart related?
How do I fix my left arm weakness?

Heart Problems

Pain in your left arm could be related to a heart condition. Angina, which is caused by decreased blood flow to the heart, can cause pain in the arm shoulder. A heart attack can cause pain in one or both arms. A heart attack happens when the oxygen supply to part of your heart is cut off due to a blockage that prevents blood from flowing into the muscle.

If you’re having a heart attack, your arm pain will probably come on suddenly.

You also may experience:

Chest pain or pressure
Shortness of breath
Dizziness
Nausea

If you’re having these symptoms, call 911.

Sometimes, you can trace arm pain to a sports injury or simply using it too much. Other times, another condition could be to blame. Here are some other possible causes:

Broken bones: If your arm starts to hurt right after a physical injury, you may have fractured it. You might also have swelling, bruising, numbness, or weakness. See your doctor right away so your arm will heal properly.
Strain or sprain: An injury can cause damage to your muscles (a strain) or your ligaments (a sprain). Symptoms include pain, swelling, bruising, weakness, and muscle spasms. Both conditions will usually heal on their own, but if your symptoms are severe, you should see your doctor as soon as possible.
Tendinitis: This happens when the tendons in your shoulder or arm become inflamed. Those are bands of tissue that connect muscles to bones. One example of tendinitis is “tennis elbow.” You could feel the pain in your shoulder, elbow, or wrist. It could be a result of an injury or – more often – overuse.
Rotator cuff injury: This part of your shoulder is made up of muscles and tendons. It allows your shoulder to move or stay in place. As we age, tendons in the rotator cuff begin to wear down or tear. If you have a job where you make overhead motions over and over, you can damage it, too. Symptoms range from a dull ache and weakness in your arm to severe, constant pain. If you suspect a rotator cuff injury, see your doctor. You may need physical therapy.
Carpal tunnel syndrome: Doing the same movements over and over with your wrist can cause damage to the main nerve in your hand. It can lead to numbness, tingling, weakness, and pain.

Other Conditions

In some cases, you can’t trace your arm pain to physical injury or overuse. It could be caused by diseased arteries in the upper part of your body. It might also be the result of stress, a new medication, or another medical condition, including:

Pinched nerve: This happens when bones or tissues in your shoulder, neck, or elbow press against and compress a nerve. It causes pain, numbness, weakness, and tingling.
Herniated disk: These are little cushions between the hard bones (vertebrae) that make up your spine. They allow your back to flex or bend. If one of the disks in your neck ruptures, it could cause a burning pain, numbness, weakness, and tingling or burning in your arms.
Autoimmune diseases: If you have one of these conditions, your body’s natural defense system (immune system) attacks itself. Some of these -- like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Sjogren's syndrome -- can cause pain in the neck, arms, elbows, wrists, and hands.

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:

Diabetes
High blood pressure
High cholesterol

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.

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.

Adam Barnes is a licensed acupuncturist and freelance writer for Insider who specializes in acupuncture and holistic healthcare. He maintains a private acupuncture practice in Olympia, WA.

Why do I have heaviness in my left arm?

Heart attack This blockage leads to a lack of blood flow, which can cause left arm numbness. A heart attack often also causes pain or pressure in your chest, neck, arm, face or back. Other symptoms of a heart attack include shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea. A heart attack is a medical emergency.

In men, the left arm pain will move from the shoulder down the left arm or up to the chin. If the pain comes on suddenly and is unusually severe, or is accompanied by pressure or squeezing in the chest, seek emergency treatment immediately. In women, the pain can be subtler. It can radiate to the right or left arm.