Trapped nerve in arm / shoulder what would the symptoms be?

[Time Waster]

I've got a painful arm, the pain comes and goes but can pretty much be anywhere along it. I also have tingling fingers as in just off pins and needles but somehow worse and all fingers. It is all irregular in location of the pain and when it happens. It makes me kind of remember my grandads sciatica and pain in his leg.

Does anyone know anything about trapped nerves and symptoms involved? Especially arm or shoulder based trapped nerves?

I'll be visiting my gp about it soon but just curious in case anyone on here knew a bit more.

PS in my case it is mostly elbow down but also pain above the elbow at times so likely to be a trapped nerve at the shoulder of that's what the cause is.

 

[Drago]

Where precicely does the arm hurt, and which fingers are tingly?

 

[craigwend]

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pins-and-needles/

 

[grldtnr]

Oh dear, sorry you got that, I suffered for 2 years with a trapped nerve, if your symptoms are as you described, it'd more a case of a pinched nerve in your neck , that extends down the arms , particularly affects from the elbow down to the fingers, of course what I had may not be what has happened to you, but it's does sound like it.
I was eventually diagnosed as Radioculaphaphy ,if I spelt it right,being a the pain radial from you neck ,extends down your arm into the fingers.
In my case ,I had turned over awkwardly in bed,when I trapped the nerve.
There wasn't a lot the NHS can do, except physio therapy,and exercise, my injury isn't fully cured now but it's far better than it was.
I don't mean to be a scaremonger, but it was very debiliating at the time , I found it hard to lift things,, had difficulty driving , and realistically could cycle very far, i could ride my recumbent trike, but needed help to get it out.
Let's hope it isn't what happened to me, but meanwhile my commiserations.

 

[grldtnr]

Further more, I was given exercises to stretch and strengthen my cervical neck muscles, also hands and wrists, they may give you medication , but thats only in extemis.
I cannot be more positive I am afraid, it's time that will heal this.

 

[vickster]

GP will just refer you to physio if there are no major red flags. Sometimes you can self refer but be prepared for a longish wait. Otherwise find a private physio (do you have PHI though work)?
in the meantime, check the ergonomics of your desk(s) at home/office and of your bike. Also, pillows can have a big impact on your neck, best thing I did was get a latex pillow on physio advice

 

[Kingfisher101]

Could be anything, my hands and arms tingle and I get pains up one of my arms and its carpal tunnel. I was referred in July to the hospital and the waiting list is currently about 7 months for the OA hand/arm clinic.
I did have a trapped nerve in my shoulder once following digging the garden over and it was a toss up between going to a and e or throwing myself under a bus. It was that bad. I got the strongest Codine based painkillers in the end from the G.P. Eventually the pain faded but it took a few weeks.
You need to go to the G.P now because if you need to be referred anywhere it could take months.

 

[Time Waster]

GP phone / video appointment this afternoon. he thinks it is tennis elbow and to try a forearm strap thing that he sent an amazon link to. It had a saturday delivery date so I found another supplier selling one the same for a little more wiht delivery tomorrow. If that does not work a visit to the practise physio. He is very good but takes about 2 weeks to get an appointment time I can reasonably make at the two practise sites he holds clinics at.

Our GP surgery is a two site practise and they are very, very good. The receptionists are trained to a high enough level to sort of triage you. However it is easy to game it so they always give you a quick appointment!! LOL! A couple of years ago they took on a praactise physio. That allowed the aches and pains from musculoskeletal issues getting a direct pass to the physio when the gp used to have to be seen and he would then refer you to the hospital or other local clinic physio service. That means 2 weeks or less wait to see a physio without a GP intervening step vs the old system of perhaps 6 weeks or more waiting to see the hospital service after a week or so GP wait.

The practise physio can prescribe certain things, signed off by the GP ultimately but that is background admin you don't notice. He can also refer for xrays at the GP xray service at the local hospital (same day is often the case for that). He can set you the exercises or refer you to the main hospital for further investigation and / or treatment by their physios service. All very efficient until the hospital is needed that is.

He set me things for my tingling hands, pins and needles in the arms issue (thought elbow issue or possibly carpel tunnel so I got a few exercises to stretch the ebow and forearm muscles and others). The GP before that said it could be carpel tunnel so get a wrist splint for it from amazon. If that works great if not he had no clue but would refer me to someone. The physio was much better for that issue. Actually it was a related one not the old one I saw the gp about. I seem to have had a few arm issues and now with them all together in one spell I am guessing they are all the same thing hence the trapped shoulder nerve idea.

As I said my GP said it could be tennis elbow and for £7 off amazon potential solution (that a former work colleague found out worked for her tennis elbow). If that works then happy days. If not then for £7 I have ruled something out. Then on to the physio and next idea.

I hope it is not as @grldtnr described. That sounded bad. Although over the last two weeks of this happening I have had a few nights waking up in a sweat in pain and then little sudden tweaks of higher pain that literally sucked the air out of me. You know when you feel a brief period of intense pain and you kind of suck in air to cope with it!!n I have had some bad periods with this but mostly manageable. I find the more I have pain the more it desensitises me and I kind of learn to live with the pain level which effectively lowers the level I would give it. At the beginning I might say 6 out 10 with peaks of 8. Now I would say3 or 4 and 5 for the peaks. Not changed the pain just I learn how to get by with it. (numbers are not real just to explain what I mean. I have no idea what pain of 10 or 5 means.)

 

[fossyant]

Could be anything, but the main nerves from your neck to the arms pass through the brachial plexus in your shoulder, so any impingement could cause it - I had this after an accident, and had one of my shoulders 'de-compressed'. Fairly common with cyclists and rugby players as we 'crash' onto our shoulders. I have to sleep with a pillow in front of me for either upper arm to rest on when I sleep on my side, otherwise my hand goes numb.

GP/physio advice.

 

[grldtnr]

I went to my GP surgery, was triaged to see the Musculoskeletal practiceoner, who In turn referred me to outpatient at the hospital, to be fair this all happened within a few days , I had some tests, which i have to say was very unpleasant, worsened because the nurse who conducted them had very poor English , also had XRay and MRI scans
I was very thoroughly prodded about & investigated., up shot was this Radialculaphy, I was in extreme discomfort, resorting to wearing a sling.
Now Time waster , please don't waste time, try and get a diagnosis as quick as possible, if you can afford it, see a physio specialist for private treatment .
As I said this a 2 year resolution for me ,that was 6 years ago.
I still suffer sometimes from what I had now, but I am far more mobile than I was and got back to near normal,
I have complications of Diabetes,type 2 I have discomfort in my fingers ,which could be arthritis, and will see if that's what it is at my next diabetic review, it also could be Neuropathy, which is common in diabetics but that's normally toes.
Let's hope that not is Tennis Elbow, but personally I think it's remiss of the GP to offer that opinion , with out physically seeing you.
It seems you have a good surgery if the have a Muskoskelatal specialist, I am thankfully that's our my referral went.

 

[Time Waster]

When it was just a kind of pins and needles issue I read about the shoulder impingement and that was about right for what I had back then. This has been a bit different though. It could be two things.#

Two weeks or so ago when it happened I thought it could be my desk position but I have looked into changes with a vertical mouse for home pc use. It might have helped a bit but having a week away from the laptop on holiday it got worse so not home office work position related so much. I will order a vertical mouse and split keyboard from work though. Perhaps see about saving for a standing desk to get a higher sitting position and the option of standing too. I think a more ergo desk work setup will only help my musculoskeletal system overall. It is worth me spending a bit on a good desk and kneeling chair considering 8 hours a day or more at my desk is significant time over the next perhaps 20 odd years until retirement potentially.

 

[grldtnr]

Luck !

 

[Time Waster]

He was on a phone call but asked to switch to a video call to see where i hurt. I showed him where and after reading more it does seem to match tennis elbow. When I get my worst pain and the bit that is most frequent at any level it is around my forearm near the elbow. When that happens I found out that pressing on both sides of my forearm there with the forefinger and thumb of my other hand eases the pain a bit. This would kind of match where the strap thing I have been recommended would apply pressure. I have no idea if the other pain locations is related to this but it is a good possibility for the elbow pain location.

Of course the whole arm aches, forearm to end of fingers tinglling ache and the pins and needles in the fingers and thumbs is possibly something else.

When this all started I only had pain in the toip of my back / bottom of my neck, in a part of my right shoulder and at the elbow joint. The neck and shoulder pain has dissipated now so perhaps overall I have had more than one issue that came on at the start. The neck issue resolved as a normal strain might. The arm issues have not so it potentially issue 2 and even 3. It could be that I strained my neck at the same time tennis elbow started and a trapped or impinged nerve in the shoulder caused the shoulder pain and left me with the other issues in the arm. 3 things by coincidencce at the same time. No idea really all hypothesis. If I get the ellbow pain sorted I can cope with the rest right now. That is not to say I do not want the rest sorted too.

Thanks for your comments, advise and help. I appreciate it as reading back I do sound a bit hypochondriac about it. I am not and often delay a gp visit until things get worse. However I do have a family member who calls me a hypochondriac if I even think about a GP appointment. This means I delay checking things out in reaction to that unhelpful comments.