Sudden shoulder pain can be a sign of a heart attack. Call Emergency Services if you have sudden pressure or crushing pain in your shoulder, especially if the pain starts in your chest, jaw, or neck.
The main difference is how pain radiates. For men: Pain will spread to the left shoulder, down the left arm or up to the chin. For women: Pain can be much more subtle. It may travel to the left or right arm, up to the chin, shoulder blades and upper back — or to abdomen (as nausea and/or indigestion and anxiety).
Pericarditis. Another heart disease-related cause of shoulder pain is pericarditis, or inflammation of the membrane that surrounds your heart, the American Heart Association (AHA) explains.
During a heart attack, women are less likely to experience the crushing chest pain that some men describe as an elephant sitting on their chest. Instead, women may feel a persistent pain in the back, neck, jaw, or even shoulder blades.
Not all left arm pain, achiness or difficulty moving is a sign of a heart attack. Sometimes the cause is an injury, compressed nerves or other issues that don't involve your heart. Be mindful of the other symptoms, and if they last for more than a couple minutes, get emergency help.
Note the duration of pain
If the left arm pain lasts only for few seconds then it is unlikely that it is due to any heart ailment. If the pain persists for a long time (for days or even weeks), it is also unlikely that it has something to do with your heart.
Typical heart attack symptoms
This discomfort or pain can feel like a tight ache, pressure, fullness or squeezing in the chest lasting more than a few minutes. This discomfort may come and go. Upper body pain. Pain or discomfort may spread beyond the chest to the shoulders, arms, back, neck, teeth or jaw.
Shoulder blade pain is not always an emergency, but if the pain is severe, persistent, or accompanied by other symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest pain it is important to seek immediate medical attention as these can be a symptom of serious conditions.
Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Feeling weak, light-headed, or faint.
When to Seek Immediate Help for Shoulder Pain. “If you fall, have a significant strain injury, and/or feel a pop or tearing sensation in your shoulder and then have weakness lifting your arm, seek medical care,” Dr. Diehl advised.
When we experience high levels of anxiety or stress, our body's natural reaction is to tense up. When this happens consistently over a long period of time, it can lead to muscle tension. This can cause stiffness, tightness, aching, and pain in your neck and shoulders.
You probably know that stress isn't all in your head. Even if it starts there, it doesn't stay there. You might have symptoms like depression, anxiety and low energy. But stress also causes physical symptoms like sweaty palms, tight shoulders, acne, headaches, chronic pain, digestive problems and a racing heart.
Unexplained shoulder pain that does not change when you move your neck, shoulder, or arm or that occurs with symptoms elsewhere in your body (such as in your abdomen or chest) may be referred shoulder pain. Referred pain means that a problem exists somewhere else in the body other than where you feel the pain.
Urgent if any red flags are identified: Trauma, pain and weakness, or sudden loss of ability to actively raise the arm (with or without trauma): suspect acute rotator cuff tear. Any shoulder mass or swelling: suspect malignancy.
If your left shoulder blade is hurting, it could be a sign of certain heart conditions, such as pericarditis or aortic dissection. Lung cancer may further manifest as shoulder blade pain. If you have any other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, dizziness, or chest pain, seek emergency medical attention.
Muscle Conditions
Muscle strain: This is where a muscle is overstretched from an injury or the overuse of the shoulder blade muscles.1. Stress: When you are under extreme stress, your shoulder and back muscles can tighten and spasm, causing pain in your shoulder blades, shoulders, neck, or back.
With a panic attack, the chest pain is usually localized to the middle of the chest and it is a stabbing pain. Pain in the chest from a heart attack is more of a squeezing pain and it can radiate from the chest to the arm, jaw or shoulder blades. The Duration of the Pain.
Does the pain change while taking a deep breath or exhaling? Cardiac • Cardiac pain does not change during deep breathing. Muscular • Deep breathing can cause sharp, shooting pain (if the discomfort starts in the muscle).
The more heart disease risk factors that each of the study participants had racked up -- including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes -- the more likely they were to have had shoulder trouble.
Symptoms of a heart attack can include: chest pain – a feeling of pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across your chest. pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy.
Typically, however, if you're having a heart attack, the severe pain lasts for about 15-20 minutes and then can linger for some time after.
You should see your GP if your shoulder pain doesn't begin to feel better after two weeks.
Specific tests for shoulder pain include the Neer test, used to look for a type of rotator cuff injury called impingement. Speed's test is used to check for biceps tendonitis. Other tests are meant to check for shoulder instability and dislocation.