The most common cause of arm pain is the pain that comes from repetitive strain injuries. This is due to overuse of the muscles, tendons and nerves. Overuse leads to stress in the muscles and tendons and can cause inflammation and swelling. The swelling of muscles can cause tightness and pain within the muscle. Tightness of one muscle can affect a whole group of muscles, resulting in more widespread pain in the arm. This is why it is sometimes hard to localise the pain.

Repetitive injury strains cause the most pain when carrying out the task (e.g. heavy lifting) that caused the injury. The best treatment is to avoid carrying out the task and rest the muscles. Massaging the muscles can help stimulate the blood flow back the area encouraging repair and loosening any tightness.

Tennis elbow is not exclusively experienced by tennis players. It can also affect people who do not play tennis! It is a type of repetitive strain injury where pain is felt most severely on the outside of the elbow at the bony prominence and twisting actions such as opening jar lids can be exquisitely painful. The pain is due to inflammation where the tendons of the forearm attach to the bone of the elbow.

If the pain is localised to a small area that is red, swollen and tender then it could be bursitis. This is the swelling of a bursa. A bursa is a small fluid filled sac that can be found around tendons and joints. Bursitis is caused by repetitive strain of muscles and tendons. Sometimes bursitis can be due to infection and if particularly worried about a red, hot, swollen area then you should consult your GP.