Arm Pain After Breast Cancer Treatment
If you’ve been treated for breast cancer or you’re currently in treatment, you may have some pain and stiffness in the arm on the affected side. Arm pain happens when tissues or nerves in the arm or shoulder become inflamed or damaged. There are different reasons why someone diagnosed with breast cancer might have arm pain.
Causes of arm pain
Surgery and radiation therapy are two common breast cancer treatments that may cause arm pain.
After breast cancer surgery, some people experience numbness, tingling, or pain in the arm and shoulder area on the same side of the body on which surgery was done. These problems are more likely to happen after mastectomy than after lumpectomy. That’s because a mastectomy affects a larger area, so there’s a higher risk that your doctor may cut or damage some of the nerves during surgery.
During surgery to remove breast cancer, your doctor will likely remove some lymph nodes to see if cancer cells have spread to the lymph system. There are two types of lymph node surgery: axillary lymph node dissection, which usually removes between five and 30 nodes, and sentinel lymph node dissection, which removes only the lymph nodes closest to the cancer. Up to three lymph nodes are removed in most people, although more may be removed in some cases.
The more lymph nodes that are removed, the higher the risk of nerve damage as well as lymphedema, the swelling that develops when lymph fluid builds up in an area. Lymphedema can develop in the arm or hand of the affected side, as well as the other breast, chest, armpit, trunk, or back. Lymphedema may lead to shooting pain, tingling, numbness, or a feeling of heaviness in the arm.
Some arm pain may be caused by the thickening and stiffening of tissues that receive radiation therapy. Doctors call this fibrosis. Besides affecting the breast area, radiation fibrosis also can affect part of the underarm and may make your arm and shoulder feel stiff and painful.
Radiation therapy can also cause lymphedema, especially if the lymph nodes are radiated, which is recommended for some people.
Aromatase inhibitors, a type of hormonal therapy medicine used to treat hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, are known to cause bone and joint pain. This pain can be in the hands, wrists, and shoulders, which can make your arm sore and may worsen any pain that you already have.
Other breast cancer treatments, including chemotherapy and targeted therapies, may also cause arm and shoulder pain.
Risk factors for arm pain after breast cancer treatment
A 2024 study suggests that the main risk factors for long-term arm pain after treatment are:
being younger than 50
receiving radiation
receiving chemotherapy
having axillary lymph node surgery
being diagnosed with more advanced-stage breast cancer
having a mastectomy
Is arm pain a sign of cancer spread or recurrence?
Although arm pain can be a signal that breast cancer has spread or come back (recurrence), it’s important to know that pain in your arm could be caused by many other things. Some other reasons for arm pain include arthritis, straining a muscle, exercising too strenuously, or holding your arm in the same position for a long time, such as when you drive long distances or fly in an airplane.
If you have persistent arm pain after receiving breast cancer treatment, it makes sense to talk to your doctor to determine the cause.
Treating arm pain
Once you and your doctor figure out the cause of your arm pain, you’ll decide on the treatments that are best for your situation.
If arm pain is caused by cancer metastasizing to the bones in the arm, it may be treated with radiation or other breast cancer treatments, depending on the characteristics of the cancer.
If the cause is lymphedema, there are a number of treatments available, including compression sleeves and garments, compression wraps and bandages, and exercises.
If your arm is stiff from radiation therapy, stretching, physical therapy, massage, and exercise may help.
If your arm is sore from overuse or injury, hot and cold packs usually help. Your doctor also may recommend over-the-counter or prescription medicines to control the pain.
If you have arm pain because you’re taking an aromatase inhibitor, you may be able to switch to a different medicine that causes less pain.
Research has shown that exercise can help ease aromatase inhibitor-related pain. If you’d like to try exercising, Breastcancer.org partnered with Sami Mansfield, a certified cancer trainer and founder of Cancer Wellness for Life, to develop a series of exercise videos tailored to help ease specific side effects, including joint pain.
Complementary medicine techniques that have been shown to ease pain include:
— Last updated on March 29, 2025 at 7:47 PM