As people get older, the number of diseases in their body gradually increases, and the most common one is shoulder and arm pain. Once shoulder and arm pain occurs, it is often thought to be cervical spondylosis. Although cervical spondylosis can cause shoulder and arm pain, there are many causes of shoulder and arm pain. It is up to the doctor to determine who is the real “culprit” of shoulder and arm pain. Shoulder and arm pain refers to pain in the scapular girdle, upper arm and even the entire upper extremity, and is a frequent area of pain in the body. If you are not familiar with the anatomical basis of shoulder and arm pain, its distribution and evolution, you will not be able to grasp the essence of the disease, like looking at a flower in a fog, which often leads to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. So, what are the diseases that can cause shoulder and arm pain? 1, cervical spondylosis: It is common in middle-aged and old people, often invading 5-7 nerve roots. In addition to neck pain, various symptoms can occur in one or both shoulders, around the scapula, upper arm or the whole upper limb and back, and its pain mostly radiates along the shoulder and arm to the thumb, index finger and middle finger. When the pain is located in the left anterior chest, it is easily confused with angina pectoris; when the pain is located in the upper limbs and scapular belt, it is easily confused with frozen shoulder, acute cervical radiculitis, biceps tendonitis, lower humeral epicondylitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and peri-shoulder soft tissue strain. 2. Acute cervical radiculitis: Mostly seen in young adults who work at a desk or work with their heads down for a long time. The pain radiates to the shoulder, arm and fingers along the nerve, and can be accompanied by electric shock-like numbness. After the acute phase, numbness of the affected limbs, neck and arm pain, abnormal sensation, muscle atrophy and reduced muscle strength will appear for a long time. The acute attack is so severe that the patient can’t bear the pain and the painkillers can’t help. 3, cervical medullary tumor: the onset of the disease is slow, manifested as a side of the root of the severe pain, and then the symptoms of spinal cord compression, resulting in spinal canal obstruction, X-ray can be seen in the lesion at the intervertebral foramen enlargement, bone destruction signs, MRI can confirm the diagnosis, if necessary, can do iodine oil imaging. 4, spinal cord cavitation: most often seen in young people, slow development, often segmental dissociative sensory disorders, that is, the disappearance of pain and temperature sensation and the presence of tactile sensation, there may be arm muscle atrophy and nutritional disorders. 5, spinal arachnoiditis: shoulder and arm pain can be bilateral, with a long course, often aggravated by fluctuations. Lumbar puncture may be obstructed, and iodine oil angiography shows candle tear-like retention. 6, cervical angina: common feature with angina is that both have pain in the precordial region, which may radiate to the back of the left shoulder and upper limbs, and may have a sense of pressure or suffocation. The difference is that cervical angina is caused by the degeneration of the cervical spine, which stimulates the cervical sympathetic ganglion and increases the excitability of the cardiac nerve, especially the epicardial nerve, and causes the coronary artery to contract sharply. It occurs when the person has been ambulating for a long time, working with low head, sleeping with high pillow, getting up too hard, or suddenly twisting or shaking the head. The pain lasts for a long time and can be accompanied by sympathetic symptoms such as dizziness, insomnia, excessive sweating, and easy agitation. 7. Cervical periarthritis: It is caused by cervical spine degeneration compressing and stimulating the spinal nerve roots, causing shoulder pain and shoulder muscle spasm, resulting in shoulder joint adhesions and movement disorders. This kind of periarthritis has mild symptoms in the neck but heavy symptoms in the shoulder, which can be easily mistaken for frozen shoulder.