How to Cure Your Arm Soreness After Vaccination?

There is a wide range of side effects that you may experience after you get the COVID-19 vaccine—including no reaction at all. But arm soreness is one of the most common, in addition to other symptoms like a mild fever or chills, muscle aches, fatigue, or a headache.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifically calls out arm pain, redness, or swelling around the injection site as a common side effect of the vaccine and even guides on how to minimize the soreness.

However, the CDC does not offer much more of an explanation than that. Should you do gentle stretches? Or more significant movements? Experts agree that this can be a helpful strategy to follow after vaccination. Here is how to exercise your arm after your vaccine, so you can try to avoid the discomfort.

Why does your arm get sore after the COVID-19 vaccine?

Arm soreness is not unique to the COVID-19 vaccine—the side effect can also occur with other vaccines too. 

However, the COVID-19 vaccine gets injected into the muscle in your arm. The hiccup here is that the injection can cause tiny tears in the muscle as said by the professionals. This causes inflammation in the area around the shot, leading to soreness, mild pain, or tenderness for two to three days.

Your arm and other parts of your body may also get sore because your immune system is doing what it should be doing: reacting to the vaccine. These vaccines essentially trick your body into thinking that it’s being exposed to the novel coronavirus. So your immune system instantly sends out infection-fighting cells to attack the perceived (but nonexistent) threat, and that can also lead to the flu-like symptoms.

Exercise to Relieve Your Arm Soreness

You do not have to do any heavy exercises like lifting weights unless that’s your normal. Below are the exercises you can follow:

1) Seated Towel Slide

1. Start with sitting to the side of a table with your hand on your sore arm resting on a towel.
2. Slowly bend sideways, push the towel out to the side across the table.
3. Return to the starting position and repeat. You can do this against a wall while standing also. Perform 2 – 3 sets of 10 reps.

2) Shoulder Posterior Capsule Stretch

1. Raise your affected arm across the front of your body, with your thumb pointing up.
2. Grasp the outside of your arm with your other arm and apply a gentle pressure on it until you feel a stretch.
3. Take deep breaths and hold for 30 – 35 seconds. Perform at least three sets.

3) Shoulder Flexion Wall Slide

1. Begin with standing in an upright position holding a towel against a wall at shoulder height.
2. And slowly slide the towel straight up the wall, straightening your elbow. Then lower it back down, and repeat it.
3. Perform at least three sets of 10 reps.

4) Circle Pendulum Stretch

1. Begin with standing position with your trunk bent forward from yourself, one arm resting on a table for support and your sore arm hanging toward the ground.
2. And slowly shift your body weight in a circular motion, letting your hanging arm swing in a circle at the same time.
3. Perform at least three sets of 10 reps.

Does it matter which arm you get shot in?

Not every vaccination site will give you the choice of which arm you want to get shot in, but some vaccination sites will give you the option to choose which arm you get the injection in. Since there is a chance the vaccine can interfere with your day, it does not hurt to choose wisely.

While experts say either arm is fine, they generally suggest using your non-dominant side, just in case you have more severe soreness so that you can continue your regular work. Still, they say, a sore arm from the COVID-19 vaccine is not worth stressing over—it will pass fairly quickly after two or three days.

“The side effect of the sore arm is temporary, and in most of the cases it is mild,” Dr. Nitesh Dhameliya says. “It does not affect you too much, even if you have decided to get the vaccine in your dominant arm.”