What Is Nerve Pain? | Factors That Lead to Nerve Pain | Symptoms and Treatment Options
Your nerves play a key role in how you experience pain. Sometimes, nerves serve as messengers, telling your brain about pain associated with some other type of injury. Often, though, pain can stem directly from injury or trauma to your nerves or nervous system. Such pain is commonly referred to as neuropathic pain. What is nerve pain? What causes it? What are the telltale signs? And what can you do to treat nerve pain?
What Is Nerve Pain?
Your body’s nervous system includes your brain, your spinal cord, and your peripheral nerves. Your peripheral nerves are found throughout your body, in your limbs, skin, and organs. The signals from your peripheral nerves are transmitted to your brain through your spinal cord. When you suffer any type of trauma to your fingers, toes, arms, legs, or other peripheral body parts, the nerve endings at the site of the injury transmit signals to your brain, which your brain interprets as pain.
Sometimes, though, you will experience pain even though there’s no external trauma. If your nerve fibers have been damaged, either through a disease, a degenerative condition, or prior trauma, those fibers can communicate the wrong information to your brain, which you experience as pain.
What Are Common Causes of Nerve Pain?
Nerve pain, also referred to as neuropathic pain, may result from a variety of factors:
- Prior trauma, including surgery, that caused nerve damage
- Inflammation or compression of your spinal cord
- Diabetes
- Central nervous system maladies, including Parkinson’s disease, MS, or stroke
- Excessive consumption of alcohol
- Radiation treatment
- Shingles or CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome)
How Do You Know If You’re Suffering From Neuropathic Pain?
If you have pain but have not suffered any acute traumatic injury, that’s typically a strong indication that you have neuropathic pain. Other symptoms include:
- Extreme sensitivity to touch
- Particularly intense pain
- Difficulty sleeping due to pain
What Are Treatment Options for Nerve Pain?
In the short term, medication, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, will provide some relief. In addition, some topical applications are available to manage nerve pain. Other options include:
- Nerve blocks, where you have pain relief medication injected at or near the nerves that are causing the pain
- Physical therapy, which can build muscle strength and reduce tension, stiffness, and soreness
- Surgical procedures, which may include the repair or removal of nerves to alleviate pain
Contact Us To Set Up an Appointment
At Advantage Healthcare Systems, we have extensive experience working successfully with people who have suffered any kind of nerve pain. We have the tools and knowledge to carefully evaluate your medical condition. We may opt to prescribe and monitor a regimen of care ourselves, or we may refer you to a specialist, such as a neurologist or physiatrist, if deemed medically necessary. Call us toll-free at 1-877-487-8289 or fill out the form provided below to schedule an assessment. We offer locations across Texas, including Fort Worth, Dallas, and San Antonio.
