How does referred pain feel

Weighted heating pads may provide relief from pain, muscle stiffness, and chronic pain. We explore which weighted heating pads may be best for your…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. How Does Referred Pain Work?

Medically reviewed by Alana Biggers, M. Causes Body areas Treatments Home remedies When to see a healthcare provider Takeaway Referred pain is when the pain you feel in one part of your body is actually caused by pain or injury in another part of your body. Where does it most often occur? Home remedies. When to see a healthcare provider. The bottom line. Read this next. Medically reviewed by Elaine K. Luo, M. Medically reviewed by Owen Kramer, MD. Painful Moles and Skin Changes. Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph.

Medically reviewed by Debra Sullivan, Ph. They both indicate pain felt somewhere away from the problem, but they elude to different sources. Referred pain is often due to muscular or joint pain and not always felt locally, whereas radiating pain often comes from a nerve root and has particular pattern of distribution.

You may feel pain locally, at the source, as well as further away i. Nerve root compression is also known as radiculopathy, whereas damage to a nerve further away from the spine is known as neuropathy.

Back pain is extremely common and, more often than not, will resolve itself. Low Back Pain is often known as non-specific back pain, meaning there is no specific underlying cause. Referred back pain can be caused by issues at the spinal column; nerve root compression radiculopathy , vertebral disc damage discogenic or facet joint irritation arthrogenic. As well as these three issues occurring directly at the spine, you may also get referred pain from supporting muscles around the spine.

This may be due to damaged muscle, shortened and overactive muscles, or weakened and inefficient muscles. As mentioned earlier, part of the challenge of identifying the source of pain is to ask questions regarding the description of your pain. A description of your pain can be a huge indicator for us and immediately help us rule out certain structures that may be involved.

The difference between the two is that with radiating pain, the pain is where the pain stimuli is but causes the pain to radiate in another direction. Referred pain can occur to anyone of any age and of any gender, at any time. Referred pain can also happen in multiple parts of the body. Referred pain can affect the muscular system and the skeletal system. An example for each:. The best to treat any type of muscular or skeletal pain is to see a physician that specializes in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the muscular skeletal system so that they can perform an in depth evaluation on you to help determine the cause and to identify other underlying issues that you may have.