Dr. Danan contrast Nerve Pain to musculoskeletal-type pain
Article Links: Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Nerve Pain Management | U.S. News (usnews.com)
When patients arrive at the doctor’s office with nerve pain – also known as neuralgia or neuropathic pain – they don’t always know the culprit behind the pain. But that doesn’t mean their pain can’t be diagnosed and treated.
By talking to your doctor about your symptoms and following up with recommended tests and medical evaluations, they can help you figure out what is causing your nerve pain and what you need to do to feel better.
Symptoms of Nerve Pain
People can experience nerve pain in different ways and in different parts of the body. While not all sensations are the same, there are some signs and symptoms that can be indicative of nerve pain.
Some descriptions people may use to describe what nerve pain feels like include:
- Numbness
- Pins and needles
- Tingling
- Burning
- Electrical shocks
- Sharpness
- Ice-pick sensations
- Ice-cold sensations
- Stinging
Dr. Ilan Danan, a sports neurologist and pain management specialist at the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, says in contrast to musculoskeletal-type pain, which tends to have an “aching, pulsating-type characteristic” to it, nerve pain may feel acute, or come on suddenly.
Danan adds that people may also associate nerve pain with feelings of extreme temperature – like burning or tingling sensations connected to heat, or “ice-pick type” sensations connected to coldness. Some people use words like “sharp” or “electrical” to describe their nerve pain, too.
Nerves are located almost everywhere in the body, so there are multiple body parts where a person can feel nerve pain. 
“Oftentimes, while the characteristics may be similar, distributions obviously can vary depending on which nerves are being affected,” Danan says.
For example, people who experience the condition carpal tunnel may feel nerve pain in their hands or their forearms, whereas people with an impingement from the spine may feel pain in their neck, lower back or elsewhere in the body, he says.
”
