It may be difficult to detect nerve-related discomfort on your own and may seem different from person to person.
You might imagine that you are familiar with the sensation of tight, aching muscles. However, occasionally, what appears to be a muscular soreness turns out to be a more complicated issue — one that is nerve-related.
That’s because, he explains, “You can occasionally damage the nerves in along with the muscle when there is an injury.” “Therefore, some of both might be going on,”
Your spinal cord and nerves are housed between the vertebrae of your spine, and soft disks between the vertebrae serve as shock absorbers. It is possible for pain to be localized to the damaged nerve and vertebrae if the spinal nerves are compressed (by a disk, for example, pushing out and pressing on them).
“When you compress a nerve, you experience nerve pain that travels along the nerve’s course down your leg or to wherever it may be,”
For instance, a compressed nerve in the lumbar spine may not result in low back discomfort but rather in nerve-related pain in the buttocks, hip, or leg.
And a pinched nerve in your middle back region, who specialises in the non-operative care of spine and neuromusculoskeletal problems, might produce pain in your ribs.
Nerve discomfort is far less frequent than muscle pain. “But there is overlap in how they feel, making it difficult to distinguish between the two, even for doctors,”
Muscle pain symptoms
The majority of us have experienced muscle soreness from excessive squats or long walks.
After stressing a muscle, experts normally advise a brief time of rest before allowing the muscle to soften and stretch. “You need to extend it out a little bit and get it free if you strain your hamstring,” he advises. On the other hand, if that’s your nerve, it won’t feel nice.
Usually, muscle soreness…
- As you use the injured muscle, it gets worse.
- feels tight, achy, or sore.
- begins after a particular occurrence, such as completing a strenuous new workout or injuring a muscle during a sporting event.
- after a brief period of relaxation, gentle exercise and stretching feel better.
starts to get better within few days.
Nerve pain symptoms
Nerve compression pain can have a very similar sensation to muscular discomfort. But there are some significant variations.
Numbness and tingling are the most typical ways that individuals report nerve-related discomfort, but “sometimes they’ll express an itching sensation or water flowing down their leg or feeling of heat or burning,” says the Mayo Clinic. In other cases, patients may have heavy or flimsy leg or arm sensations.
According to Tankha, patients frequently compare their nerve discomfort to an electric shock. And that can be the sole symptom you experience.
“You can experience just pain, just numbness, just weakness, or a combination of all three. This makes it difficult for individuals and even medical professionals to accurately diagnose these disorders.
Additionally, nerve pain is not necessarily localized to the area of the body where it originates. For instance, sciatica is a condition when a nerve in the low back is crushed, resulting in pain that travels down the leg.
Nerve discomfort is frequently…
- Feels hot, heavy, tingling, tight, or feeble. It might be challenging to explain to others how painful something feels at times. Simply said, one limb could feel “different” from the one on the other side.
- follows the nerve’s course as it radiates to various areas of the limb.
- is not impacted by muscle stretches, or stretches may potentially make it worse.
- begins following a certain event, such as an injury, but it can also be chronic.
Home remedies for muscle pain and nerve pain
The initial appearance of the at-home remedies for muscle and nerve-related pain may be quite similar.
Options consist of:
- applying heat or ice.
- a hot shower.
- baths with Epsom salts.
- drug available over-the-counter, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
Ice and heat, on the other hand, frequently perform better for muscular pain, while over-the-counter medications frequently don’t work as well for pain related to the nerves.
Your doctor could suggest physical therapy, massage, or other modalities if your pain lasts longer than three to five days.
Serious warning signs
Most nerve discomfort is not life-threatening. However, some signs and symptoms have been referred to as “red flag conditions” and demand prompt medical attention.
- extreme numbness or weakness.
- fever, which may be an indicator of an infection.
- You suffered serious trauma, such as from a vehicle accident or a difficult fall.
- a lack of bladder or bowel control.
- Loss of weight without cause.
- malignancy or an immunosuppressive illness in the past.
Even if your discomfort isn’t life-threatening, it can still be interfering with it, which is reason enough to discover out what’s wrong.
Everybody experiences back pain occasionally, but by no means does everyone require emergency department treatment.However, you might want to consider getting assistance if the pain persists and makes it difficult to sit at work, walk your dog, or complete household chores. “We should try to see if we may assist you function better, even if you don’t have anything terrible going on,”