Overview of Treatment for Referred Pain

Referred pain is when you experience pain in one part of the body due to an injury or pain in another part. For instance, an injury to the pancreas can trigger pain in your back, or your jaw starts hurting during a heart attack. Referred pain is a serious symptom of an underlying condition. Therefore, it is essential to understand the actual cause of the pain.

Causes of the Referred Pain

Your body’s nerves act as a network. The connection between these nerves can trigger pain in other body parts. When you experience a pain stimulus, your brain receives signals from the nervous system. Your body will receive a signal from the brain, indicating that you are in pain.

The brain might signal a different body part instead of the affected area as a result of interlinked nerve connections. Another reason for pain signals reaching the wrong body part can be synapses and reflexes. You may not be aware of this, but the pain can be a sign of a medical issue in another body part. Researchers are working on studies to comprehend the actual mechanism behind this type of reaction and why your body reacts this way. Here are some common causes for referred pain:

·       Heart Attack

Most people experience referred pain because of a heart attack. You may experience referred pain in your teeth, jaw, and shoulders. The valve blockage in your heart causes your body to trigger pain in certain areas of the body.

·       Phantom Limb Pain

This is a common condition that amputees deal with. If you lose a leg or an arm, you might experience body pain coming from the removed limb. For instance, when you lose a foot, you might experience pain in your upper thigh, making you feel like you are experiencing pain in the foot that’s no longer there.

·       Kehr’s Sign

In this condition, you feel a painful sensation in your shoulder blade. This pain indicates that you have an injured or ruptured spleen.

·       Brain Freeze

Brain freeze is also a referred pain. When you eat ice cream or drink cold milkshakes, you experience pain in the back of your head and the brain. Even though your mouth and throat stimulate the pain, your vagus nerve triggers it to other parts of the body.

Where does Referred Pain Occur?

Referred pain is hard to diagnose as you can feel it in a different part of the body. Here are some common areas where you may experience referred pain:

·       Neck and Shoulders

If you develop pain in your neck and shoulders. It can be a sign of:

·       A heart attack

·       An injured spleen

·       A liver cyst

·       Upper Back

When suffering from a stomach condition, you might experience pain in your upper back area. The specific location would be between and below the shoulder blades. 

·       Lower Back

If you have a problem in your colon or your kidney, you will experience pain on the sides of the back. Also, pain near your oblique muscles can indicate that there is something wrong with the kidney or colon.

·       Teeth and Jaws

Initial symptoms of a heart attack include pain in the jaws and teeth.

Factors Causing Referred Pain

When a poor experience or proximal deep stimuli sends a signal to the body part, you will experience the perception of pain in a different body part. Sclerotomal referred pain is more common than myotomal referred pain. Also, this type of pain occurs more than bone pain. The order of occurrence inversely relates to the pain-related and intensity dysfunction.

If you suffer from tenacious pain stimulation, it may be because of referred pain. Experts also include some superficial pain as referred. However, there are fewer chances of superficial pain to be referred. Referred pain also includes deep bone pain, while soft tissue referred pain is uncommon. The doctor, while analyzing the referred pain, will consider the intensity, duration, consistency, and other factors. This will help them identify the root cause behind the pain.

Examination

When the doctor anesthetizes the body part suffering from referred pain, they get different results while examining. Here are some factors that change the results of the examination:

·       The level and duration of the pain

·       The difference in the structures such as bone, ligaments, tendons, muscle, and skin. This criterion is essential. Referred pain in the deep regions of the body, such as deep tissues, doesn’t succumb to anesthesia as easily as other body parts.

·       Whether there is hypersensitivity or sensory changes in the site of referred pain

·       The location of the local pain, such as deep structures, viscera, skin

Treatments for Referred Pain

When suffering from pain that does not have any clear reason, consult with a healthcare provider, such as a pain management doctor. You cannot simply get rid of the pain by treating the part of the body suffering from pain. The doctor will identify the actual cause of injury and treat that body part.

Many people experiencing referred pain cannot comprehend the reason for the pain, but they can feel it. That is why they find it hard to explain. If you are suffering from mysterious pain that has occurred without injury or reason, consult with a doctor. They will prescribe pain killers such as ibuprofen (Avril).

·       Home Remedies

It is not possible for you to treat the referred pain unless you are aware of the main reason. Therefore, you require a proper diagnosis in which the doctor will locate the injury or other underlying condition. However, you can treat acute pain at home by using these simple home remedies. These techniques will soothe your nervous system and reduce inflammation. Here are some home remedies that you can use for acute muscle pain:

·       Release muscle tension by bathing with Epsom salts

·       Take some rest and do not irritate the affected area

·       Ease cramping and muscle tension with the help of a warm compress

Visit a doctor immediately if the reason for your pain is a symptom of a heart attack or organ damage, in which case such remedies won’t work.  

·       Medical Management

According to various studies, referred pain correlates with the duration and intensity of muscle pain. This links with the observations of secondary cutaneous hyperalgesia. A common and effective way to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain is through ketamine or NMDA-receptor antagonists. You will receive better results with this technique than traditional morphine management.

You can reduce the intensity of referred pain by up to 22.7% by applying a local anesthetic or eutectic mixture. It is possible to treat referred pain area by blocking the afferents. These two techniques are:

·       Intravenous regional analgesia

·       Nerve blocking. It disconnects the association of referred area and the site of stimulation.

These techniques will reduce the intensity of referred pain by 40.2%. Here are some other ways to treat the pain:

·       Laser therapy

·       Trigger point injections

·       Osteopathic medicine techniques

·       Acupuncture

·       Superficial dry needling will provide an effective combination with stretching.

·       Physical Therapy Management

Referred pain also includes the pain that you experience during myofascial pain syndrome. This therapy will treat the referred pain relating to myofascial pain syndrome. The doctor will suggest:

·       Massage

·       Heat or ice therapy

·       Ultrasound

·       Dry needling

·       Exercise

·       Stretch techniques and Ethyl chloride

·       Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

·       Other manual methods

When to Consult with a Pain Management Doctor

Shoulder and jaw pain can be a symptom of a heart attack, which is a medical emergency. Visiting a doctor immediately will save you from complications of the condition. On the other hand, if the referred pain links to your back or your shoulders, your body is indicating that there is something wrong.

If you cannot identify the actual reason for your pain and haven’t suffered from an injury recently, contact a pain management doctor. They will determine the underlying reason causing referred pain. Do not just wait for an unclear, painful sensation to disappear unaided.

Conclusion

When you experience referred pain, the best thing to do is to visit a pain management doctor and explain your pain in detail. They will identify the real cause and suggest a proper treatment plan for relief. You can save your life by visiting a doctor if initial symptoms indicate a potentially lethal health condition. If the referred or phantom pain is severe in a specific body part, consult a relevant doctor.