There is mounting evidence that pain is even more complicated than we ever thought possible. Not only does it vary greatly from person to person, but we are also learning more about how complicated pain is from different causes and sources within an individual. Republic Pain Specialists are aware of these complexities and work to understand the sources of your pain, the magnitude of your pain, and seek to develop individual treatment plans that make sense for you. One of these unique sources of pain is neurogenic pain.

Types

Neurogenic pain is neuropathic in nature, caused by illness, degeneration, or injury to a nerve, causing pain to be experienced. In simplest terms, according to Avicenna Spine and Joint Care, “neurogenic pain is simply pain generated by a nerve.” As there are so many nerves running through our body, neurogenic pain can originate in any limb, in multiple tissues, and near and within our organ systems. They can also be peripheral, those in the nerves, plexus, and nerve root, or central, those in the brain and spinal cord.

Causes

Due to neurogenic pain being so comprehensive in nature, there can be any number of causes of this type of pain. Nerve compression or muscle spasms can cause this type of ongoing pain and can be attributed to age, moving “just the wrong way,” or tweaking a nerve during regular activities. Injuries caused by sports or exercise could also cause neurogenic pain and can be masked by soreness or the belief that pain is from some other cause. There are occasionally post-surgical issues that lead to neurogenic pain developing and impacting treatment from the initial surgery. As everybody is different, it is possible that even slight compression could cause significant pain to a patient making healing and day-to-day life difficult.

Treatment

There is no single treatment that works best for neurogenic pain which fits in well with Republic Pain Specialists because we wouldn’t treat patients in a single, one size fits all method anyways. Every patient is unique, and their treatment plan should be unique as well. This makes treatment more effective. Some patients feel relief with specific types of physical therapy to target the affected areas. Yoga, strength training, and other exercise regiments may help as well, to relieve pain and to strengthen areas around the source of pain. Some patients also benefit from specific nerve blocks or radiofrequency procedures. Acupuncture could be pursued in some cases. More than likely we would work with you to make a plan that is multimodal, combining a variety of these methods as we sought the best possible outcome.

While you may not be able to self-diagnose whether the pain you are feeling is neurogenic in nature, you can certainly tell our Republic Pain Specialists a fair amount about your pain. Once we meet with you, we can evaluate further what type of pain you are experiencing and begin making a treatment plan for your relief. For more information, contact us today.