Nerve Pain vs. Muscle Pain: How to Tell the Difference

Everyone experiences some level of pain from time to time, whether it’s acute pain caused by an injury or repetitive stress or chronic pain due to an underlying problem, like neuralgia.

Millions of people live with pain, which runs the gamut from dull aching to sharp, burning discomfort. It can be temporary and acute or chronic and recurrent. It may feel like it’s centered in one part of your body, or it can seem like it’s radiating from one area to another.

One of the primary reasons why pain can be so difficult to describe is because it often involves different structures or pathways. Your muscles or your nerves are two common sources of pain, and knowing the difference between them can go a long way toward helping you get the treatment you need when you need it.

Our team at Advanced Medical Care understands muscle pain and nerve pain and knows key symptoms to watch for. Simple yet often subtle distinctions with nerve vs. muscle pain can mean the difference between treatment that hits the mark right away and pain that lingers and causes more serious problems over time. Here’s what you need to know.

Muscle pain: Why it happens and what it feels like

Your body contains hundreds of muscles that work together with your ligaments, tendons, bones, and other tissues to help you move and perform activities. 

Muscle-related pain often arises as a result of those activities — for instance, exercising too strenuously, constantly repeating the same movements, or lifting heavy objects. Other times, muscle pain can be related to underlying medical conditions, injuries, or even poor posture.

Depending on what’s causing your muscle pain, it can feel different, too. For instance, you might have symptoms like:

• Cramping
• Soreness
• Tender spots
• Stiffness
• Muscle spasm or charley horse
• Reduced range of motion

Muscle pain symptoms often feel worse when you’re performing specific activities and better once you’re resting.

Many types of muscle pain resolve with rest, stretching, physical therapy, activity modification, and home remedies like anti-inflammatory medicines or ice and heat treatments. While symptoms can definitely be uncomfortable, they often become more manageable as the muscle heals.

Nerve pain basics: What to look for

This type of pain happens when a nerve is irritated, damaged, inflamed, or compressed. Because nerves transmit signals throughout the body, symptoms can occur near the nerve and anywhere along the nerve pathway, far from the actual source of your symptoms. 

For instance, a compressed nerve in your lower back could cause pain and numbness in your buttock, hip, or even all the way down your leg.

While nerve pain can cause dull aches just like muscle pain, it tends to involve sharper sensations. Many people describe nerve pain as burning, shooting, stabbing, electricity-like, or tingling. You might have pins-and-needles sensations or be extra-sensitive to touch.

While traumatic injuries like whiplash can cause nerve compression and related symptoms, many people develop nerve pain from issues like:

• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis
• Degenerative disc disease
• Diabetic neuropathy
• Spinal arthritis
• Neurodegenerative diseases
• Vitamin deficiencies

Left untreated, nerve pain can lead to permanent nerve damage. Depending on which nerves are affected, you might have problems with everyday movement, bowel or urinary incontinence, or other complications that can have far-reaching effects on your quality of life.

Finding the source of your pain

If you have any type of persistent or worsening pain, a comprehensive evaluation is a critical first step toward finding relief and preventing complications. Taking note of where your pain occurs, what it feels like, and whether it affects multiple parts of your body can help us zero in on the cause of your symptoms faster.

During your exam and evaluation, we ask about your symptoms, including when they occur and how they affect your daily life. A hands-on exam, diagnostic imaging, and specialized testing techniques help ensure your treatment plan is focused on helping you feel better while preventing complications in the future.

To find out what’s causing your pain and to learn what our experienced, caring team can do to help, request an appointment online or over the phone with Advanced Medical Care in Forest Hills, Queens, and Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York.