Home Topics Types Of PainNociceptive Pain

Nociceptive Pain: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments

Nociceptive pain refers to the discomfort that results when a stimulus causes tissue damage to the muscles, bones, skin or internal organs. When most people think of pain, they think of nociceptive pain.

Nociceptors themselves are the nerve endings that exist throughout the body (but outside of the spinal cord) to detect any kind of stimuli. While organs deep within the body have few nociceptors, the skin and joints are highly concentrated with them. When any kind of stimulus injures the body in any manner (i.e., heat burning your finger), the nociceptors detect it and send pain signals to the brain.

Nociceptive Pain Symptoms

Generally localized to the area the stimulus targets, nociceptive pain usually causes people to experience sensations they describe as:

achy
sharp
stinging
throbbing.

When the damage heals, the pain generally ends (with the notable exception of inflammation caused by arthritis).

Causes of Nociceptive Pain

Nociceptive pain is one of the most common types of pain. Because a variety of stimuli can trigger this form of pain, the causes of it can be endless. However, many people can easily identify the source of their nociceptive pain, as both the affected area and the stimulus tend to be obvious. Common causes of nociceptive pain include:

broken or fractured bones
bruises
burns
cuts
inflammation (from infection or arthritis)
sprains.

Types of Nociceptive Pain

The medical community is still debating on how to characterize the different types of nociceptive pain. Typically, however, most experts distinguish nociceptive pain as either:

Somatic pain is nociceptive pain that results from some injury to the body (In fact, "somatic" translates from Latin to mean "of the body.") It's generally localized to the affected area and abates when the body repairs the damage to that area. Getting a paper cut, recovering from surgery and suffering from a burn are all forms of somatic nociceptive pain.
Visceral pain describes a type of nociceptive pain originating in the body's internal organs or their surrounding tissues. This form of pain usually results from the infiltration of harmful cells, as well as the compression or extension of healthy cells. Patients suffering from visceral pain tend to feel generally achy, as this pain tends to not be localized to a specific area. Cancer is a common source of visceral pain.

Nociceptive vs. Neuropathic Pain

These two types of pain are distinguished by the particular cause of each one. While neuropathic pain results from damage to nerve cells, an injury or disease outside of the nervous system (typically in the form of tissue damage) causes nociceptive pain.

The patient's experience of the pain also differs depending on the type of pain he feels. In general, people describe neuropathic pain as burning or stabbing, whereas they describe nociceptive pain as aching or throbbing. Keep in mind that these are generalizations, as the individual pain experience is highly subjective.

The other major difference between nociceptive and neuropathic pain is in how long each lasts. In general, nociceptive pain vanishes after the injury heals, whereas neuropathic pain is chronic because the underlying cause is usually irreversible.

Although most types of pain are categorized as either nociceptive or neuropathic, some types of pain, like migraines, can actually be a combination of the two. In these cases, an outside stimulus triggers a chronic source of pain.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Nociceptive Pain

In the process of diagnosing nociceptive pain, doctors will ask patients about their medical histories, as well as their experience with their identifiable symptoms. Since nociceptive pain results from an outside stimulus and is typically localized to the affected area, doctors can usually diagnose it after performing a thorough physical exam and conducting some imaging tests (such as X-rays, CT scans and/or MRIs).

Because nociceptive pain subsides once the body has had the proper time to heal the damaged tissues, most cases of this pain are highly treatable. In general, treatment for nociceptive pain revolves around taking medications, including:

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen
opioids
tri-cyclic antidepressants. (Because these medications are less effective against short-term acute pain and can have significant side-effects, doctors tend to use them as a last resort when prescribing medication for the treatment of nociceptive pain.)

To promote faster healing, doctors may also recommend that patients undergo physical therapy or try alternative treatments, such as acupuncture.

Resources

Back.com (July 12, 2006).Symptoms. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from the Back.com Web site: http://www.back.com/symptoms-pain.html.

Medicine Net (December, 2006). Pain Management. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from the Medicine Net Web site: http://www.medicinenet.com/pain_management/page2.htm.

Merck (February 2003). Pain Types. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from the Merck Web site: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec06/ch078/ch078c.html.

Richeimer, Steven, MD (2000) Understanding Nociceptive & Neuropathic Pain. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from the Richeimer Institute Web site: http://www.helpforpain.com/arch2000dec.htm.

StopPain.org (n.d.). Types of Pain: Nociceptive Pain. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from the StopPain.org Web site: http://www.stoppain.org/pcd/content/addiction/nociceptive.asp.

Other Topics in this Section

Add a Comment

Print this Article

Email to a Friend