Generally, neck and back pain is benign.
That is, it’s neither serious nor sparked by a specific disease or condition.
In these cases, muscles and other soft tissue tend to be at the root of the pain.
Yagi Studio / DigitalVision / Getty Images
The pain that results can become neuropathic pain.
What Is Neuropathic Pain?
Neuropathic pain happens when nerve fibers become damaged, traumatized and/or otherwise dysfunctional.
To best understand neuropathic pain, let’s talk briefly about what nerves do.
Their job is to relay messages to and from the brain and spinal cord about what’s going on.
Nerves are found in tissues, organs, muscles and more.
The response signals show up as pain and impulses to move.
This pain felt from this example of the normal workings of nerves is not neuropathic pain, butnociceptive pain.
Nociceptive pain refers to pain related to actual tissue damage.
With neuropathic pain, the signals sent to you by the damaged fibers may sometimes “go haywire.”
They may seem like they don’t make sense.
The reason is, over time, these nerves may become active for no reason.
The sciatic nerve is a peripheral nerve, the largest in the body.
Ironically, irritation of the sciatic nerve itself is thought to be a rare cause of sciatica symptoms.
This can happen when a tight piriformis muscle impinges on the nerve.
Cervical radiculopathy is often resulting from a herniated disc in the neck.
Lumbar and Cervical Peripheral Nerve Damage Symptoms
Symptoms of neuropathic pain can be very severe.
They can feel like pins and needles, electrical shock, and/or burning that travel down one extremity.
Other symptoms include numbness, weakness or altered sensation anywhere along the path the nerve travels.
If you have these symptoms, it’s best to seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Cauda equina syndrome is considered a medical emergency.
Chou R, et al.Patient education: Low back pain in adults.
Updated September 27, 2019.
Colloca L, Ludman T, Bouhassira D, et al.Neuropathic pain.Nat Rev Dis Primers.
2017;3:17002. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2017.2
Cleveland Clinic.Neuropathic pain.
Updated June 18, 2015.
Dydyk AM, M Das J.Radicular back pain.
Updated November 14, 2019.
Adibatti M, V S.Study on variant anatomy of sciatic nerve.J Clin Diagn Res.
2014;8(8):AC07-9.
doi:10.7860/JCDR/2014/9116.4725
Corey DL, Comeau D.Cervical radiculopathy.Med Clin North Am.
2014;98(4):791-799, xii.
doi:10.1016/j.mcna.2014.04.001
Rider IS, Marra EM.Cauda equina and conus medullaris syndromes.
Updated January 22, 2019.
