Nerve Pain Treatment From Pain Management Specialists in Freehold, NJ

Nerve Pain Treatment Freehold NJWhy do you feel pain? This uncomfortable feeling results from signals generated by a complex network of nerves throughout your body that transmit sensory information to your brain. By alerting your brain to danger, pain serves an important role in preventing injuries. For instance, if you accidentally placed your hand on a hot stove while cooking, the nerves in your skin would relay pain signals to your brain. After processing the immediate threat, your brain would elicit a response to cause you to retract your hand to avoid getting burned.

Nerve pain, however, is different. This type of pain can occur if your nervous system becomes damaged, malfunctions, and sends erroneous signals. In essence, a nerve sends a pain signal to your brain, causing discomfort to be felt in a certain area of your body, but the aggravating cause is not readily apparent nor easily remedied (such as removing your hand from a hot stove). In addition to pain, the discomfort may take the form of numbness, tingling sensations, or reflex loss.

How can your nervous system become damaged?

In addition to traumatic injuries, several medical conditions can damage your nervous system and prompt it to misfire. Some possible causes of chronic nerve pain that requires treatment include:

  • Diabetes
  • Nutritional deficiencies
  • Nerve compression, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or a pinched spinal nerve
  • Certain medications, including some chemotherapy drugs and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatments
  • Certain autoimmune conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, and inflammatory bowel disease
  • Cancer (a tumor can potentially press on a nearby nerve)

What are the treatment options for nerve pain?

Although nerve damage may not be completely curable, it can often be effectively managed. Treatment can vary based on the underlying cause. The first step in relieving nerve pain is identifying the source of the damage so that it can be addressed, if possible. For instance, nerve pain treatment may involve regulating blood sugar levels to manage diabetes, taking supplements to correct nutritional deficiencies, performing physical therapy to reduce pressure on a compressed nerve, changing medications, or treating an underlying medical condition, such as an autoimmune disorder or cancer. The next step, if necessary, is to treat the nerve pain independently of its underlying condition.

The team of board-certified pain management physicians at Advanced Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute offers a comprehensive range of treatment options for nerve pain, including injection therapy, medications, topical treatments, and electrical stimulation. To learn more, contact AOSMI to schedule an appointment at our office in Freehold, New Jersey.