Be as specific as possible about how your pain feels to help your doctor figure out what’s wrong.
Here are a few words you can use to describe the way your pain feels, and how your doctor might interpret them:
• Aching, dull: muscle strains, arthritis pain;
• Shooting, electric, tingling, burning, pins-and-needles: nerve pain;
• Sharp, stabbing: injuries such as a broken bone, muscle or ligament tear, or penetrating wound;
• Throbbing: headache, abscess, gout;
• Tightness: muscle spasm.
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