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.