Muscle, tendon, joint, and bone pain are all examples of somatic discomfort. It could feel like it’s chewing, hurting, or cramping. Some people describe somatic discomfort.
You will experience somatic pain if you cut your skin, overstretch a muscle, exercise for a long time, or hurt yourself falling to the ground.
Somatic pain and visceral pain –
Visceral pain originates from a separate part of the body than somatic pain. Somatic discomfort affects the soft tissues, bones, or muscles. Your interior organs and blood arteries are where visceral pain originates.
Intense somatic pain can sometimes be more precisely localised than visceral pain. This is due to the numerous nerves that are provided to your skin, muscles, and bones in order to detect pain. Pain can be superficial, meaning it only affects the skin, or deep, affecting the muscles and bones.
Visceral pain frequently seems nebulous, squeezing, or agonising because your internal organs don’t have as many pain-detecting nerves.
NSAIDs or, in extreme circumstances, opioids can be used to alleviate both somatic and visceral pain. Deep somatic pain may also benefit from muscle relaxants.
Why You Experience Somatic Pain ?
Somatic pain is typically localised to a specific area of the body and is frequently exacerbated by movement. It is nociceptive, which implies that an injury, an infection, or pressure is what cause it.
Visceral pain differs from somatic pain.
The origin of visceral pain, which is also nociceptive, resides within the body’s organs. Skin and deep tissues contain the nerves that register somatic discomfort.
The painful sensations associated with temperature, vibration, and swelling in the skin, joints, and muscles are detected by these specialised sensory nerves, known as nociceptors.
You feel or sense pain when nociceptors identify strong signals linked to tissue injury and transmit impulses to the brain.
Types of Somatic Pain –
Somatic pain comes in two flavours: shallow and deep.
Where the pain originates on the body varies between them.
Skin-deep somatic pain-
The skin and mucous membranes contain nociceptive receptors, which cause superficial pain.
It is the kind of agony that results from typical, daily wounds, like a lip cut.
Indicators of superficial somatic discomfort include:
- Pricking Sharp Burning
- a sharp pain
- Subacute somatic pain
Structures deeper within your body, such as your joints, bones, tendons, and muscles, are where deep somatic pain originates. Deep somatic pain is typically dull and painful, similar to visceral discomfort.
Depending on the severity of the trauma, deep somatic pain may be felt locally or more widely.
For instance, if you bang your knee, you just feel pain in that particular area. On the other hand, if your kneecap breaks, your entire leg will probably hurt.
Treatment of somatic pain –
Numerous approaches are used to alleviate somatic pain.
Marsiliani D, Alesi A, Franceschi F, et al. The SUPER algorithm is a straightforward method for treating somatic discomfort in individuals who have been hospitalized to the emergency room. Intern Emerg Medical.
It depends on how bad the pain is and what’s causing it. For instance, a broken bone may cause intense pain that is treated completely differently from a muscular spasm that is only mild in intensity.
NSAIDs like Aleve (naproxen) or Motrin (ibuprofen), as well as over-the-counter pain relievers like Tylenol (acetaminophen), are effective for treating the majority of mild occurrences of somatic pain.
The fact that Tylenol has no anti-inflammatory properties sets it apart significantly from NSAIDs. Therefore, Tylenol won’t reduce the resulting swelling.
Muscle relaxants like Baclofen or Flexural (cyclobenzaprine) may offer relief for severe somatic or musculoskeletal discomfort. Opioids, or drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone, are best used to treat extremely painful conditions for which Tylenol or NSAIDs alone are ineffective.
Please be aware that there is a high danger of substance abuse and dependence with opioids. Because of this, doctors normally only prescribe opioids for brief periods of time.
Your healthcare professional might also suggest alternative treatments, such as using a heating pad or cold pack to the sore area, depending on the intensity of the pain. Even practises like massage, physical therapy, and relaxation might be beneficial.
Summary –
Somatic pain typically subsides after the initial injury or insult has healed, which is good news.
But somatic pain that persists for a longer period of time than anticipated (greater than three months) might develop into chronic pain, necessitating a more stringent treatment regimen.
Read more about other pain – Abdominal Pain , Visceral Pain
