What is "referred pain"?

[Magical Realist]

https://www.healthline.com/health/pain-r...treatments

"Referred pain is when the pain you feel in one part of your body is actually caused by pain or injury in another part of your body.

For example, an injured pancreas could be causing pain in your back, or a heart attack could be triggering pain in your jaw.

Referred pain can be a symptom of serious things happening in your body. It’s important to understand how and why it happens.

Causes
Simply stated, referred pain happens because the nerves in your body are all connected.

When your body experiences a pain stimulus, your nervous system carries the signal to your brain. The brain then sends a signal to your body that you’re experiencing pain.

Sometimes, because of how nerves are wired in your body, your brain will send a pain signal to a different part of your body than the area where the pain stems from.

Also, synapses and reflexes that you may not even be aware of can also be the reason pain signals are sent to one area of the body as a sign of a medical issue in another area.

Researchers are still working to understand the exact mechanism and reason why your body has this type of reaction.

Below are some frequent causes of referred pain.

Heart attack
A heart attack is a common reason why people experience referred pain. Referred pain can be felt in your jaw, teeth, and shoulders.

The pain occurs when your body starts to react to a blockage in your heart valves that can trigger a heart attack.

Phantom limb pain
If you’ve had an arm, leg, or extremity amputated, it’s common to feel pain that your body thinks is coming from the body part that was removed.

For example, you might feel pain in your upper thigh from a foot that has been amputated.

Kehr’s sign
Kehr’s sign is pain felt in your shoulder blade. This pain specifically indicates a ruptured or injured spleen.

Brain freeze
Brain freeze that you get after drinking a milkshake or eating ice cream could be considered a type of referred pain.

The pain stimulus is happening in your mouth and throat. However, your vagus nerve is stimulated, and the pain is felt in your brain and the back of your head.

Where does it most often occur?
Referred pain can be felt anywhere, which is part of why it’s hard to diagnose correctly. Common areas that are affected by referred pain include:

Shoulders and neck
Pain in your shoulders and neck can be a sign of:

an injured spleen
a heart attack
a liver cyst

Upper back
Pain in the upper back area right below and between your shoulder blades can give you an indication that you have a stomach condition.

Lower back and sides of your body
An aching on the sides of your back or even close to your oblique muscles can be a sign that there’s something going on with your kidneys or your colon.

Teeth and jaws
Pain in your teeth and jaws can be an early symptom of a heart attack.

[Syne]

I once had a pinched nerve in my rotator cuff (shoulder) that caused pain lower down my arm. The occupational medicine doctor wrote it up as a strained bicep, but the physical therapists knew exactly what it was. Also had a case of shingles, which affects the nerves on the skin, that felt like back muscle pain. It was hard to diagnose since it never presented with a rash of any kind.

Seems like most of the above list is prime fodder for hypochondriacs, being the most dire possible explanations for such pains.

[Magical Realist]

I once had back pain from shingles. It was a pulsing stabbing pain in my lower back. After 3 trips to the ER with no success I noticed a nasty rash on my inner thigh. ER confirmed it was shingles.

[Syne]

I never went to the doctor for my shingles. Just lucked upon the diagnosis looking up the symptoms. I never knew it could present without the rash/blisters. Thought I was going to have to quit my tech job, that involved leaning over a desk all day. Ended up just wrapping my chest in ace bandage, to keep my shirt from rubbing and aggravating it. Made it tolerable for the day job and didn't take too long to clear up.

But yeah, until I figured out how to manage it, it felt like it was going to have permanent crippling effects on my back.

[C C]

https://www.healthline.com/health/pain-r...treatments

[...] Teeth and jaws
Pain in your teeth and jaws can be an early symptom of a heart attack.

At times in the past when I had an ache in a lower left quadrant tooth, I could make the pain "move" to its corresponding upper left quadrant tooth. Sometimes I could make that flip-flop last for several minutes before the ache finally returned to the actual tooth.