Answer #1

Pain is an unpleasant sensation that can be felt by each one of us every now and then. It can range from a mild and localized discomfort to an excruciating and agonizing one. Pain can be felt both physically and emotionally and has many kinds, but we will focus on more on the physical side of it and two of its kinds – shooting pain and radiating pain.

Shooting pain is a severe discomfort that starts in one place that rapidly moves to another. It is usually caused by an irritation or damage to the nerves. Some causes may include the following: tooth decay, sciatica, renal calculi and more. Meanwhile, a radiating pain occurs in a different part of the body rather than the affected region. Just like how the sun radiates itself. The pain that you feel is radiated out of the center of the affected area. This kind of pain spreads outward forming a larger area where it hurts. A sample of a radiating pain is the feeling of discomfort in the lower extremities due to a rupture in the lumbar disk.

In other words, the difference between the two is that a shooting pain is more focused and felt on the affected part whereas a radiating pain is felt in a larger part of the affected region. Oftentimes, it is felt away from the central spot. This is due to the connection between the nerve branches. For example, a radiating pain can occur in the thigh region of a person who has a nerve root entrapment at his or her lumbar region or the lower back.

A shooting pain can also be synonymous with a stabbing pain wherein a person feels getting “stabbed” with a sharp object causing pain and agony to the person. Just like when a person has tooth decay, once the infected tooth is extracted, the pain goes away. In the case of a radiating pain, it is important to cure the cause of the pain rather than the curing the part where the pain is felt.

Answered By: joanna [10 ]