Dr. Argoff on the Difference Between Nociceptive and Neuropathic Pain

Charles Argoff, MD, Professor of Neurology, Albany Medical Center, in Albany, NY, discusses the key differences between nociceptive and neuropathic pain.

Dr. Argoff says the major thing to realize in the difference between nociceptive and neuropathic pain is that in nociceptive pain, one can assume the nervous system is acting in a normal fashion. The body has numerous specialized nerve endings called nociceptors which, when the normal threshold of normal activation exists, deliver messages of pain over a normal threshold by a normal nervous system and are processed by the brain as a normal type of pain.
 
Nociceptive pain is considered a normal pain, while neuropathic pain is by definition pain associated with nerve injury or a lesion of the nervous system. In contrast to nociceptive pain, neuropathic pain is abnormal. It is pain from an abnormal threshold. Neuropathic pain can occur from simply touching an area or spontaneous pain for no apparent reason.