feeling kind of ignorant for asking this but here goes, what is the difference symptom wise to determine if the pain your experience is joint, muscle spasm, tendonitis, or ligament related.
i'm having back spasms (i think) lately that travel to my upper arms, and i'm not sure if this is tendonitis, muscle spasms or what and feel when i go to the doctor i want to be able to say what kind of pain it is?
thanks karen
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Karen,
There is no clear answer. I know for myself after years of experience and feeling it. But it was doctors and physical therapists who first told me what waswhat.
You want to tell your doctor as much detail about where the pain is and what the pain feels like (stabbing, burning, aching). A good doctor or physical therapist should be able to differentiate.
The biggest difficulty is that referred pain can feel like tendon pain. So if you know pain is referred, that it is coming from a different body part, make sure you tell the doctor.