Somatic Pain

 

Somatic structures include the intervertebral disc, posterior longitudinal ligament, SIJ, facet joint capsule, etc. Only pain that originates from cutaneous tissue is felt localised to the area; all pain that stems from deep somatic structures is referred pain to a greater or lesser extent. The deeper the structure the more difficult it is to localise the pain source--therefore, most musculoskeletal pain is referred pain to a varying degree. Referred pain simply reflects the lack of localising information available with nociceptor activity from deep structures. the quality of somatic referred pain is deep and aching in quality, vague, and hard to localise.