Abdominal pain can be very difficult to diagnose and often results in misguided treatment. Physicians tend to concentrate on the more common diseases and prescribe medicines for treatment. In the process, they sometimes forget rare diseases since they do not come across these very often.
Intercostal Neuralgia is one such rare disorder that is often missed out during diagnosis. The muscles between the ribs that contract during inhalation are called intercostals muscles. And an acute spasmodic pain that arises along the course of the nerves in that area is called intercostals Neuralgia.
Intercostal Neuralgia occurs due to compressions in the nerves in the thorax-abdomen region or the ribcage area. These compressions can occur due various reasons like
- An enlarged abdomen, especially in aged patients
- An abdominal muscle tissue rupture
- A Scar or suture around the nerve
- Excessive use of abdominal muscles
- Musculoskeletal conditions like a short leg or an abnormal curve in the vertebral column
Like Sciatica, intercostals Neuralgia is caused due to a Pinched Nerve. Therefore, some treatment options used for intercostal Neuralgia are similar to Sciatic Nerve treatments.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
