Neuralgia in an infant: symptoms and treatment

How is intercostal neuralgia treated in children?

Intercostal nerve damage requires professional evaluation and assistance.
If you suspect any neurological disorder in a child, you should contact a pediatrician or neurologist. Any independent actions at such an early age can do more harm than good. It is important to understand that even the use of pain-relieving ointments, gels, patches, as well as natural traditional medicine against such a background will not give the desired effect. Such experiments can, on the contrary, increase the severity of symptoms and cause the development of side effects or complications.

Non-drug methods of combating the disease

Relief of symptoms of neuralgia in childhood is usually carried out without the use of aggressive medications or surgical techniques.

In most situations, gentle complex therapy is sufficient, the plan of which is selected individually in accordance with the characteristics of the case.

You can fight the disease with massage.

Effective methods of dealing with the symptoms of neuralgia in a newborn:

• massage of affected areas and the whole body;
• Exercise therapy with an emphasis on exercises that stimulate blood circulation in the problem area, eliminating tissue pressure on nerve endings;
• various options for physiotherapy, in particular electrophoresis;
• reflexology – acupuncture, acupressure;
• manual therapy.

Timely identification of the problem and initiation of specialized treatment contribute to the rapid improvement of the baby’s condition.

Therapy for neuralgia at an early age can take several months or even years.

Often the patient is registered with a neurologist, he regularly undergoes clinical examination and general strengthening courses.

How to overcome the disease with improvised means

Despite the fact that parents are prohibited from taking independent actions when dealing with neuralgia in a newborn, the success of the treatment largely depends on them. Strict adherence to the doctor’s recommendations increases the child’s chances of a speedy recovery without permanent negative consequences.

Compliance with the doctor’s instructions contributes to the baby’s speedy recovery.

Experts highlight a number of points that you should also pay attention to:

• The earlier the diagnosis is made, the higher the effectiveness of therapy. You should consult a doctor if you identify any alarming signs;
• at the first opportunity, the baby should be enrolled in a swimming pool or with a physiotherapist to undergo special water procedures;
• at home with the child, it is recommended to additionally engage in therapeutic exercises - the set of exercises is agreed upon with the doctor;
• every evening the patient is shown procedures in warm water, which alleviate the condition and help relax spasmodic muscles.

If peripheral nerves are damaged, they may become inflamed, so the child must be protected from drafts from an early age. At the same time, you should not try to keep it too warm and limit the access of fresh air. Properly organized hardening will only benefit a growing body.

Complications and consequences of neuralgia

With neuralgia, complications are most often caused primarily by lack of treatment. In this regard, the child may develop a stutter, but it can be quickly and easily corrected by singing or swimming.

Another option is hyperactivity. Such cases occur quite often in children, and specialists do a good job of correcting behavior.

If neuralgia is not treated at all, over time it can develop into neuritis. At this stage, atrophy of the inflamed nerve already occurs, and this is an irreversible process.

Symptoms of intercostal neuralgia

For a patient diagnosed with intercostal neuralgia, the symptoms of this disease literally poison the life of a patient, as they are extremely painful from the first manifestation. A pain syndrome of pronounced intensity occurs, spreading along the intercostal spaces, i.e. spreading along the nerve. The intensity of pain increases with inspiration, with movements and turns of the body, coughing and loud conversation. The piercing pain does not stop at rest and bothers the patient, intensifying without any apparent reason. The duration of a painful attack varies from several hours to several days.

Distinctive features of intercostal neuralgia, characteristic of the classic course of the disease:

• the pain syndrome can range from slight stabbing to high intensity, with a sensation of burning, severe pain comparable to renal colic;
• palpation of the intercostal space with the affected nerve causes a sharp increase in pain;
• a person clearly feels the movement of pain along the intercostal nerve and can show the spread of the pain wave;
• the skin over the affected area may completely or partially lose sensitivity.

Secondary symptoms of neuralgia of this localization:

• increased sweating
• hyperemia or paleness of the skin
• contraction of individual muscle segments

With the symptoms of neuralgia described above, diagnosis is not a problem, but the disease can masquerade as other diagnoses due to its varied pain symptoms. The nature of the pain can be aching and even dull, with periodic intensification or constantly present painful discomfort.

In addition to the typical localization in the intercostal spaces, pain can radiate to the lower back, shoulder blade, heart and stomach. This is explained simply - the intercostal nerves have small branches that extend to the above organs and parts of the body.

Despite this disguise, neuralgic pain is still easy to distinguish from pain associated with a particular pathology: if the pain is localized in the heart area, it will not be relieved by nitroglycerin, but will be reduced under the influence of sedatives and sedatives (Corvalol, Validol, Valocordin); when projecting pain at the location of the stomach, antispasmodics will not help.

Occipital neuralgia

Cervical neuralgia manifests itself as a result of the development of various types of neck diseases. In this case, damage to the cervical roots is observed. The greater occipital nerve is very often susceptible to pinching.

The causes of cervical neuralgia are:

• hypothermia;
• being in a draft;
• infectious diseases;
• spinal disorders, etc.

Symptoms

Symptoms of cervical neuralgia are similar to other types of this disease:

• regular headaches spreading throughout the entire skull;
• pain in the neck and back of the head as a result of movements;
• pain syndrome affecting the neck, shoulders and fingers.

When the first symptoms appear, it is necessary to observe bed rest and provide the patient with rest. It is best to choose an orthopedic mattress, with the help of which your back will really rest.

Treatment

In the acute period, treatment is carried out with painkillers and anti-inflammatory tablets, warm compresses are applied to the neck area, acupuncture and massage sessions are very effective.

In cases where drug treatment does not bring adequate results, surgical intervention may be prescribed. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the risk of benefit and positive results from the operation.

Risk factors, causes of neuralgia development

In a newborn baby, neuralgia is a congenital disease that involves disruption of the conduction of nerve fibers. The main reason why it occurs is the impact of negative factors on the fetus during the perinatal period and during childbirth.

The main factors influencing the development of the disease are:

• Hypoxia (oxygen starvation) of the fetus;
• infectious diseases suffered by the expectant mother;
• excessive physical activity;
• injuries received;
• general hypothermia.

Neuralgia in children can occur during rapid labor, especially if the child has injuries received during childbirth or spinal diseases. Depending on what part of the body the neuralgia occurred in, one can judge the factors that provoked it.

Disease prevention

To protect a child from neuralgia and other congenital diseases, it is necessary to take care of his health even before conception. The expectant mother should eat well, be attentive to her health, take medications strictly as prescribed by the doctor and only when it is really necessary. It is important to change working conditions to avoid contact with toxic substances and avoid heavy physical labor. Closely monitor hemoglobin levels to ensure the baby has enough oxygen.

After the birth of a baby, the mother must tirelessly take care of his health: regularly have him examined by a doctor, if pain appears, the cause of which you do not know, immediately seek medical help, protect the baby from hypothermia and drafts, carefully select clothes according to the season.

Never self-medicate! Any drug and dosage must be agreed with your doctor. The health of the baby is the main concern of every loving mother.

Symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia in a child

In childhood, secondary neuralgia occurs predominantly, so the pain is often localized in the area of ​​one of the branches of the trigeminal nerve:

the orbital nerve gives pain in the area of ​​the eyeball, eyebrow, forehead and wing of the nose on the corresponding side, it can be affected as a result of mechanical trauma, after suffering frontal sinusitis or influenza;

the maxillary nerve is responsible for the pain sensitivity of the teeth and gums of the upper jaw, upper lip and infraorbital region on the corresponding side; it can be affected as a result of mechanical trauma, after sinusitis, in chronic diseases of the teeth and jaws;

The mandibular nerve is responsible for pain in the teeth and gums of the lower jaw, the skin of the chin and lower lip, and is damaged by injuries and dental diseases.

Innervation zones of the trigeminal nerve - 3 zones described above

In the interictal period, infants are restless, easily excitable, have difficulty falling asleep, and are often capricious. When pain appears, the child cries a lot, freezes in one position, or shakes his head and pulls his arms towards his face. There may be redness in the painful area.

Of course, if a child cries, is restless, and even constantly tries to touch his face with his hands, this does not mean that the child has trigeminal neuralgia, because this type of disease is rare in preschool children

A school-age child may describe the pain as very strong, burning, unbearable. Since an attack can be triggered by touching the skin of the face or the mucous membrane of the mouth, such children often refuse to wash or brush their teeth, are reluctant and eat little, and have difficulty communicating. They are restless, sleep poorly, and are subject to unreasonable fears and depression.

Symptoms

The main symptom of neuralgia is pain, since a super-strong irritant causes a flow of impulses in the nerve. The pain can be temporary, constant, throbbing, intensifying and subsiding, bringing significant suffering to the patient. In addition, an increase in reflexes is noted in the body: warming and redness of the skin, significant sweating, tics, convulsions or numbness.

Pain occurs suddenly, at any time of the day, at the location of the nerve. Often before the onset of pain, the sensitivity of the skin increases or decreases, skin itching and tingling begin. After the attack, paralysis of some muscles is possible.

Neuralgia is most difficult to diagnose in newborns. You need to pay attention to the symptoms.

• arms, legs, chin and other parts of the body twitch, tremble;
• elevated body temperature from 37º to 38º for a long time;
• sweating, which is unusual for babies;
• the child’s reaction to touching, turning, dressing and undressing;
• lack of appetite, excitability, poor sleep.

Psychosomatics

There is an opinion that all diseases are caused by nerves. Then why do diseases of the nerves themselves arise? Many doctors believe that everything in the body is one and the cause of bodily ailments is often associated with psychological problems. Psychosomatics is a part of medical knowledge that proposes to treat not the symptoms of the disease, but to look for the roots of the disease in the internal torment of each individual.

Psychosomatics claims that stress, mental trauma, resentment, and tension live in a person’s subconscious for a long time, and even if there are no external emotional manifestations, this does not mean that they do not exist. And it is the illness of the body that says that not everything is in order in the soul.

Today, psychosomatics has statistical data in which about 40% of all diseases arise due to mental ill-being.

For example, asthma can result from a depressing environment at home and at work, and stomach ulcers most often occur in anxious and vulnerable people. Of course, microbes, viruses, ecology and bad habits can be counted among the sources of the disease, but a body in which there are a lot of mental problems is destroyed instantly.

It is psychosomatics that explains many of the causes of various diseases of the body, especially if there is no reasonable explanation from the point of view of traditional medicine. For example, trigeminal neuralgia is a reflection of the desire to cover up dissatisfaction with oneself when the face of a person who has everything in order becomes tense. If natural emotions are suppressed and artificial ones are exhibited, then the facial muscles are in constant tension, and the work of the facial nerves becomes difficult.

Of course, psychosomatics does not develop in newborns and children under 3 years of age, but from the age of 3, children already develop character traits that are often suppressed by the harsh upbringing of authoritarian parents. Here you can add the adverse influence of educators, teachers, friends and acquaintances.

Lifestyle when the disease appears

Nutrition and diet

The patient must responsibly approach the preparation of his diet, from which foods that excite the nervous system should be excluded and foods containing many B vitamins should be added.

List of useful products:

• nuts and legumes;
• wholemeal bread;
• bran;
• dietary meat;
• fresh vegetables;
• fish, boiled and stewed;
• cereals;
• dairy products.

List of prohibited products:

• strong tea and coffee;
• foods containing saturated fatty acids;
• alcohol;
• spices, spicy foods and sauces;
• cheese;
• energy drinks and other sweet drinks containing components that stimulate the nervous system;
• sausage and smoked meats;
• fried and smoked fish and meat;
• puff pastry and pastry.

Particular attention should be paid to the ban on drinking alcohol during neuralgia. If your doctor prescribes medication, drinking strong drinks will lead to side effects from the medications you are taking.

In addition, alcohol helps to reduce blood viscosity, and this reduces the access of oxygen to the affected tissues, which will lead to increased pain.

Is it possible to play sports?

As you remember, the main companion of neuralgia is pain, which occurs as a result of muscle spasm and pinching of peripheral nerves.

If you decide to visit the gym, your muscles will not be able to adequately respond to physical activity, which will lead to increased unpleasant symptoms of the disease and delay the moment of recovery. It’s not worth risking your health for the sake of missing a few classes. Moreover, they will not bring any benefit.

Intercostal neurosis: symptoms and treatment

The first and most common complaint of the patient is pain:

1. Projected in the chest area.
2. You can often identify an area of ​​tenderness that runs parallel to the ribs.
3. The intensity depends on the state of the body and the neglect of the process.
4. It appears from the very first days of the development of the disease.

The sensations can be so strong that the patient:

• He will lie down on the bed or hide in a corner.
• Try to move as little as possible and breathe less often.
• You will begin to sweat heavily, and your skin will quickly turn white.
• May go into a state of shock.

In addition, shingles is characterized by a rash on the body caused by the penetration of the virus into the nerve fibers.

Identifying a patient is not so difficult:

1. The pain radiates throughout the chest, along the entire length of the ribs.
2. Cardiac activity is not impaired.
3. The sensations sharply intensify during inhalation, especially forced inhalation.
4. The pain appears only on one side.

Treatment largely depends on what exactly triggered the intercostal neuralgia. The purely symptomatic is:

• Prescribing analgesics that will reduce discomfort.
• In the use of B vitamins to restore nervous tissue.
• In drug relief of seizures, if necessary.
• In strict adherence to bed rest for at least 3 days. It is best to sleep on a hard surface.

But the primary task of the doctor is to discover the cause

, which led to the development of intercostal neuralgia and eliminate it.

Treatment and prevention of neuralgia in newborns

Diagnosing neuralgia in newborns and infants is a rather difficult task, since they cannot talk about their pain, and the symptoms of the disease manifest themselves only through anxiety, sleep disturbance and appetite. However, there are several features that can help identify the disease in a child.

Specifics of neuralgia manifestations in children

It is believed that neuralgia in an infant is caused by trauma due to birth, i.e. as it passes through the birth canal. If the baby was born by caesarean section and was diagnosed with neuralgia, then most likely the doctors did something wrong when delivering the baby. However, do not panic, because with proper treatment this disease can be easily eliminated, but it must be correctly identified by the following signs:

• when holding a child in your arms, he begins to cry, especially if you touch some places (where the nerves are compressed);
• the child will try to pull his hands to the place where it hurts;
• if the trigeminal nerve is affected, the child will not be able to close/open his jaws while crying;
• increased sweating, possible redness of the skin and muscle twitching.

Even if you lay the child flat (which helps to relieve pain due to heart pathologies), he will still feel discomfort.

Is it worth treating trigeminal neuralgia in children with pills?

Quite often, doctors prescribe drug therapy for a child to eliminate the symptoms of neuralgia, but up to three years of age, taking these drugs is extremely undesirable. They will help cope with the disease, but will cause many other complications - dysbiosis, vitamin deficiency, etc. However, if the child constantly screams from unbearable pain, it is worth giving him gentle homeopathic medicines. They help quickly eliminate neuralgia, and at the same time do not pose such a danger to the baby’s health as conventional medications.

Preventive measures

If neuralgia is not treated, the child may develop a stutter in the future, and he will also suffer from increased excitability. Hyperactivity will make it very difficult for the child to calm down, and it is quite difficult to deal with such manifestations, but there are two proven methods - singing and swimming. These classes help not only physically, but also emotionally relax, and use accumulated energy to benefit. Stuttering and primary neuralgia will completely cease to bother you within a few months after the start of regular classes. And who knows, perhaps in the future this child will discover his sports or stage talent.

Forms and types of neuralgia in an infant

Each of us has 12 pairs of cranial nerves that control motor functions and sensation, and some are capable of doing both at the same time. When a nerve becomes inflamed, the one that is closest to the surface of the skin suffers first. The most common types of neuralgia in an infant are inflammation of the facial and trigeminal nerves, which combine both motor and sensory fibers.

In addition to these types of disease, children have the following types of neuralgia:

• Radial;
• femoral;
• occipital;
• visual;
• auditory;
• intercostal neuralgia.

Manifestations of the disease are expressed in the form of intense pain, decreased sensitivity and activity of muscle tissue in the area of ​​nerve damage.

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of children whose mothers have suffered a herpes infection. Herpetic lesions are the most common cause of intercostal neuralgia in a child. The virus enters the baby’s body, after some time it is activated and affects the intercostal nerves. The pain is localized.

During childbirth, the baby may receive a collarbone injury that affects the radial nerve. This is the most common type of post-traumatic neuralgia.

Neuralgia in newborns: how to recognize the disease

Neuralgia in newborns is a perinatal (during pregnancy) pathology of the nervous system.

In neurological diseases, there is a disturbance in the conductivity or integrity of nerve endings or a disease of the nerves adjacent to the tissues.

Already in the first hours after birth, signs of the disease are noticeable:

• during examination, the newborn may retract his head;
• twitching of the chin;
• muscle cramps.

The cause of neuralgia may be injury during passage through the birth canal, or not very careful handling when changing clothes or laying down. It is difficult to recognize a possible problem in newborns; the child cannot talk about pain and other sensations.

Symptoms of neuralgia in newborns

• The child pulls his hands to the sore spot.
• The baby cries while being held (especially when a sore spot is touched).
• If the trigeminal nerve is damaged, the child cannot close his jaws.
• Increased sweating, muscle trembling, skin hyperemia.

To make a correct diagnosis, careful observation of the child is required: a sobbing nature of crying is noted when he touches the sore area. The child may refuse to eat because the pain becomes more intense when sucking.

Trigeminal neuralgia is indicated by spasm of the masticatory muscles (it is difficult for the child to open his mouth). With trigeminal neuralgia, the baby cries almost constantly, tries to reach his face, his muscles tremble, and his jaws do not close.

Inflammation of the occipital nerve is characterized by pain in the direction from the back of the head to the neck, which intensifies with movement. It can be aching, in some cases paroxysmal.

Waking up at night from an unpleasant chest pain, a person thinks that there is something wrong with his heart. However, the same symptom accompanies neuralgia. Signs of neuralgia in the heart area: learning to distinguish between neuralgia and cardiac pathology.

Why postherpetic neuralgia often occurs after herpes zoster, you will find out here.

And in this topic https://neuro-logia.ru/zabolevaniya/nevralgiya/yazykoglotochnogo-nerva.html we will consider such a disease as neuralgia of the glossopharyngeal nerve. All about the causes, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Intercostal neuralgia in children

Intercostal neuralgia in newborns occurs due to improper positioning in the arms of adults, when carried in a portable bag, hypothermia, exposure to a draft, and diseases of the spine.
It manifests itself as a constant cry, which intensifies if the child is picked up or tries to change the position of his body.

Muscle twitching, increased sweating, and pale or red skin at the affected area are noted.

During a heart attack, the pain is relieved if the child is laid flat. The same pain can be a sign of shingles, which causes difficulties in diagnosing and treating the disease.

Do I need to treat with pills?

To help your baby at home, just apply dry heat and light massage.
A pediatric neurologist will clarify the diagnosis and prescribe the necessary treatment.

Sometimes doctors prescribe medications to treat neuralgia. However, it is not recommended for a newborn child to take such drugs.

They can relieve the symptoms of neuralgia, but can lead to vitamin deficiency, dysbacteriosis and other problems.

If the pain is intense, you can use homeopathic medicines: they are effective. In other cases, you can use other methods:

• physical therapy and massage;
• bathing daily;
• swimming.

Preventive measures

• take care of the child’s health from the moment of conception;
• be under the supervision of a doctor;
• seek medical help if your child experiences any pain;
• Use medications only as prescribed by a doctor.

If neuralgia is not treated, such a child may later become hyperactive or develop a stutter over time. Swimming and singing can eliminate these manifestations.

When the trigeminal nerve is compressed, trigeminal neuralgia can occur - a chronic and painful disease. Read about treatment methods: medication, physiotherapy and surgery.

By what symptoms can you recognize chest neuralgia, you will learn in this topic.

general characteristics

Infantile neuralgia is a disease of the peripheral nervous system. Most often it develops due to compression of the nerve roots by blood vessels or inflamed tissues. Sensory receptors react to pressure and transmit impulses along the nerve. This is expressed in sharp, sometimes burning pain. It can be sudden, paroxysmal or constant.

Neuralgia can develop in adolescents, preschool age or in infants. Most often, children are affected by trigeminal or intercostal neuralgia.

Recognizing pathologies is quite difficult, especially in young children. But without treatment, the consequences can be serious.

Due to the fact that the baby is in severe pain, he may experience delays in mental and mental development, speech disorders, emotional instability, and nervousness. The child becomes whiny, irritable, and apathetic. Schoolchildren are lagging behind in their studies, hyperactive or lethargic. Muscle atrophy, impaired development of the musculoskeletal system, and oxygen starvation due to respiratory failure may develop.

Intercostal neuralgia occurs more often in adolescents, but can occur even in infants. The ICD-10 code for this disease is G58.0. It refers to diseases of the nervous system. Characterized by damage to the peripheral nerves passing between the ribs. It can occur for various reasons, but most often develops during a period of intensive growth during school age. The disease is dangerous because it prevents you from moving normally; the pain can intensify even with breathing. Without treatment, this leads to developmental delays, hypoxia and other consequences.

According to ICD-10, trigeminal neuralgia also refers to damage to nerve endings, pathology code G50.0. Such neuralgia can often be observed in infants. The trigeminal or facial nerve becomes inflamed for various reasons, one of which is intrauterine developmental anomalies. Due to constant pain in the face, the baby experiences a delay in speech development and decreased appetite.

What are the symptoms of neurological problems in a baby?

How do neurological problems manifest in a baby? What symptoms should parents be wary of?

This is quite difficult for parents without special knowledge. Often they tend to exaggerate what they see and what is the norm or a variant of the norm. Symptoms are very diverse. What should alert parents:

eye symptoms - the presence or appearance of strabismus, converging or divergent; symptoms of the “rising” or “setting sun” - when the eyeball turns up or down so that the iris of the eye is half visible or not even visible at all; horizontal or vertical nystagmus (twitching of the eyeballs)

muscle tone is constantly reduced when the child does not hold his head up; if you take it under your arms, it “sags”; the tone may also be increased - the arms are constantly brought to the chest, tense, and unbent with effort.

tremor of the hands - involuntary small or large sweeping trembling;

with a sudden sound or fright, the child begins to cry, especially when a tremor appears;

the presence of so-called “equivalents of seizures”, i.e. increased excitability of the nervous system, increased intracranial pressure - frequent stretching of the lips with a tube (proboscis reflex); frequent protruding of the tongue, as if licking the lips.

There are other points that a specialist will pay attention to, but this is enough..)

Treatment

Treatment of neuralgia in a newborn child should only be carried out by the attending physician, based on the results of the examination. In particular, medications, physical therapy, massage, and dry heat may be included in the therapy program.

Before proceeding to the use of drug therapy, it is necessary to use all possible methods of conservative treatment, since it is undesirable for a newborn child to take drugs. A fairly good result can be obtained by performing a special massage, bathing and swimming the baby. Additionally, anticonvulsants may be prescribed.

Symptoms of intercostal neuralgia

The main symptom of intercostal neuralgia is paroxysmal piercing pain, which can be shooting, burning, stabbing, or resemble an electric shock. The pain intensifies when laughing, coughing, deep breathing, turning the body, raising the upper limbs. In addition, pain increases with palpation of the affected area and can become unbearable for the patient. The patient takes a forced body position (antalgic postures) to reduce or stop pain. The pain is long-lasting, often persisting day and night, although its intensity may vary.

The pain can have different localization. In women, against the background of hormonal changes during menopause and/or postmenopause, pain is often noted in the area of ​​​​the projection of the heart, pain can radiate to the mammary gland. In men, pain is more often localized at the level of the lower ribs, on the left side of the chest. Depending on the location of the lesion, the pain may radiate to the heart, scapula, and epigastrium. When pain is localized along one or two intercostal nerves, it can acquire a girdling character.

A characteristic sign of intercostal neuralgia is that pain does not decrease at night. In the early stages of the disease, pain in the chest may be less intense, manifesting itself in the form of tingling, but increase with the progression of the pathology. Pain with intercostal neuralgia can be either unilateral or bilateral. During the first few days from the onset of the pathological condition, attacks of intercostal neuralgia can lead to sleep disturbances (including insomnia) and a deterioration in the patient’s general condition.

In children, intercostal neuralgia manifests itself as severe pain in the affected area and is accompanied by convulsions, sleep disturbances, increased excitability, and speech disorders.

The clinical picture of the disease may include:

• muscle spasms in the affected area;
• numbness of the affected area;
• increased sweating (hyperhidrosis);
• pallor or redness of the skin;
• feeling of crawling sensations;
• shortness of breath (due to incomplete breathing during attacks of pain); etc.

Signs of intercostal neuralgia, which is caused by a herpetic viral infection, are a rash on the skin and itching of the skin that occurs even before the rash appears. Skin rashes are pink spots that transform into vesicles and dry out. The rash is localized on the skin of the intercostal space. Temporary hyperpigmentation of the skin is observed in place of the rash elements during the period of convalescence.

Treatment methods

Usually this disease can be easily healed with massage and physiotherapy. Sometimes heat or anti-inflammatory medications may be needed. Surgery is used only in cases where the cause is a tumor or compression due to structural features. The doctor can advise individually selected folk methods for the child.

Neuralgia in adolescents and methods of its treatment are no different from this disease in an adult or infant. The causes may also be:

• Heredity,
• Inflammation,
• Injury,
• Tumor, growth spurts
• Hypothermia,
• Constriction due to spasm or swelling,
• Circulatory disorders.
• Poor nutrition.
• But they may add: hormonal changes, growth spurts and uneven development, lack of movement due to frequent work at the computer.

Prevention

Specific prevention of neuralgia of the intercostal nerves has not been developed; general strengthening measures will help prevent the development of pathology. Recommended:

• a healthy lifestyle, including regular moderate physical activity and a rational, balanced diet;
• hardening of the body;
• timely treatment of spinal diseases, chest injuries, pathologies of internal organs;
• measures to help prevent spinal curvature or treat an existing curvature;
• avoiding hypothermia;
• work in comfortable conditions, with prolonged forced body positions, take breaks for a short warm-up.

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How to determine neuralgia

Neuralgia often passes itself off as other diseases, since its symptoms are similar to other ailments. In order to diagnose this disease, the doctor is obliged to collect the patient’s medical history and conduct the necessary examinations to determine neuralgia. Among the main methods for diagnosing neuralgia are:

• computer diagnostics;
• ultrasound examination;
• X-ray;
• tomography (magnetic resonance);
• spinal cord examination;

Often the diagnosis is established by excluding unnecessary things. The patient is checked for diseases with similar symptoms, after which the doctor announces a medical report.

Neuralgia of the back

Neuralgia of the back manifests itself in shooting pains. Pain syndrome occurs most often between the ribs on the back side, since muscle neuralgia forms in the interosseous spaces.

Neuralgia of the back very often affects not only adults, but also children of all ages. As a rule, patients turn to a neurologist for treatment at the last stage, since at an early stage of development the symptoms are minor or absent altogether.

The causes of neuralgia of the back are different:

• osteochondrosis;
• scoliosis;
• bruises and spinal injuries;
• passive lifestyle;
• various tumors;
• infectious diseases;
• sudden movements during physical activity;
• staying in a draft;
• bad habits (alcohol, smoking, drug addiction);
• lack of B vitamins.

Symptoms

The symptoms of neuralgia of the back are very similar to diseases such as pneumonia and myocardial infarction. Due to this similarity, doctors advise immediately seeking help when you feel the first symptoms:

• girdling acute pain;
• increased sweating and weakness during a painful attack;
• unexpected attack of pain;
• acute pain with sudden movements;
• pain when pressing on a pinched nerve.

When a nerve becomes inflamed, a complication occurs and a serious illness develops - neuritis. In this case, constant symptoms appear, the effect of goosebumps, the patient’s complexion changes and there is a restriction in movement at the site of the inflamed nerve.

Neuralgia in preschoolers and primary schoolchildren

Neuralgia is not common in preschoolers and primary school students. Unlike infants, children are already able to show the place where the pain appears, talk about its nature and frequency of occurrence, which simplifies diagnosis.

In most cases at this age, neuralgia is associated with injury, previous infectious diseases, excessive physical exertion (for example, a heavy backpack with unadjusted straps), general hypothermia of the body and being in a draft. In most cases, complaints are related to intercostal neuralgia, since children are active and do not always take care of their health.

Diagnosis of neuralgia

In order to diagnose neuralgia in a child, the following activities are carried out:

• the child’s medical history is studied;
• inspection is carried out;
• a small patient is examined by a neurologist, during the consultation the sensitivity of the area where the pain is concentrated is identified, the nature of the pain is determined, and the causes of the pathology are clarified;
• do electroneuromyography - assess the speed of impulse transmission along nerve fibers, as well as the degree of their damage;
• material taken from nerves is subject to microscopic examination;
• examine the condition of blood vessels;
• If necessary, the child is examined by a neurosurgeon.

Why is it so important to start treating the disease on time?

Prolonged pain syndrome negatively affects the condition of all organs and systems:

• Due to pinched nerve processes, blood circulation is disrupted, and therefore the body lacks nutrition.
• Angina - pain in the heart can also be a response to pain.
• A serious complication of intercostal neuralgia is destruction of the vertebrae.

. Important: The symptoms of neuralgia may mask a more serious disease that must be treated immediately. That is why it is necessary to undergo diagnosis on time. You cannot do without medical help here.