Beyond Bones and Joints: What Else Drives Pain?
There are two key mechanisms that GPs should consider when the musculoskeletal model doesn’t fit:
1. Neuropathic Pain
Arises from nerve damage or dysfunction.
May result from surgery, trauma, herniated discs, shingles, diabetes, or nerve compression.
Patients often describe pain as burning, electric, stabbing, or shooting.
May be accompanied by numbness, tingling, or hypersensitivity.
2. Central Sensitisation
The nervous system becomes over-reactive, amplifying pain signals.
Pain may be widespread, disproportionate, or occur without clear pathology. Common in conditions like fibromyalgia, chronic post-surgical pain, or CRPS. Patients often report feeling dismissed or misunderstood, increasing psychosocial burden.
At Axxon Pain Medicine, our team evaluates the full pain picture — biological, psychological and social — to determine whether a more complex mechanism is in play.
What GPs Can Look Out For
If your patient presents with: Pain persisting more than 3 months despite conservative treatment
Descriptions suggesting nerve-related pain
Increasing medication use without sustained benefit
Avoidance of activity due to fear of pain
Anxiety, sleep disturbance or low mood driven by pain
…it may be time to explore specialist pain assessment.
Brendan Moore and the Axxon team use a combination of diagnostic tools, interventional procedures and multidisciplinary referral pathways to address pain at its source — even when it’s invisible on imaging.
