What is meant by referred pain?
Pain in an area removed from the site of tissue injury is called referred pain . The most common examples are pain in the shoulder from myocardial infarction, pain in the back from pancreatic disease, and pain in the right shoulder from gallbladder disease. The presumed mechanism is that afferent fibers from the site of tissue injury enter the spinal cord at a similar level to afferents from the point to which the pain is referred. This conjoint area in the spinal cord results in the mistaken perception that the pain arises from the referral site.
