Several features of pain can be helpful in clarifying what is going on and the next steps for diagnosis and treatment. Type of pain. Burning mostly means a nerve is having problems. This can be either a sick nerve or a nerve that has had an injury. Electrical, shooting would be others implying nerve source for pain. Aching somreness in one or a few isolated areas would imply wear and tear (arthritis). This would be a few spots and where chronic work occurred. Location of pain. There is a lot to this. Mostly identifying if it is the muscles, nerves or tendons or joints is the first part and whether it is where work and stress occurred or part of an overall immunologic reaction is the other key point to identify. What hurts. Moving a particular way that triggers the pain tells what is hurting. Specifically it can distinguish outward structures like skin, muscles, tendons, joints from deep structures like organs and nerves. `` Having a diagnosis leads to choice of medicine for the pain. Inflamed outer structures respond to treating inflammation. Inner structures need diagnostic tests because something internal is broken. MRI s. And, structures that cannot be fixed need adaptations. Physical therapy, pillows, supportive structures internal and external.