Beware, not all pains should be treated at home. Kanwalpreet Kaur, physiotherapist at AktivOrtho told us about the 5 types of pain that you should not attempt to treat at home:
1. Pain accompanied with fever, fatigue, red-hot-swollen joints which worsens with exercise is indicative of rheumatoid arthritis which is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may result in deformed and painful joints and lead to loss of function.
2. Pain in the left arm accompanied with feeling of tightness and discomfort in chest and upper back could be Angina Pectoris, a symptom of reduced blood flow to the heart as in coronary artery disease.
3. Pain and cramping in muscles of the extremities (commonly calf muscles) at rest along with pallor/ discoloration and temperature reduction of skin overlying the painful area and lack of pulses is suggestive of arterial insufficiency or blockage in blood supply to an organ.
4. Acute or chronic back pain with numbness, tingling or weakness in the limbs or loss of bladder/ bowel control points towards nerve compression which may need emergency intervention.
5. Deep, severe, boring pain anywhere in the body which worsens at night and is accompanied with anemia, unexplained fractures, trivial falls, frequent infections and fatigue could be due to a type of bone cancer.
