Referred pain describes pain that is...

• A. Felt in a location other than where the pain originates
• B. Felt at the actual site of injury
• C. Caused by infection
• D. Not perceivable

Answer: (A)

Referred pain happens when signals from an internal organ travel to the spinal cord along pathways that also receive sensory input from a region of the body’s skin or muscles. The brain can’t distinguish whether the pain is coming from the organ or from that other area, so it interprets the pain as arising from the more familiar somatic site. That’s why pain from a heart problem is often felt in the chest, left arm, or jaw, even though the injury is in the heart. This description fits the idea of pain being felt in a location different from where the pain originates.

The other possibilities don’t describe this phenomenon: pain that stays at the injury site is local pain; pain caused by infection is not defining of referred pain; and pain that isn’t perceivable isn’t related to the concept of referred pain.