Can metastatic bone cancer cause nerve pain?
On One Hand: Cancer Causes PainWhether it originates in bone or elsewhere, metastatic cancer can cause neuropathic pain through infiltration of nerves, observes Richard A. Lehne, Ph.D. Neuropathic pain responds poorly to typical pain medications, making it difficult to manage, according to the book “Medical-Surgical Nursing, Sixth Edition,” by Joyce Black, Jane Hokanson Hawks, and Kathleen Keene.On the Other: Pain Can Be AlleviatedAnalgesic drugs can relieve pain in 90 percent of cancer patients, observes Lehne. Additionally, procedures such as acupuncture, massage, listening to music, progressive relaxation, guided imagery, rhythmic breathing, meditation, hypnosis and humor can soften pain, as Black, Hawks and Keene point out.Bottom LineActing singly or in combination, pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods might reduce or even eliminate the pain of metastatic bone cancer, but they cannot prevent the cancer from impinging on nerves or other tissues. As a result, once the canc
