the.com/neuralgia

Sharp, stabbing pain along the path of a nerve, felt without any injury to the tissue around it.

means A sharp, often stabbing pain that runs along the path of a nerve, with no underlying tissue damage causing it.

from Built from Greek neuron ('nerve, sinew') plus -algia ('pain'), a suffix also found in nostalgia and myalgia. It's an 18th-century medical coinage, part of a wave of Greek-built terms doctors made to name pain by location rather than by cause — which is fitting, since neuralgia is exactly that: pain whose address is known even when its reason isn't.

not damage
nerve fires pain with no injury present
trigger
light touch or breeze can set it off
serious form
Trigeminal neuralgia is among the most painful conditions known and is treatable
cause
often nerve compression, infection, or irritation nearby
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