Nerve pain may affect a large part of the body, but can be confined to a smaller area on the body close to the skin's surface. This is known as localised nerve pain. Localised nerve pain usually has the following features:

• The affected area is usually no bigger than the size of an A4 piece of paper
• The pain is described as 'shooting', 'stabbing', or 'burning' pain
• The location of the pain is often easy to describe by simply pointing to and/or drawing a line around the affected area

The area where the pain is located is often sensitive to touch and sufferers may find even the slightest touch such as a brush of clothing or wearing a seatbelt to be painful.