Chemotherapy can cause various physical side effects, including pain in the muscles (myalgia), joints (arthralgia) and bones (ostealgia). Pain may be mild and intermittent, or persistent and severe. While the mechanism of this type of pain is not fully understood, a study by Asthana et al (2020) found that most people experiencing chemotherapy-induced pain describe it as “aching”, with words such as “burning” and “sharp” occasionally being used in the later stages of treatment. This suggests that there may be an initial inflammatory component, occasionally followed by neuropathic (nerve) pain.
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