Neuralgic describes that sharp, along-the-nerve kind of pain — the pain called neuralgia. Doctors say neuralgic pain or a neuralgic attack when the hurt is sudden, fierce, and follows the nerve, not a bruise you can point to. It is the adjective built from the noun. You use it of the pain, the attack, or a condition of that type. Though actually, in newspapers you may see a stretch: a 'neuralgic issue' in politics is a sore spot that always hurts when someone touches it. That is a metaphor from the medical meaning. In a health text, keep the nerve-pain sense.