idiopathic peripheral neuropathy

  Are there certain  signs you observe during an exam that rule in or out the possibility that a pinched nerve is causing peripheral neuropathy? I have had my painful burning feet and numb calves labeled Idiopathic Peripheral Neuropathy by several neurologists even tho all my tests were inconclusive. Then a relative complained of b urning legs and feet and was told it was a pinched nerve. How is this cause ruled in or out?
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Peripheral neuropathy involves the most distant nerve fibers in a limb usually
and is in what we call a glove and stocking distribution, it affects fibers
from numerous different nerves and there is more or less symmetric involvement of the limb.
a pinched nerve gives symptoms only in the area supplied by that nerve and the pattern
is characteristic for each nerve, for instance the median nerve supplies
the thumb side of the hand, the sciatic nerve causes symptoms in a strip
down the back of the leg.
It is the recognmition of these patterns rather than the symptom itself which gives the diagnosis.