What is Chronic Pain?
Pain acts as a warning to indicate harm, or potential danger to tissues in our bodies. It prevents additional harm by alerting the person to react and remove the source of pain. However, when pain persists or recurs over a prolonged period of time (more than six months), it is said to be chronic. It no longer helps, but hinders, the body. Normal lifestyles are severely restricted, if not impossible.
What causes Chronic Pain?
When we “feel” pain, we are really reacting to certain chemical and electrical signals. These signals are sent from the affected area of our body, through the nerves in the spinal column, to the brain, where we perceive them as pain.
Acute Pain versus Chronic Pain?
Acute pain can be mild and last just a moment, or it might be severe and last for weeks. Chronic pain is pain that is ongoing and lasts longer than three (3) to six (6) months.
Causes of acute pain include:
- Surgery
- Broken bones
- Dental work
- Burns or cuts
- Labor and childbirth
Chronic pain is linked to conditions including:
- Headache
- Arthritis
- Cancer
- Nerve pain
- Back pain
- Fibromyalgia pain
Different Types of Pain
There are (3) different types of pain: neuropathic, nociceptive, & sensory hypersensitivity.
This is important to know because different treatments will work better for each type of pain.
Neuropathic pain is pain that is caused by damage to nerves. It is often felt as a burning or stabbing pain. Examples include post herpetic (or post-shingles) neuralgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy / causalgia (nerve trauma), components of cancer pain, phantom limb pain, entrapment neuropathy (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome), and peripheral neuropathy (widespread nerve damage). Among the many causes of peripheral neuropathy, diabetes is the most common, but the condition can also be caused by chronic alcohol use, exposure to other toxins (including many chemotherapies), vitamin deficiencies, and a large variety of other medical conditions–it is not unusual for the cause of the condition to go undiagnosed.
Nociceptive pain means pain caused by an injury (trauma) that originates from outside of the nervous system, and the nerve cells transmitting the pain impulses are believed to be functioning normally. It is often an on-going dull ache or pressure. Examples include sprains, bone fractures, burns, bumps, bruises & inflammation (from an infection or arthritic disorder), obstructions, and myofascial pain (which may indicate abnormal muscle stresses).
Sensory Hypersensitivity pain is pain in the absence of identifiable damage to nerves or other tissues1represents a type of pain that may be called sensory hypersensitivity. An example of sensory hypersensitivity is fibromyalgia.
Some people experience mixed pain, which is a combination of the above types of pain.
The History of Pain Treatments
Curious about The History of Pain Treatments?
Click on the following link:
The History of Pain Treatments
Thank you St. Jude Medical for providing the above History of Pain Treatments.
The Facts About Pain
Pain affects MORE Americans annually than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined!
Pain———-76.2 million people, National Centers for Health Stats (2003/2004).
Diabetes—-20.8 million people, American Diabetes Association
Heart Disease—18.7 million people, American Heart Association
Cancer——-1.4 million people, American Cancer Society
Pain of any type is the most frequent reason for physician consultation in the United States.
According to a European Journal of Pain report, chronic pain affects over 19% of the European Population.
Back pain disables as many as 4 million persons in the United States per year.
An estimated 20% of American adults (42 million people) report that pain or physical discomfort disrupts their sleep one night a week or more.
An estimated 46 million adults have been told by a doctor that they have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, or fibromyalgia.
More than 26 million Americans between the ages 20-64 experience frequent back pain.
The annual cost of chronic pain in the United States, including healthcare expenses, lost income, and lost productivity is estimated to be $600 billion.
Back pain is responsible for an average of 12% of all sick leave, rivaling the common cold as a leading cause of absenteeism from work.
Back pain results in the loss of more than 100 million work days each year.
Direct and indirect losses from chronic pain in the United States costs billions of dollars each year.
Back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years old.
Chronic pain is a major public health problem, and is now of epidemic proportions.
Chronic pain is often associated with such issues as depression, unemployment, anxiety, alcohol abuse, drug addiction, chronic fatigue, and suicide.
Learn more about chronic pain by visiting my “Links” and “Options: Controversy and Contradictions” section in my Painweb Help section.
