Chronic Pain Management

Pain is normally a symptom of an illness or an injury and is the body’s alarm system signalling that something is wrong.  Pain can be an unpleasant sensation ranging from mild localised discomfort to agony. It gets your attention, signals that you are in danger and has an essential survival value. Pain can serve as a protective warning of potential damage, can promote learning (hot surface, harmful) or can set limits on activities, which encourages resting.

Pain has both physical and emotional aspects.  Physical pain results from nerve stimulation. Pain is influenced by emotion (i.e. mood, social & cultural factors, thoughts, beliefs etc) and therefore it is not just actual tissue damage that determines pain.

When the underlying cause of pain is found and is being medically treated, the pain may continue to serve as a useful function so that activities are limited and the injury or illness heals. Acute pain is a short-term condition which resolves fairly rapidly and it is possible to put life on hold while dealing with it.Continuous long term pain is called persistent or chronic pain while pain that comes and goes is called recurrent or intermittent pain.

Different Types of Pain
The origin of some pain is neuropathic, while other pain is nociceptive. This is important to know because different treatments work better for each type of pain.

Neuropathic pain is caused by damage to nerve tissue. It is often felt as a burning crawling, stabbing or shocking pain.

Nociceptive pain is caused by an injury or disease outside the nervous system. It is often an ongoing dull ache or pressure, rather than the sharper, trauma-like pain that is characteristic of neuropathic pain.

Some people may experience mixed pain, which is a combination of neuropathic and nociceptive pain.

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