Understanding Chronic Pain

 

Pain is often considered a warning system, as our body’s attempt to draw attention to a body part that has been injured or that is in danger. It warns of physical harm so that we can protect ourselves. We can understand this type of pain as it has a straightforward message of actual or potential tissue injury. Of course it is unpleasant, but thankfully it is usually brief and resolves when the injury heals. This is called acute pain and should last for less than three months.

Sometimes pain continues beyond this initial warning system stage, even after an injury has healed, and acute pain becomes persistent or chronic pain. In some situations the problem that caused the acute pain, such as arthritis, continues and this explains the ongoing nature of the pain. However, there are also times when pain continues despite resolution of the initiating event. Scientific research into how pain works in the body has led to recent advances in our understanding of why this happens. We know that pain has persisted for more than three months is no longer a straightforward warning system of physical harm, but involves complex changes in the nervous system and brain. Unfortunately, this condition is not uncommon, with 1 in 5 Australians experiencing chronic pain.

Although pain is often described in terms of its duration, acute pain lasting less than three months, and chronic or persistent pain having lasted longer. These definitions don’t explain why a person has pain, and doctors will attempt to further define an individual’s pain by describing its source.

  • Musculoskeletal pain has originated in the joints (eg. hip or spine arthritis), bones (eg. fractures), ligaments / tendons (eg. ankle sprains, tendonitis) or muscles of your body.
  • Visceral pain refers to pain perceived from organs in the body, eg. chronic angina or abdominal/pelvic pain.
  • Neuropathic pain occurs when the problem itself is within the nervous system, either because of nerve damage in the periphery, or due to problems in the spinal cord or brain. This is a particularly difficult problem because the mind may perceive pain in a part of the body that has no injury at all, or only a minor injury, because nerves are sending the wrong message to the brain. Sometimes people have severe pain in their foot, despite having had that foot removed at the time of a leg amputation. This is due to neuropathic pain.

 

People who live with pain know that it challenges many aspects of your life and can affect your whole person.  Click here to read more.

 

Learn more

  • Northern Pain Centre’s 12 pillars of wellbeing for managing pain, visit Facebook or Instagram

Understanding chronic pain

(Video courtesy of Pain Management Network)

 

Understanding pain

(Video courtesy of Brainman)

 

Understanding pain in less than 5 minutes

(Video courtesy of Brainman)

 

Neural Pathways

Video courtesy of Neural Pathways

 

The pain cycle

(Video courtesy of The Pain Toolkit)

 

Why things hurt?

(Video courtesy of TEDtalks)

 

The mystery of chronic pain

(Video courtesy of TEDtalks)

 

Rethinking persistent (chronic) pain

(Video courtesy of Tame the Beast)

 

Understanding Pain: Brainman stops his opioids

(Video courtesy of Brainman)

 

Some useful resources:

 

Photo by Frankie Lopez on Unsplash