Pain can be acute, meaning new, subacute, lasting for a few weeks or months, and chronic, when it lasts for more than 3 months.
Chronic or persistent pain is pain that carries on for longer than 12 weeks despite medication or treatment. Most people get back to normal after pain following an injury or operation. But sometimes the pain carries on for longer or comes on without any history of an injury or operation.
Chronic pain is longer in duration. It can be constant or intermittent. For example, headaches can be considered chronic pain when they continue over many months or years – even if the pain isn't always present. Chronic pain is often due to a health condition, like arthritis, fibromyalgia, or a spine condition.
Acute and persistent pain
Acute pain usually goes away after the underlying problem – the inflammation, injury or infection – has been treated or has healed. Persistent pain, sometimes called chronic pain, is pain that lasts for more than three months.
Joint pain, typically caused by injury, infection, or advancing age, is one of the leading types of chronic pain among American adults. According to a report from the U.S. Bone and Joint Initiative, arthritis is the most common cause, affecting over 51 million Americans (or roughly one of every two adults).
Blood tests can help identify a variety of chronic pain conditions, including specific types of arthritis. An infection, which can also cause a great deal of pain, can also be detected on a blood test. If pain is focused in a specific area of the back, a bone scan may be ordered.
Usually pain is regarded as chronic when it lasts or recurs for more than 3 to 6 months.
Severe Pain.
When it intensifies to level 8, pain makes even holding a conversation extremely difficult and your physical activity is severely impaired. Pain is said to be at level 9 when it is excruciating, prevents you speaking and may even make you moan or cry out. Level 10 pain is unbearable.
Chronic, persistent pain prolongs these systemic and chemical brain changes, leading to real psychological changes. Over time, these can impact brain function, resulting in changes in behavior. Moreover, this chronic stress is not limited to psychological effects.
Pain isn't always curable.
Medical professionals don't have all the answers, nor do they always have cures. There is no magic pill or intervention that makes chronic pain disappear. Sadly, some people with chronic pain may never be pain free again.
Stress: People with chronic pain are exposed to more cortisol, a stress hormone, than others. This excess of cortisol exposure can affect the body negatively and lead to diabetes, cancer and heart problems.
What's the difference between acute and chronic conditions? Acute illnesses generally develop suddenly and last a short time, often only a few days or weeks. Chronic conditions develop slowly and may worsen over an extended period of time—months to years.
There are two main types of chronic pain in the human body: neuropathic and nociceptive pain.
The four levels are as follows: 1) sensory-motor; 2) affective; 3) imaginative; and 4) linguistic narrative. The sensory-motor level refers to the “raw feel” of the pain—in my case the raw experience of the throbbing in my hip or leg. The affective level refers to my perceptual-emotional reaction to the pain.
For one thing, he notes, severe pain – whether acute or chronic – causes stress on the whole body that can become life threatening. This can be easily measured by increased pulse rate, elevated blood pressure, and dilated pupil size. The patient may perspire heavily, and hands and/or feet can be cold to the touch.
Making an accurate chronic pain diagnosis can be difficult. Multiple clinically relevant chronic pain types, with additional specific diagnoses, make it hard to determine the cause of a patient's chronic pain symptoms. In addition, different types of chronic pain share the same symptoms.
MRI is one of the most widely used modalities for the study of chronic pain. It combines a strong magnetic field with radiofrequency pulses to display high-spatial-resolution structural images.
The mind and emotions can either moderate or intensify pain; however, chronic pain can cause hypersensitization. Doctors know chronic pain changes the way the spinal cord, nerves, and brain process unpleasant stimuli. Past experiences, as well as trauma, can influence a person's sensitivity and perception of pain.
Chronic pain is usually caused by an initial injury, such as a back sprain or pulled muscle. It's believed that chronic pain develops after nerves become damaged. The nerve damage makes pain more intense and long lasting. In these cases, treating the underlying injury may not resolve the chronic pain.
Musculoskeletal disorders such as degenerative spine and arthritic conditions are the most common cause of chronic pain in the elderly. Other common causes of significance include neuropathic pain, ischemic pain, and pain due to cancer as well as its treatment [6].
Several medical treatments may be used to alleviate chronic pain, including over-the-counter or prescription medication, physical therapy, and less utilized treatments, such as surgery.