Wherever your pain may be, we all have them. It is usually your body’s way of saying, “HEY! Something isn’t right around here! Yeah, here. The place where it hurts!”
Acute pain is a sudden, sharp sort of pain. It often comes as a result of a broken bone or other injury. Labor pains are considered acute pain. Treating the underlying cause of the pain often makes acute pain go away. In some cases, though, acute pain can lead into chronic pain.
Chronic pain is pain that lasts after an injury has healed. Your body may continue to send pain signals through the nervous system for weeks, months, or even years after you have healed. Chronic pain has a physical and emotional impact on you: your mobility may be limited, your appetite may change, you may become depressed or angry, you may experience a fear of re-injury.
Some of the most common types of chronic pain are:
- Headache
- Lower back pain
- Cancer-related pain
- Arthritis
- Pain resulting from nerve damage
There are a number of ways to treat chronic pain. Pain medicine (both over the counter and prescription) may help. Local anesthetics may be used to block a group of nerves that are causing the pain. Some people experience relief from acupuncture and relaxation techniques! Others may need physical therapy or even surgery to ease their chronic pain.
Pain management is not an exact science. You may need a combination of therapies to experience maximum relief. And everyone’s pain tolerance is different! What may be tolerable for one person may be incapacitating for another. If your pain is changing your quality of life, or hampering your ability to do normal activities, it is time for you to talk to your doctor.
If you need help managing chronic pain, your doctor is the best place to start!