Acute and chronic pain
Pain is an uncomfortable feeling in the body. It can be a sign of injury, like cutting your hand, or it can be the cause of an infection or disease, like shingles or cancer. Each individual is the best judge of his or her own pain. It can range from mild to severe. It can affect blood pressure, and many other body functions. It can suppress the immune system and can encourage the growth of some forms of cancer. Pain can be either chronic or acute.
Acute pain
Acute pain begins suddenly. It warns us of a dangerous or potentially hazardous situation. Acute pain lasts for a short period. It may be for just a moment or it may lasts foe week or months. It does not last longer than six months. Once the underlying cause of the pain has been removed, the discomfort goes away. Acute pain may be caused by many events such as:
- Burned finger
- Sprained ankle
- Surgery
- Scraped knee
- Broken bone
- During childbirth
- Kidney stone
Chronic pain
Chronic pain persists despite the fact that an injury has healed. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years. Chronic pain can continue for months and years. It can be linked to an initial injury but sometimes chronic pain has no known cause. Chronic pain may even lead to emotional distress which includes anger, depression especially the fear of being injured again. Such a fear might hinder a person’s ability to return to normal work or leisure activities. If you have chronic pain, you may feel hopeless and helpless. Chronic pain may be caused by the following conditions:
- Migraines and headaches
- Low back pain
- Muscle tension
- Cancer
- Physical damage to nerves
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Phantom limb pain
- Lyme disease
- Sciatica
- Endometriosis
- Neurogenic pain
- Post Mastectomy Pain Syndrome
- Crohn’s disease
You can keep the record of the pain that you experience. You can put down how long the pain occurs, when it occurs, the amount of pain, and how it affects your daily activities. If you can keep track of the things that make the pain worse or better then you can help your health professional in finding the best treatment plan for you.
