You know it at once. It may be the fiery sensation of a burn moments after your finger touches the stove. Or it's a dull ache above your brow after a day of stress and tension. Or you may recognize it as a sharp pierce in your back after you lift something heavy. It is pain. In its most benign form, it warns us that something isn't quite right, that we should take medicine or see a doctor. At its worst, however, pain robs us of our productivity, our well-being, and, for many of us suffering from extended illness, our very lives. Pain is a complex perception that differs enormously among individual patients, even those who appear to have identical injuries or illnesses. The Two Faces of Pain: Acute and Chronic What is pain? The International Association for the Study of Pain defines it as: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage. It is useful to distinguish between two basic types of pain, acute and chronic, and they differ greatly. Acute pain, for the most part, results from disease, inflammation, or injury to tissues. This type of pain generally comes on suddenly, for example, after trauma or surgery, and may be accompanied by anxiety or emotional distress. The cause of acute pain can usually be diagnosed and treated, and the pain is self-limiting, that is, it is confined to a given period of time and severity. In some rare instances, it can become chronic. Chronic pain is widely believed to represent disease itself. It can be made much worse by environmental and psychological factors. Chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments. It can and often does cause severe problems for patients. A person may have two or more co-existing chronic pain conditions. Such conditions can include chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, interstitial cystitis, temporomandibular joint dysfunction, and vulvodynia. It is not known whether these disorders share a common cause. Chronic pain affects as many as one in 10 adults. It can be caused by a number of things, though the most common conditions associated with chronic pain are back injuries, headaches and joint pain. Chronic pain can also be caused by diseases or disorders such as fibromyalgia and nerve damage. Here are some of the most prevalent chronic pain conditions. Back Pain Back pain affects eight out of 10 people at some point in their lives. It can be caused by an injury, or it can develop with age. Back injuries are an epidemic in the workplace, and are one of the leading causes of disability. Headaches Headaches are one of the most common types of chronic pain. A headache is considered chronic if it happens for three months in a row, for at least 15 days out of each month. Joint Pain Joint pain is one of the leading types of chronic pain reported by Americans. Arthritis is the most common type of joint pain; however joint pain is not only felt by the elderly. Depending on its source, chronic joint pain can begin at any age. Neuropathic Pain Nerves that carry pain signals to the brain may be triggered by swelling, compression or damage. Nerves that are healing may also over-fire, causing sensations such as pain to be more intense. Chronic neuropathic pain can also be present in disorders of the nervous system such as MS, spinal cord injury and stroke. Other Diseases and Illnesses that Cause Chronic Pain Fibromyalgia. Though the exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, its effects can be devastating. It causes widespread muscle fatigue and pain, and is often accompanied by chronic fatigue, sleep disorders and irritable bowel syndrome.
