Chronic Pain

Chronic pain was originally defined as pain that has lasted 6 months or longer. It is now defined as pain that persists longer than the normal course of time associated with a particular type of injury. This constant or intermittent pain has often outlived its purpose, as it does not help the body to prevent injury.

Chronic pain is essentially caused by the bombardment of the central nervous system (CNS) with nociceptive impulses, which causes changes in the neural response. The pain subsequently provokes changes in the behavior of the patient, and the development of fear-avoidance strategies. As a result, the patient may also become physically atrophied and deconditioned. However, it is important to remember that chronic pain is multifactorial, with the underlying biological changes affecting physical and psychosocial factors.

Chronic pain is often more difficult to treat than acute pain. Expert physician care is generally necessary to treat any pain that has become chronic and usually involves a multi-disciplinary team which may include a combination of physiotherapists, psychologists, counselors, and specialists, such as cancer or palliative care nurses for cancer or physicians who specialize in spine medicine for back pain. Depression is common for patients with chronic back pain, and it is important to treat both the pain and depression.

In managing chronic pain and in choosing which pain killers to use, beneficial analgesic effects must be balanced against any suffered drug side-effects if overall quality of life is to be improved. For example, with opioids, patients may need to adjust the dosage to reach a compromise between actual pain-killing effect and an acceptable level of nausea or constipation.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• American Chronic Pain Association
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
• Chronic Pain Support Group

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Chronic Pain