Episode1 Segment 2 - What is acute pain and chronic pain?
Fast Fact 1
Acute pain is an
alarm system
Fast Fact 2
Chronic pain lasts
for more than
3 months
What is acute pain?
- Acute pain is usually a result of an injury or illness causing some form of tissue damage or swelling.
- Acute pain is a really useful alarm system.
- The role of acute pain is to stop us doing things that cause, or might cause, damage to our bodies.
- Acute pain lets us know that something is going wrong with a part of our body
- Acute pain normally fades as the injury or damage heals and lasts for a few moments days or weeks
In some circumstances it can be helpful to rest the injured area while it is healing. Pain relievers like paracetamol and ibuprofen are often very useful to reduce the pain and help in the recovery process.
Caution: If pain is severe, or does not improve quickly with simple measures (for example, within 48 hours of starting simple pain relievers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen), you should seek medical assessment and advice.
If you have had an operation, your doctor may give you some stronger pain medications. These medications are to be used for a short time, usually no more than 1-2 weeks.
What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is pain that has been present for more than 3 months.
- It may be due to an ongoing condition or disease eg arthritis or Lupus
- It can result from nerve damage
- It can be an over-sensitive nervous system
Chronic pain might be constant; or the pain may vary or occur again and again. Some specific treatments may help to reduce some of the main triggers. If you have a known chronic disease that causes pain, it is very important to have regular monitoring by your healthcare provider. This may reduce your pain.
Chronic pain can occur as a result of partially injured nerves or as a malfunction of whole or part of the pain signalling system. The nervous system can become over-sensitive to the signals coming from the body or injured nerves. Other nervous system processes may also become involved, such as touch, temperature regulation and muscle control.
Unfortunately, sometimes there is no explanation for why the pain continues, even though it is real and very distressing. This can happen with conditions like headaches and musculoskeletal pain for example; pain that feels like it is in the muscles, bones or joints.
In chronic pain, the usual pain relief that works well for acute pain can have a very limited effect. If you are not receiving benefits from these medications, it might be best to not continue to take them. There are some specific medications that are better suited to help with managing chronic pain. These medications may need to be prescribed by your healthcare provider. You should discuss all medication use with your healthcare provider. Some medications that you are taking for pain or other medical conditions, may interact with each other.