Pain is an unavoidable part of our daily living. Everyone feels pain at some point during the day, some that last for few seconds and others that last a long time. Why does pain sometimes go away quicker while other times it takes a long time? What determines the intensity of pain?
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “ An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”
There is acute pain and chronic pain. Pain is a protective mechanism which lets the body take an action against potential damage. The pain that you feel when you are sick or injured is a good thing, it helps your body understand about a potential damage and body will be able to take necessary measures to deal with it.
These types of pain will fade away as soon as you feel better or the potential /actual damage is healed. This is acute pain.
Persistent pain, also known as chronic pain, is the pain that persists even beyond the normal healing time. This pain has no direct connection with physical damage. It does not actually warn your body about any potential damage, so this is more like a false alarm. Persistent pain can affect one part of the body as in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, low back pain, pelvic pain, or it could wide spread in the body as in fibromyalgia.
Persisting pain/chronic pain is a very complex situation and is not very easy to treat. But there are many ways to treat/manage persistent pain.
Pain characteristics:-
Pain is subjective. Pain has an intensity which can be graded on Numerical Pain Rating Scale ( NPRS) where ‘0’ is no pain and ‘10’ is the most pain imaginable. Pain also has a character like sharp, dull, burning, throbbing or aching.
How does your body respond to pain?
Nociceptors are special nerve cells that detect signals and chemicals from damaged tissue and transmits these signals to your spinal cord and up to your brain. This is where these signals are analyzed and pain is perceived. Then the brain will initiate the necessary mechanisms to prevent further tissue damage and to help you to cope with pain. Though this system is similar for everyone, it’s efficacy and sensitivity determines how much you feel the pain and cope with pain. That is why some people feel more pain than others and that is why some develop chronic pain that does not respond to treatment easily while others respond well. This variability in pain brain circuits is important when it comes to treatment for the pain that you are suffering from. Studies have shown that people suffering from anxiety and depression suffers more intensity of pain.
Management of pain:
There are many options for pain management like medication, therapies and mind body technique. Management of acute pain is very easy, acute pain can be effectively managed with medication, exercise, heat/cold therapy and pain gets better once the physical injury/illness heals.
Management of persistent pain is a challenge and it takes time. Biopsychosocial model is a widely accepted model of assessment for persistent pain which considers 3 aspect of the person suffering from persistent pain. The biological aspect is a thorough physical assessment to identify potential physical damage, psychological aspect analyses the aspect of anxiety and depression, social aspect addresses the home and work environment and its effect in the nature of pain. Detailed subjective description of pain, nature of pain, variation of pain during the day and with activity etc. will help the healthcare professional trying to help you manage the pain better.
A combination of medicationn, exercise and education will help in proper management of pain.
Graded exercise routines; where people slowly increase the amount of general exercise they perform to re-condition their muscles, over weeks and months, have been shown to help people with persistent pain. These graded exercise routine has to be done under supervision for your healthcare professional.
References:
https://www.painmanagement.org.au/resources/about-pain/understanding-pain.html
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Multidimensional_Nature_of_Pain
http://americanpainsociety.org/uploads/education/section_4.pdf
Written By: Ann Pulprakkuzhiyil PT, BSc.PT