Acute Pain

Acute Pain is a quick or immediate onset, sometimes severe, and lasts a relatively short amount of time. Acute Pain is sometimes best classified as pain resulting from an injury. These injuries generally involve a sudden impact from an object such as car accidents, sports injuries and physical activities or some type of fall.  Examples of Acute Pain are broken bones, whiplash, contusions, sprains, bumps and bruises.

Chronic Pain

Chronic Pain is usually classified as consistent pain that lasts for a period of 6 weeks and longer. Chronic Pain can be life changing, impacting your ability to work, play, stand, sit and/or sleep. It can worsen due to environmental and psychological situations and is resistant to many forms of basic medical treatments. Professional Pain Management is an integral part of Chronic Pain Treatment and Minimal Evasive Procedures often produce successful results. Examples of Chronic Pain are back and lower back pain, spinal pain, neck and shoulder pain, carpal tunnel, tendonitis, bursitis, sciatica, spondylolisthesis, cancer pain, headaches and migraines.

Nociceptive Pain

Nociceptors are our pain sense organs. The Central Nervous System is working properly; sending messages to the brain that there is an injury and alerting us to the proper area. The source of the pain could be Acute or a more serious issue resulting in Chronic Pain. There are two types of Nociceptive Pain, Radicular and Somatic. Radicular relates to the nerve root such as a herniated disc, distributing pain from the spine throughout the nerves. This often results in “shooting” or “lightning” pain down the leg causing numbness, weakness, tingling and loss of reflexes. Somatic primarily relates to the bones, muscles and joints of the back. Most forms of Somatic back pain are difficult to detect the source and conservative forms of treatment are usually ineffective. Fluoroscopically guided injections are used to discover the source of the pain, which then allows for proper treatment.

Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic Pain relates to a disorder within the central nervous system. Much of Neuropathic Pain Management involves various forms of treatment that influence how the body receives pain information. These treatments create a filter to help the body determine which pain information is relevant and which may be discarded. Examples of Neuropathic Pain include Reflex Sympathetic, Fibromyalgia and Interstitial Cystitis.

Evolution of Pain

Attention

Sense Organs in the eyes, ears, nose and body are in constant communication with the Central Nervous System, sending reports on the condition of the body, day and night, asleep or awake.

Alert

When pain is reported, internal alarms go off with the realization something is wrong.  The body goes into full pain recognition mode. The heart, vascular and immune system is alerted and the eyes, head and neck turn to inspect the location of the pain. Hands search the area, muscles contract and the body shifts to different positions to determine which causes more pain.

Sensation

The brain generates the sensation of Pain. In the cases of Acute Pain, the body can quickly recover and return to normal. In cases of Chronic Pain, the body takes compensatory actions which may lead to worse conditions and prolonged suffering. Muscles will grow in pain areas and cause tendons and joints to deteriorate. Stress levels increase and sleep decreases causing exhaustion and fatigue. The stomach goes on standby resulting in constipation and more discomfort.

Response

It is now time for us to respond appropriately. It may be as simple as placing a bandage on a wound, ice on a contusion or casting a broken bone. But in more severe cases such as pinched nerves, herniated discs, muscle/tendon tears ect, professional treatment and Pain Management may be required.