Pain, Is Chronic Or Acute?

Pain, it’s very much normal. It can be in form of skinned knee, headache or even a bone fracture. However, at times, pain can become chronic and this is a problem that should be looked by your doctor. Let’s take a look at the difference of acute and chronic pain.


The pain that we normally feel and a sensation that tells you that you are hurt is called acute pain. Dr. Frafield, the president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine says that "When you break your leg, when you hit your thumb with the hammer, when you put your hand on the hot plate and you burn yourself … that's good pain. It tells you that you have an injury." The moment you touch a hot food, you immediately react and pull your hand away.

Acute pain usually starts fast and it does not last long. Pain stops when the injury heals. A broken leg will hurt as it heals but as time goes by, it will become better and better. On the other hand, chronic pain, Frafield says that, "the pain itself becomes a disease, when the injury heals and you continue having pain beyond the time of expected recovery, that's chronic pain."

Chronic pain can last for weeks, months or even years. In general, it’s usually diagnosed about six months after the pain started. There are cases that pain comes and goes. In chronic pain, our nervous system becomes altered and will become more sensitive to pain. In the end, painful feelings can become more severe and will last a lot longer.

There are some chronic diseases that are accompanied by chronic pain. "Arthritis is the easiest example that I can think of,” says Fraifeld. Examples of these diseases are cancer, diabetes and fibromyalgia. All of these diseases are really painful.

There are more information about these things. Just visit this site.

Doctors don’t usually get the cause of pain. The cause is really unclear. . "There are cases in which you just cannot come up with an absolute diagnosis," says Fraifeld. If the pain lasts for more than what you are expecting, you should already see your doctor. Guidelines say that chronic pain lasts more than three to six months. However, the experts say that these conditions are random. That’s the only rule you have to remember, when pain lasts longer than your expectations, have it treated already.

Don’t forget to talk to your doctors and to have your pain managed. Treatments usually involve the use of pain relievers and other medications. Learn more how you can manage your pain by visiting this site.

To get more information about pain, click here.