Pain is a general term that describes uncomfortable sensations in the body, ranging from annoying to debilitating. Pain stems from activation of the nervous system and is highly subjective.
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”
Everyone experiences pain differently, but there are a few main types of pain that are felt in distinct ways.
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Types of Pain: How to Recognize and Talk About Them
By Adrienne Santos-Longhurst on November 29, 2018
Acute pain
Chronic pain
Nociceptive pain
Neuropathic pain
Other considerations
Overview
The sensation of pain involves communication between your nerves, spinal cord, and brain. There are different types of pain, depending on the underlying cause.
We all feel pain in different ways, so you may find it difficult to describe the type of pain you’re feeling to others. You can also experience more than one type of pain at a time, which only adds to the difficulty.
Understanding the different types of pain can make it easier for you to talk to your doctor and describe your symptoms. Read on to learn about some of the main types of pain and how they feel.
Acute pain: is short-term pain that comes on suddenly and has a specific cause, usually tissue injury. Generally, it lasts for fewer than six months and goes away once the underlying cause is treated.
Acute pain tends to start out sharp or intense before gradually improving.
Chronic Pain: lasts for more than six months, even after the original injury has healed, is considered chronic.
Chronic pain can last for years and range from mild to severe on any given day. And it’s unfortunately fairly common.
Without proper management, chronic pain can start to impact your quality of life. And as a result, people living with chronic pain may develop symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Nociceptive pain: is the most common type of pain. It’s caused by stimulation of nociceptors, which are pain receptors for tissue injury.
You have nociceptors throughout your body, especially in your skin and internal organs. When they’re stimulated by potential harm, such as a cut or other injury, they send electrical signals to your brain, causing you to feel the pain.
This type of pain you usually feel when you have any type of injury or inflammation. Nociceptive pain can be either acute or chronic. It can also be further classified as being either visceral or somatic.
Visceral pain is often described as: pressure, aching, squeezing or cramping.
Somatic pain examples include: bone fractures
strained muscles
connective tissue diseases, such as osteoporosis. Cancer that affects the skin or bones. Also skin cuts, scrapes, and burns. Along with joint pain, including arthritis pain.
Neuropathic pain: results from damage to or dysfunction of your nervous system. This results in damaged or dysfunctional nerves misfiring pain signals.
This pain seems to come out of nowhere, rather than in response to any specific injury.
Examples include burning, freezing, numbness, tingling, shooting, stabbing or electric shocks.
Being in a human body means we succumb to a variety of pain and learning to manage and heal from pain is in my experience an ever evolving journey.
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