Understanding Chronic Pain: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

What is it?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than three to six months. In many cases, this means that pain continues even after the injury or condition that first caused it has healed.

3618 Alikes with Chronic Pain

Learn from others
who are experiencing
Chronic Pain.

Join Now

Additional names

This group contains additional names:
- Neoplasm related pain
- Central Pain Syndrome
- CPS
- Chronic Pain due to Trauma
- Chronic Pain Syndrome

Signs & symptoms

The main symptoms of chronic pain is, of course, pain. But the pain can affect the body in different ways. Some people may suffer from aches deep inside their muscle or bone. And other people may suffer from stabbing or shooting pain, often with tingling or numbness. while others have dull, throbbing pain. People who have chronic pain might have a hard time doing their daily activity. This can also lead to depression and anxiety, and it can cause sleep problems.

Diagnosis

Your doctor may perform few tests in order to diagnose the cause of your pain:
- Blood tests to check for infection, signs of inflammation, or diseases that can cause pain
- Imaging tests to check for bone fractures, joint damage, cancer, or other changes in your body that could cause pain
- Nerve tests to check whether the nerves are working normally
However, tests cannot always discover the cause of pain.

Treatment

Treatments for chronic pain include both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments. No single treatment works for everyone. Your doctor will help you to find the right mix of treatments for you. However, you should be open to trying new treatments and combinations of treatments. Sometimes you have to try a few different options before you find one that works best. Treatment options include:
- Medicines to relieve pain, improve sleep, or improve mood
- Physical therapy to learn exercises and stretches
- Working with a counselor
- Relaxation therapy
- Injections (shots) of numbing or pain-relieving medicines into the spine or area with pain
- Devices that affect nerve signals
- Surgery

☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.

Learn more about our editorial process for content accuracy.

Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:

National Institution of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ University of Illinois hospital