Are there different types of pain? Pain can generally be divided into five types: Nociceptive Pain , which is due to tissue damage, such as a sprained ankle Neuropathic Pain , which may be due to a damaged nerve Visceral Pain , which may be due to things like appendicitis Vascular Pain , which may be due to a disease of the blood vessels Cancer Pain , which may be due to a tumour growing into the tissues Pain can also be split up into acute and chronic.
Acute pain is the kind you feel, for example, immediately after you sprain your ankle. If the pain in your ankle persists for over three months, it becomes chronic pain.
This distinction is very important, since chronic pain can have all kinds of effects on your quality of life, and can lead to problems such as anxiety and depression, which in turn may make the pain worse. Close the survey Was this page useful? Back pain can come on sharp and suddenly, or it can last for years as a dull ache. It can affect anywhere from just above your pelvis to the base of your neck. Treatments include exercise, weight loss, medication, injections, acupuncture, massage, and surgery, Quraishi says.
It often stems from such sources as osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease, but acute injuries — a car accident, for instance — can leave people with neck pain as well, he says. The NIH notes that neck pain can also come from bending over a desk for long periods of time, sleeping in an uncomfortable position, sprains, arthritis, infection, and — though it's rare — cancer of the spine.
Treatment depends on the cause and may include exercise to keep the neck mobile, changing your desk position, medication, massage, relaxation techniques, heat, or ice.
Fibromyalgia , a condition that involves widespread pain and tenderness at various points on the body, most often strikes women between the ages of 30 and 60, Dr. Durkin says. The condition can be difficult to treat and sometimes requires a team approach, Durkin says, adding that the best therapy for fibromyalgia is exercise.
There are also three FDA-approved medications for fibromyalgia , and complementary treatments — like massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture — may help as well. Other remedies include muscle relaxants to loosen spasms, hot showers, stretching, and acupuncture.
Osteoarthritis is the type of arthritis caused by the breakdown of cartilage that normally keeps the bones in a joint — like your knee — from rubbing against each other. Most often it's caused by the simple wear-and-tear brought on by use of the joint, but sports- or work-related injuries sometimes play a role as well. Over time, arthritic joints become painful and stiff.
You're more likely to develop osteoarthritis if you are older, obese, have a relative with osteoarthritis, or overuse a joint, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
And, though there's no cure for this most common type of arthritis, prescription and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications may ease pain, and physical therapy can help improve strength and mobility.
Pelvic pain is more common in women but can affect men, too, Durkin says. Medically speaking, pain is an uncomfortable sensation that usually signals an injury or illness. This is the purpose of pain. It is meant to make you uncomfortable so if you are injured or sick, you will know you need to do something or stop doing something. When you do something that hurts your body, your brain normally triggers the pain response.
The perception of pain varies from person to person. One person might have a broken bone and not even realize it, while another might feel significant pain from that same injury. Once they find their way to the brain, the brain acts to make you aware of the pain.
That helps explain why pain perception and pain tolerance can differ so much from one person to another. This is both a simple and a complicated answer. There are five common types of pain, but some pain can fit into more than one category, which is where the complication comes in.
Acute pain means the pain is short in duration relatively speaking , lasting from minutes to about three months sometimes up to six months.
Acute pain also tends to be related to a soft-tissue injury or a temporary illness, so it typically subsides after the injury heals or the illness subsides. Chronic pain is longer in duration. It can be constant or intermittent. Chronic pain is often due to a health condition, like arthritis, fibromyalgia, or a spine condition. Neuropathic pain is due to damage to the nerves or other parts of the nervous system.
It is often described as shooting, stabbing, or burning pain, or it feels like pins and needles.
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