What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is pain that continues long after it’s outlived its usefulness, or develops as a result of dysfunction or disease in the nervous system.
If you’re in constant pain for three months or longer, you’d have a diagnosis of chronic pain.
What causes chronic pain?
Many conditions cause chronic pain, the most common being:
- Fibromyalgia
- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Myofascial pain syndrome
- Sciatica
- Whiplash injuries
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
In most cases of chronic pain, an injury or disease that’s damaged structures within your body continues to cause pain, as is the case with arthritis, where the ends of the bones lose their protective cartilage and start to rub together.
Neuropathic pain is different, as it develops as a result of a disease or dysfunction in the central or peripheral nervous system. Neuropathic pain can affect any part of the body, causing genuine pain even though there’s no damage to any of your tissues.
How is chronic pain diagnosed?
Specific causes of chronic pain can be diagnosed using physical examination and imaging technologies. For example, changes in the joints typical of arthritis can often be seen, especially in the hands, or will show up on an X-ray.
In other cases, the cause of chronic pain isn’t so easy to pinpoint; for instance, there’s no definitive test to prove a case of fibromyalgia.
Chronic neuropathic pain can be particularly challenging to diagnose because all other possible causes for the pain have to be eliminated first, which can take some time.
Your experience of chronic pain is an essential element of the diagnostic process. Being able to describe the nature and intensity of the pain, where you feel it and for how long, and what makes it worse will help your doctor better understand your condition.
How is chronic pain treated?
Many of the causes of chronic pain aren’t curable, but Stellar Pain and Spine offers a range of approaches that can help relieve pain and improve your mobility, such as:
- Physical therapy
- Chiropractic manipulation
- Pain medication
- Anticonvulsant medication
- Antidepressants for pain control
- Epidural Injections
- Nerve blocks
- Regenerative medicine
Most people who have chronic pain conditions find a combination of therapies produces the best results. It’s also vital to make changes to your lifestyle, for example, improving nutrition, losing weight, and reducing stress.
If you’re living with long-term pain, call Stellar Pain and Spine today or book an appointment online to find out more about the effective treatments available.
