Pain is often an unbearable medical problem that can have a major impact on your physical and mental well-being.

Classification of Pain – Acute or Chronic

Classifying pain is helpful in directing diagnosis and care. There are many ways to classify pain, and classifications may overlap. Common types of pain include the following:

Nociceptive: represents the normal response to noxious insult or injury of tissues such as skin, muscles, visceral organs, joints, tendons, or bones.

Neuropathic: Pain caused or induced by a primary lesion or disease in the somato-sensory nervous system.

Acute Pain – Severe and Short-lived

Have you ever felt a short, sharp pain that seems to have come out of nowhere? It could have been a phenomenon known as acute pain. Acute pain is a broad term that generally describes a mild to severe pain which happens unexpectedly and lasts from a few seconds to a few months. Read below about the signs, causes and treatments of acute pain.

Symptoms of Acute Pain
The signs of acute pain differ.Some of the most common symptoms which may be associated with acute pain include:Flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, sore throat, cough).

• Fatigue
• Numbness
• Muscle spasms
• Insomnia
• Weight loss
• Anxiety
• Depression

Causes of Acute Pain

Acute pain can have many underlying causes, and often does not have an obvious pain source. The key factor to consider is that acute pain normally recovers rapidly, unlike chronic pain.

Example of acute pain include issues like accidentally touching a hot stove, smashing your finger in the door, or labor pain — each causing temporary pain that resolves.

Chronic Pain – Mild to Severe

Chronic pain is characterized as pain that lasts for at least 12 weeks. The pain may be acute or dull, creating a burning or aching feeling in the affected areas. It can be constant or sporadic,coming and going without any apparent reason. Chronic pain can occur in almost every part of your body.

Which Conditions Cause Chronic Pain?
Sometimes chronic pain can begin without a clear cause. But for a lot of people, it begins after an accident or because of a health condition. Some of the leading causes of this include

• Past injuries or surgeries
• Back problems
• Migraines and other headaches
• Arthritis
• Nerve damage
• Infections

Fibromyalgia, a condition in which people feel muscle pain throughout their bodies

Symptoms
Chronic pain can range from mild to severe. It can happen day after day, or it can come and go. The pain may feel like:

• A dull ache
• Throbbing
• Burning
• Shooting
• Squeezing
• Stinging
• Soreness
• Stiffness

Sometimes pain is just one of many symptoms, which can also include:
• Feeling very tired or wiped out
• Not feeling hungry
• Trouble sleeping
• Mood changes
• Weakness
• A lack of energy

Presently, the best way to treat the pain is to manage the symptoms.

We provide treatment for the following types of pain:

• Low back pain
• Spinal stenosis
• Vertebral Compression Fractures
• Cervical and lumbar facet joint disease
• Sciatica/Radiculopathy (pinched nerve)
• Sacroiliac joint disease
• Failed back surgery pain (FBSS) / Post-Laminectomy Neuropathic Pain
• Neuropathic (Nerve) pain
• Head pain / Occipital neuralgia (Scalp/head pain)
• Hip pain
• Intercostal neuralgia (Rib pain)
• Peripheral neuropathy (Diabetic nerve pain)
• Complex regional pain syndrome (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy –  RSD)
• Herniated discs and degenerative disc disease (discogenic pain)
• Neck pain
• Shoulder and knee arthritic pain (osteoparthritis)
• Myofascial (Muscular) pain
• Post surgical pain
• Cancer pain (pancreatic, colorectal, lung, breast, bone)
• Pain from peripheral vascular disease
• Anginal pain (chest pains)
• Post-herpetic neuralgia (shingles pain)
• Nerve entrapment syndromes
• Spastisticy related syndromes/ pain
• Spinal Cord Injury (central pain)
• Pelvic pain
• Thoracic outlet syndrome