Pain is an enormous problem globally. Estimates suggest that 20% of adults suffer from pain globally and 10% are newly diagnosed with chronic pain each year.
Nevertheless, the problem of pain has primarily been regarded as a medical problem, and has been little addressed by the field of public health.
Source: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/
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What is pain?
Pain is a general term that describes uncomfortable sensations in the body. It stems from activation of the nervous system.
Pain can range from annoying to debilitating. It may feel like a sharp stab or dull ache. It may also be described as throbbing, pinching, stinging, burning, or sore.
Pain may be consistent, it may start and stop frequently, or it may occur only under some conditions. It may be acute, developing suddenly and lasting for a short period of time. Or it may be chronic, with ongoing sensations that last or return repeatedly over several months or years.
Pain may be localized, affecting a specific part of your body. Or it may be generalized, such as the overall body aches associated with the flu.
People respond to pain differently. Some people have a high tolerance for pain, while others have a low tolerance. Pain is highly subjective.
Pain lets us know when something is wrong and gives us hints about the cause. Some pain is easy to diagnose and can be managed at home. Other types of pain are signs of serious health conditions that require medical attention to treat.
Source: https://www.healthline.com/
The five most common types of pain are:
- Acute pain
- Chronic pain
- Neuropathic pain
- Nociceptive pain
- Radicular pain
1. Acute pain
A type of pain that typically LASTS LESS THAN 3 TO 6 MONTHS, or pain that is directly related to SOFT TISSUE DAMAGE such as a sprained ankle or a paper cut.
It is of short duration but it gradually resolves as the injured tissues heal.
Causes of acute pain include:
- Surgery
- Broken bones
- Dental work
- Burns or cuts
- Labor and childbirth
After acute pain goes away, you can go on with life as usual.
2. Chronic pain
Any pain that LASTS FOR MORE THAN 3 MONTHS. The pain can become progressively worse and reoccur intermittently, outlasting the usual healing process.
Chronic pain affects at least 10 percent of the world's population – approximately 60 million people , with estimates of chronic pain prevalence closer to 20 to 25 percent in some countries and regions. An additional one in 10 people develop chronic pain every year worldwide.
Chronic pain can cause significant psychological and emotional trauma and often limits an individual’s ability to fully function.
Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months or years. Some people suffer chronic pain even when there is no past injury or apparent body damage.
Chronic pain is linked to conditions that include:
- Headache
- Arthritis
- Cancer
- Nerve pain
- Back pain
- Musculoskeletal pain syndrome
3. Neuropathic pain
Pain caused by DAMAGE OR DISEASE AFFECTING THE SOMATOSENSORY NERVOUS SYSTEM.
It may be associated with abnormal sensations called dysesthesia or pain from normally non-painful stimuli (allodynia). It may have continuous and/or episodic (paroxysmal) components.
The latter resemble stabbings or electric shocks. Common qualities include burning or coldness, "pins and needles" sensations, numbness and itching.
Up to 7%-8% of the European population is affected and in 5% of persons it may be severe. Neuropathic pain may result from disorders of the peripheral nervous system or the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
Thus, neuropathic pain may be divided into peripheral neuropathic pain, central neuropathic pain, or mixed (peripheral and central) neuropathic pain.
Neuropathic pain may occur in isolation or in combination with other forms of pain. Medical treatments focus on identifying the underlying cause and relieving pain. In cases of neuropathy, the pain may progress to insensitivity.
4. Nociceptive pain
Most common type of pain people experience. It develops when the nociceptive nerve fibers are triggered by INFLAMTION, CHEMICALS, or PHYSICAL EVENTS, such as stubbing a toe on a piece of furniture.
Examples include sprains, bone fractures, burns, bumps, bruises, inflammation (from an infection or arthritic disorder), obstructions, and myofascial pain (which may indicate abnormal muscle stresses). Nociceptors are the nerves which sense and respond to parts of the body which suffer from damage.
The most common categories are "thermal" (e.g. heat or cold), "mechanical" (e.g. crushing, tearing, shearing, etc.) and "chemical" (e.g. iodine in a cut or chemicals released during inflammation). Some nociceptors respond to more than one of these modalities and are consequently designated polymodal.
Nociceptive pain may also be classed according to the site of origin and divided into "visceral", "deep somatic" and "superficial somatic" pain.
Visceral structures (e.g., the heart, liver and intestines) are highly sensitive to stretch, ischemia and inflammation, but relatively insensitive to other stimuli that normally evoke pain in other structures, such as burning and cutting.
5. Radicular pain
A type of pain that RADIATES FROM YOUR BACK AND hip INTO YOUR LEGS THROUGH THE SPINE. The pain travels along the spinal nerve root. The leg pain can be accompanied by numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness. Radicular pain occurs when the spinal nerve gets compressed (pinched) or inflamed.
A common form of radiculitis is sciatica – radicular pain that radiates along the sciatic nerve from the lower spine to the lower back, gluteal muscles, back of the upper thigh, calf, and foot as often secondary to nerve root irritation from a spinal disc herniation or from osteophytes in the lumbar region of the spine.
Radiculitis indicates inflammation of the spinal nerve root, which may lead to pain in that nerve's distribution without weakness as opposed to radiculopathy. When the radiating pain is associated with numbness or weakness, the diagnosis is radiculopathy if the lesion is at the nerve root and myelopathy if at the spinal cord itself.
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