Types of pain

Is it sharp? is it a dull ache? it burns, it stings, it throbs….there are many ways to describe pain and sometimes it informs our understanding of what is happening but more often it tells us purely about the patients experience of pain. Which is what matters, how you feel and how pain is affecting your quality of life.

What is pain?

Pain is a feeling of discomfort in the body, highly subjective, pain is the nervous systems warning that something is not right in the body. It can be localised to an injury site, or distributed over a wider surface such as down the leg (sciatica) or include the whole body, such as after a gym session DOMS.

What types of pain do we see in our clinic?

Acute pain is pain which occurs at the time of an injury, though in some cases a flare up of a chronic condition as well. It is sometimes described as sharp, intense pain which is persistent. It is normal to experience acute pain with an injury and we all experience acute pain at some point whether it be from a paper cut to a sprained ankle. Acute pain is the way our body forces us to slow down and pay attention. Acute pain will resolve in time depending on the injury.

Chronic pain is that which occurs for longer than 3 months in duration. It is persistent, sometimes non-mechanical in nature, varies in intensity and can often be described as a dull ache or a throb at times. Chronic pain occurs as a result of injury even after the tissue itself has healed.

Neurogenic pain is that which there is damage to a nerve and varies in severity from mild irritation to severe. We often see neurogenic pain along with acute and chronic conditions as with every injury there is an element of nerve involvement regardless. An example would be a sciatica. Neurogenic pain can be persistent in chronic conditions, and is often highly irritable and often takes longer to resolve sometimes requiring specific nerve pain medications.

When to seek help
Always seek assistance from your trusted health care provider to get an understanding of why you have pain. Pain is in essence your body’s warning system saying something is not quite right. Another way of thinking about it, is your pain preventing you from living the life you want to live? and if so, is this acceptable to you? A detailed assessment with a physiotherapist can help you to identify why you are experiencing pain and by understanding the why’s we are better informed in our treatment of the causes of pain whatever they may be.

Andy and Sam