When you break your leg, undergo surgery, or burn your hand, you experience pain – acute pain. With
treatment and time, the pain usually disappears. But chronic pain is different. It hangs around even
after the original illness or injury has improved, reminding you every day that it has no plans to vacate the
premises. Technically, chronic pain is diagnosed if it persists three to six months or more after an injury or
disease heals.
Sometimes there is a clear cause of the pain – such as arthritis – but other times there isn’t a specific
trigger or underlying illness or condition. For instance, current science suggests fibromyalgia is a chronic
pain condition without a specific cause that is likely related to changes in how the brain processes pain.
Sometimes people may feel pain in places distant from where the original injury occurred, something called
“referred” pain.
| Website | http://drwaynejonas.com |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Wayne Jonas, MD |
| Attribution | Courtesy of Wayne Jonas, MD |
| Document | Download PDF |