Chronic and Acute Pain: News and Information

Author: Disabled World (DW)
Updated/Revised Date: 2025/01/27
Category Topic: Pain: Acute and Chronic (Publications Database)

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Subtopics

Synopsis: Information including the latest research news on treating human chronic and acute pain conditions.

Pain is highly subjective to the individual experiencing it and is a significant symptom in many medical conditions, significantly interfering with a person's quality of life and general functioning. Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience defined as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm. Individuals experience pain through various daily hurts and aches and occasionally through more severe injuries or illnesses.

Medical management of pain has given rise to a distinction between acute and chronic pain. Acute pain is 'normal' pain; it is felt when hurting a toe, breaking a bone, having a toothache, or walking after an extensive surgical operation. Chronic pain is a 'pain illness'; it is felt day after day, month after month, and seems impossible to heal.

Introduction

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience defined as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm. Individuals experience pain through various daily hurts and aches and occasionally through more serious injuries or illnesses. The word suffering is sometimes used in the narrow sense of physical pain. Still, it refers more often to mental or emotional pain or pain in the broad sense, i.e., to any unpleasant feeling, emotion, or sensation. The word pain usually refers to physical pain, but it is also a common synonym for suffering.

The words pain and suffering are typically used both together in different ways. Or they may be used in 'contradistinction' to one another, as in "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional" or "pain is physical, suffering is mental." Or they may be used to define each other, as in "pain is physical suffering" or "suffering is severe physical or mental pain."

Main Document

Pain may range in intensity from slight through severe to unbearable and can appear as constant or intermittent. Pain is highly subjective to the individual experiencing it and is a major symptom in many medical conditions, significantly interfering with a person's quality of life and general functioning.

Typical descriptions of pain quality include sharp, stabbing, tearing, squeezing, cramping, burning, lancinating (electric-shock-like), or heaviness. It may be experienced as throbbing, dull, nauseating, shooting, or a combination of these.

Diagnosis is based on characterizing pain in various ways, according to duration, intensity, type (dull, burning, or stabbing), source, or location in the body. Usually, the pain stops without treatment or responds to simple measures such as resting or taking an analgesic called 'acute' pain. But it may also become intractable and develop into a condition called chronic pain, in which pain is no longer considered a symptom but an illness by itself.

To understand an individual's pain, healthcare practitioners will typically try to establish certain characteristics of the pain: site, onset and offset, character, radiation, associated symptoms, time pattern, exacerbating and ameliorating factors, and severity.

Medical management of pain has given rise to a distinction between acute and chronic pain. Acute pain is 'normal' pain; it is felt when hurting a toe, breaking a bone, having a toothache, or walking after an extensive surgical operation. Chronic pain is a 'pain illness'; it is felt day after day, month after month, and seems impossible to heal.

Continued below image.
Pain scale assessment chart.
Pain scale assessment chart - Click the image or click here for our pain scale chart with explanations.
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Defining Types of Pain

Pain Facts and Statistics - Did You Know?

Latest Publications

- List of the major types of pain including explanations of each type and subtype.

- This study questions the perception that people with autism experience less pain and instead suggests that they may have enhanced pain sensitivity.

- Study recorded from neurons of human patients shows that the pain of others is directly mapped onto neurons in the insula.

Complete List of Publications

Subtopics

Citing Information and Page References

Disabled World (DW) is a comprehensive online resource providing information and news related to disabilities, assistive technologies, and accessibility. Founded in 2004 our website covers a wide range of topics, including disability rights, healthcare, education, employment, and independent living, with the goal of supporting the disability community and their families.

Cite This Page (APA): Disabled World (DW). (Rev. 2025, January 27). Chronic and Acute Pain: News and Information. Disabled World (DW). Retrieved February 16, 2025 from www.disabled-world.com/health/pain/

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