Types of Pain

Pain may be acute or chronic. Acute pain is that which occurs and lasts less than three months. Examples include the pain of a broken bone, the pain of a heart attack, or the pain of a disc herniation. Chronic Pain is pain which lasts more than three months. Examples include disc herniation, angina associated with heart disease, and neuropathy of the feet as a result of long-standing diabetes. We can see that the same disease, such as disc herniation can be short lived and acute or long term and chronic. The definition is arbitrary and based upon time and has no relationship to tissue damage or ongoing injury. Also, acute pain versus chronic pain implies nothing with respect to intensity of suffering.

Pain is also broken down based upon types of nerve receptors being stimulated. Consequently, we refer to somatic pain and neuropathic pain. Thinking simplistically, somatic pain is pain of musculoskeletal origin. This is the chronic or acute pain of a pulled muscle that we describe as achy, sharp, or stabbing. It may radiate in a predictable fashion. Very often, in the acute phase it is associated with swelling, redness, warmth at the site of injury, and it hurts to use the affected body part.

Contrast this with neuropathic pain that is described as burning, tingling, or an electric shock. Neuropathic pain can occur in many different conditions and the signs and symptoms will also vary. For example, individuals with a spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or brain injury may have a completely normal appearing arm or leg, but they may describe a constant ongoing burning.

Other individuals may have an isolated injury to a nerve and describe a burning type sensation in a localized area associated with sensitivity to the area affected with light touch, water contact, or even a light breeze blowing across the body part. The pain may wake the person from a sound sleep or prevent one from even going off to sleep. Common examples include a herniated disc in the back that compresses a nerve or carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrist.