Chronic Pain

Chronic pain refers to a pain that lasts for more than three months. It can be constant or something that comes and goes and can occur anywhere in your body. It differs significantly from acute pain, which happens when you get hurt and goes away after you heal.

Chronic pain comes in many forms and can be caused by a wide range of diseases, disorders and injuries. It may even occur for no obvious reason. Chronic pain can interrupt your daily activities and lead to depression or anxiety.

Diagnosis: Diagnosing chronic pain starts with assessing your pain level, potential causes and impact on your daily life. From there, your doctor may consider a wide range of tests, depending on your unique situation. Those include blood tests, X-ray, MRI, nerve conduction studies, reflex tests, urine tests and spinal fluid tests.

This condition is caused by damage to nerves in your peripheral system – those found outside of your brain and spinal cord. These nerves serve many functions, including helping you feel temperature and pain, move your muscles and regulate blood pressure, digestion and bladder function. Damage to these nerves is usually related to traumatic injury, diabetes, metabolic problems or toxin exposure.

Symptoms will vary, based on where the damage occurs. You may feel a stabbing or burning pain, along with weakness and numbness. The condition also can affect body functions, including digestion and urination.

Diagnosis: Diagnosing peripheral neuropathy may require a wide range of tests. Among the options: neurological exam, blood tests, nerve function tests, advanced imaging and nerve or skin biopsy.

Arthritis is a common disorder that causes inflammation or degeneration of joints throughout your body. There are many types of arthritis, each with different symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. The most common form is osteoarthritis, which often affects your shoulders, knees, hips, hands and spine. You may experience pain, stiffness, swelling, tenderness and warmth in the affected joint. For many people, the pain can become persistent and grow worse over time.

Diagnosis: Diagnosing chronic arthritis pain includes X-ray, MRI, CT scan, bone scan, ultrasound and testing of the fluid inside the afflicted joint.

You expect to feel pain after surgery. But in some instances, pain lingers well beyond the anticipated healing time for a particular procedure. It is considered chronic if that pain has not gone away after three months. Chronic post-operative pain likely occurs because of damage to a peripheral nerve, wound inflammation or damage to body tissues. Symptoms may include burning, aching, numbness, sensitivity to touch or a shooting pain.

Diagnosis: It can be difficult to diagnose, particularly if the surgery did not successfully treat the original pain. A thorough physical examination and exploration of your symptoms will help your doctor determine the cause of your pain.