what is the difference between acute and chronic pain?
Most people, including physicians, think they are the same thing, that the only difference is their
duration. Acute pain lasts a few hours, days or weeks and chronic pain lasts months to years.
Although this is true, the duration is not the main difference between acute and chronic pain.
Acute pain is a symptom, while chronic pain is a condition.
The treatments that work for acute pain may not work for chronic pain. In fact,
some treatments that are very effective for acute pain can worsen chronic pain.
So, let’s talk about acute and chronic pain today.
Before I continue, let me remind you that this video is not intended to provide medical advice.
If you have a condition that causes pain, please talk to your doctor.
This video is only for educational purposes. And. If there is an emergency, call an ambulance or go
to the nearest emergency department. acute pain diminishes with time as the body
starts healing the wound or the damage that was caused by the inflammation
during acute pain the body tries to avoid movement around the painful area so if there is a broken
bone the muscles around it will get tense and the person will avoid any movement to protect the area
when a person feels acute pain many areas of the brain are also activated like the areas of fear
anxiety and worry that is natural reaction of the mind to respond to a dangerous situation
so with time depending on the type of injury the body will heal in a few days or weeks
usually by three months the wound will be closed the brain does not need to continue activating
the areas of fear and anxiety and the person will not feel any more pain so why do some people have
ongoing persistent chronic pain for many months or years after an injury or damage has healed
so by definition chronic pain is any pain that lasts longer than the expected period of healing
which is around 3 months the pain will be persistent despite the appropriate treatments
any person who is starting to develop chronic pain needs to be assessed by a healthcare professional
who is knowledgeable and understands the neuroscience of pain well at this point around
three months it is really important to assess the patient for risks of developing chronic pain
and if the professional finds that the patient is at high risk of developing chronic pain
send the patient to the proper kind of therapy i have another video that i explain what are
the factors that put a person at a higher risk of developing chronic pain and i talk
about what we can do to prevent acute pain from becoming chronic pain so what is chronic pain
it is a condition it's a disease itself chronic pain is a malfunction of the pain system it's an
ongoing condition that does not mean that there is a damage or harm anywhere in the body chronic pain
is pain it is real pain it is annoying and unpleasant chronic pain is the disease itself
not a symptom of another disease and chronic pain is when the alarm system of the body is
making noise loud noise but there is no fire no breaking it's just that noise so to summarize
acute pain is a symptom of an injury or a disease and chronic pain is the disease
acute pain needs time to heal usually by three months everything is healed
and chronic pain is pain that persists beyond the healing time which is usually three months
acute pain needs short period of rest chronic pain gets worse with rest
acute pain gets better with strong pain killers like opioids but chronic pain is not eliminated
with opioids and in some people opioids can make it worse due to opioid-induced hyperalgesia
see my other video about this in acute pain it is easy to find a cause like a broken bone or
nerve damage in chronic pain the doctors and the patients spend years trying to find out
what is wrong and they usually get mixed messages or contradicting opinions
conclusion pain is a sensation that can be very confusing we tend to think if there is a lot of
pain there is an injury but this is not true the amount of pain is usually not a good thermometer
for the amount of injury we have well if you like this video give your thumbs up here
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