The two types of pain
Pain isn’t just pain. Medicine puts it into one of two categories:
Acute pain – which comes on suddenly and which can be intense – has
been described as the body’s alarm call. Something is seriously wrong
and needs attending to;
or
Chronic pain - which can be a nagging, niggling ache or pain that seems
to serve no useful purpose as it is no longer an urgent and immediate
call to action. Clearly, though, it still signals that something is not
right. Chronic pain was once defined as any pain that lasts longer than
six months, but it is today more precisely defined as “pain that
persists longer than the normal course of time associated with a
particular injury or problem”. Unlike acute pain, which may have an
immediate remedy, chronic pain can be far more difficult to deal with,
and may involve multi-disciplinary help, including medicine,
physiotherapy, psychology, alternative therapies such as acupuncture,
and ‘mind-body’ approaches such as relaxation and meditation.
Back to How You Beat Pain