How Does Acute Pain Become Chronic? | NIH Director's Blog

Chronic pain is a major medical problem, affecting as many as 100 million Americans, robbing them of a full sense of well-being, disrupting their ability to work and earn a living, and causing untold suffering for the patient and family. This condition costs the country an estimated $560-635 billion annually—a staggering economic burden [1]. Worst of all, chronic pain is often resistant to treatment. NIH launched the Grand Challenge on Chronic Pain [2] to investigate how acute pain (which is part of daily experience) evolves into a chronic condition and what biological factors contribute to this transition.But you may wonder: what, exactly, is the difference between acute and chronic pain?Acute pain is an intensely unpleasant sensation transmitted by the nervous system to alert you to a real or impending injury—like a bruise, cut, or burn—or an infection like a toothache. It's a warning that something's wrong with your body, and that you need to take action. It can trigger you to remove your hand from a hot stove or to get rid of that pair of shoes that make your feet hurt every time you wear them. Pain is a powerful protective mechanism: those who cannot feel it, whether from a genetic condition or from an acquired disease of peripheral nerves like leprosy, suffer very serious consequences. But normally, acute pain is short lived—when the injury has healed, the pain is gone.But in some situations, this acute pain becomes chronic, persisting for months or even ye...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs