Everyone experiences pain, be it due to age or injuries. This makes pain one of the most common medical complaints. According to statistics, women experience more pain than men. However, the duration and intensity of pain vary from person to person. If the pain lasts for over three months, then it falls under the category of chronic pain. During this time, pain may come and go, but it will never truly heal. Thus, persistent pain treatment is crucial to make your life comfortable and pain-free. Today, we’ll understand the basics of persistent pain and how to treat it.

Types of Pain

You can classify pain as a dull ache or a sharper, piercing feeling. This feeling can be either at a particular spot, a limb, or throughout a region of your body.

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Acute Pain:

Acute pain is when your body normally responds to any injury or medical condition. On the other hand, chronic pain is when pain continues beyond a certain time.

Chronic Pain:

Chronic pain causes a part of your body to ache for more than three months. The other, clearer term for chronic pain is persistent pain.

Causes of Pain:

There are a few common causes of pain, including injury, medical conditions, and surgery. When your body suffers from an injury, the injury causes tissue damage. Thus, the damaged tissue causes pain. Pain due to injury is commonly acute and heals over time. Whereas pain due to medical conditions such as arthritis and chronic headaches falls under persistent pain. Pain varies from person to person, thus making it unique for everybody.

Also Read: What is Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering?

The Science Behind Pain:

Pain is a natural mechanism of the body to protect itself from harm. The pain receptors detect pain and forward it to two nerves. One of the nerves relays the message to the brain. Thus, it causes sharp pain and a reflex action to move away from the thing causing it. The other nerve relays the message slowly to cause a dull ache that lasts.

Different parts of the body have different amounts of pain receptors. The skin is the part that has the most nerves to detect pain. Thus, when something pricks the skin, you can pinpoint the location. Meanwhile, the gut has a lesser number of these receptors. Thus, pinpointing a stomach ache is more difficult.

These nerves send the message to the spinal cord, which is responsible for the reflex action. This makes you immediately move away from the pain-causing object. The spinal cord then sends the message to a part of the brain: the thalamus. The thalamus forwards this message to other parts of the brain. Thus evoking an emotional response to pain.

Strategies for Managing Pain:

Suffering from persistent pain can damage emotional well-being. Thus, it is important to manage and cure pain in a timely manner. The first step to managing pain is to understand its cause. So, first, make sure to understand the cause of the pain and then address it promptly. Managing pain correctly can improve your overall quality of life.

Some of the interventional pain management techniques include:

Pain Medicines:

Pain medicines provide quick, temporary relief. These medicines mask the effect of pain by slowing down the pain receptors. Thus allowing your body to heal on its own without feeling the pain.

Physical Therapies:

Physical therapies include cold and warm compresses, massages, and exercise. These ways help your muscles and tissues relax, thus reducing the effect of pain.

Mind and Body Healing:

Mind and body therapies like acupuncture aim to relieve pain by targeting the body’s pressure points. It releases stress from the muscles, allowing them to relax and heal.

Psychological Therapies:

Psychological therapies include relaxation, meditation, and cognitive behavioral therapy. These ways allow your mind to process pain healthily and promote healing.

Pain Management Without Medicines:

Non-medical and non-surgical orthopedic treatment and pain management are the first lines of action for treating pain.

Warm or Cold Compresses:

Using warm or cold compresses is the go-to way of managing pain. This method reduces swelling and prevents the injury from worsening. So, using ice packs reduces swelling, and heat packs relieve muscle and joint pain.

Increasing Mobility:

Increasing mobility increases your blood flow. This means that the injured area will receive more blood, thus healing quicker. So simple exercises like stretching, walking, and cardio exercises help reduce pain. It also releases dopamine – a mood elevator, in your brain. But make sure to include exercise in your routine slowly and not overdo it.

Massages:

Massages are a good way to treat soft tissue injuries. But you should avoid them if you’re suffering from joint pain. Massaging the injured area, especially by an expert, increases blood flow to that area. This provides more blood to the injured muscles. Thus increasing the healing rates and reducing pain and swelling.

Acupuncture:

Acupuncture is a healing method from traditional Chinese medicine. In this method, physicians insert thin needles at specific points on your skin. So, it restores the balance of your body and helps speed up the healing process. This method releases endorphins – pain-relieving enzymes, in your body.

Read more about non-surgical pain management at Jersey Joint, Spine, & Regen and receive the best Marlboro joint treatment solutions.