Chronic Pain

 

Definition of Pain: The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage." Chronic pain is usually defined as that which persists longer than the normal time that would be expected for natural healing associated with a particular type of injury or disease process. Many health care professionals consider a condition chronic when pain has lasted longer than six months. A joint or regional pain problem may also be considered chronic if stiffness is felt before pain is experienced. By comparison, in acute conditions, pain is experienced before stiffness is noticed in a joint or muscle. 

 

Pain and the mind: Pain is a subjective experience and is defined by the person experiencing it. A person's mind can have a profound effect on processing and interpretation of these pain signals. The pain system can be grossly divided into the peripheral and central nervous system. The peripheral nervous system consists of small myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers. Some medications such as aspirin and ibuprophen effect pain at this level. These nerve fibers converge into a region of the spinal cord referred to as the dorsal horn. The dorsal horn is the first relay station in pain signal transmission. The next element of pain transmission includes nerve fibers that then travel to the thalamus. From the thalamus the next order of neurons ascend to the limbic system which accounts for the affective elements of pain, and sensory cortex which accounts for the discriminative aspects of pain. 

 

Pain and the PT: Physical therapy (PT) can help relieve chronic pain problems. As a highly educated movement disorder specialist, the physical therapist is uniquely qualified to identify the source of pain, design a treatment program including therapeutic exercises that can resolve the pain and prevent recurrences.

 

For additional information about treatment for chronic pain please contact CORE Services, Inc. at 314-647-4880.