Chronic painis pain lasting weeks or even months. Doctors often define chronic pain as any pain that lasts for 3 to 6 months or more.
What causes chronic pain?
The feeling of pain comes from a series of messages that zip through your nervous system. When you hurt yourself, the injury turns on pain sensors in that area. They send a message in the form of an electrical signal, which travels from nerve to nerve until it reaches your brain. Your brain processes the signal and sends out the message that you hurt.
Usually the signal stops when the cause of the pain is resolved, such as when your body repairs the wound on your finger or your torn muscle. But with chronic pain, the nerve signals keep firing even after you have healed.
Some of the causes of chronic pain are past injuries or surgeries, back problems, migraines, headaches, arthritis, nerve damage, infections or fibromyalgia (i.e. muscle pain in the body).
What are some of the symptoms of chronic pain?
Chronic pain can range from mild to severe.
The pain can feel like a dull ache, throbbing, burning, or shooting sensation. It may also be accompanied by soreness or stiffness that will not seem to go away. Chronic pain may lead to tiredness, weakness or lack of energy. It may affect us in our daily lives.
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