The pain is a sensory experience or associated with unpleasant emotional harm actual or potential tissue or described in terms of such damage. Therefore, acute pain is part of a body's protection system. It acts as a warning sign against present or imminent damage. In this sense, pain plays an important role in the preservation or restoration of physical integrity.
Pain is a signal from the nervous system that something may be wrong. It is an unpleasant sensation, such as a prick, tingling, stinging, burning, or discomfort. The pain can be sharp or dull. You may feel pain in one area or all parts of your body. There are two types: acute and chronic. Acute pain lets you know that you may be injured or have a problem that needs to be addressed. Chronic pain is different. It can last for weeks, months, or even years. The original cause may have been an injury or infection. There may be an ongoing cause of pain, such as arthritis or cancer. In some cases, there is no clear cause. Environmental and psychological factors can make chronic pain worse.
The transmission of this type of impulse is capable of causing morphological changes at the level of various structures of the central nervous system related to the processing of pain signals, these changes are known as central sensitization and are responsible for the perpetuation of pain over time..
In this way, we find that chronic pain is not caused by mechanisms such as inflammation, so the use of anti-inflammatory drugs does not make any sense in people with this type of pain, since they do not produce any type of relief, rather add adverse effects that further worsen the patient's quality of life.
Chronic pain is not always curable, but treatments can help. These include:
- Pain relievers and other medications.
- Acupuncture.
- Electrical stimulation.
- Surgery.
- Physical therapy.
- Psychotherapy.
- Relaxation and meditation therapy.
- Biofeedback.
Although there are no complete epidemiological data for the European Union, chronic pain is undoubtedly a very common disorder. It is estimated that it affects about 70 million people in Western Europe.
In Spain, the Spanish Pain Society estimates that 11% of the population, that is, around 4.5 million people, suffer from chronic pain.
The most common types of chronic pain, such as low back pain, arthritis, or recurring headaches (including migraine), are so common that they are often considered a normal and unavoidable part of life. Although few people die from pain, many die from pain, and even more are those who live in pain.
