Understanding Pain We all suffer pain. We all do different things to cause pain. We all feel pain slightly differently. Why does pain persist in some of us, but not in others? Why is your pain so difficult to explain to others? Maybe it's because we have difficulty understanding the who, what, where, when and how about pain. Acute Pain vs Chronic Pain Acute pain is associated with a new onset of pain. It is normally associated with injury. Chronic pain is persisting pain that has lasted over three months. Interestingly, chronic pain is not usually related to damaged tissue. Chronic pain is different to acute pain. Another term for chronic pain could actually be "brain pain". Types of Pain Nerve Pain Nerve pain (neuropathic pain) is pain caused by damage or disease that affects your nervous system. Nerve pain can occur due to direct damage to the nerve (eg diabetic peripheral neuropathy, cut nerve, post-stroke). Alternatively, it can be affected by a virus eg shingles. Nociceptive Pain Nociceptive pain seems a little easier to explain. It occurs when you knowingly damage something eg a muscle tear or a broken bone. The nerve endings in the damaged tissue detect a problem and initiate pain signals that are transferred through your peripheral nerves to the brain via the spinal cord. Your brain interprets the signals as pain. Nociceptive Pain Types Just to complicate things a little more there are two types of nociceptive pain. Somatic pain and radicular pain. Somatic Pain Somatic pain is pain caused by the injured structures eg muscles and joints sending pain signals up to your spinal cord and then your brain. Radicular Pain Radicular pain is pain that stems from irritation of the nerve roots, for example, from a bulging disc. Radicular pain sends pain down the distribution of the pinched nerve. eg sciatica. The more pinched a nerve becomes the more likely you are to experience a radiculopathy. Symptoms can include muscle weakness, numbness, pins and needles or loss of reflexes in the distribution of the pinched nerve. Muscle & Joint Pain Back Pain Bursitis Elbow Pain & Injury Groin Pain & Injury Hand Pain & Injury Headache or Migraine Heel Pain & Injury Leg Pain & Injury Ligament Injury Muscle Pain & Injury Shin Pain & Injury Shoulder Pain & Injury Tendinopathies Thigh Pain & Injury Thoracic Pain & Injury Vertigo & Dizziness Wrist pain and injury