Acute pain is your body’s alarm system. It alerts you when you are in danger of injury, or that your injury needs to be protected from further damage.
People with acute pain may feel anxious about their condition. Don’t worry, acute pain lasts for a few days only; it goes away when your injury has healed. Acute pain is often successfully cured with a single treatment.
You may have acute pain:
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From an illness or injury that needs emergency care (eg, bone fracture) |
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After an operation |
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During and after delivering a baby |
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Chronic pain can be caused by a health problem or injury (eg, arthritis or shoulder injury). It can also exist without an obvious cause (eg, low back pain, chronic neck pain).
Chronic pain occurs more commonly in women and the elderly. It is a long-term condition, and serves no useful purpose. As it is not always a signal of harm to your body (false alarm), chronic pain may cause distress to sufferers and their caregivers.
Chronic pain is less likely to respond to a single treatment. However, multidisciplinary management has been shown to provide better outcomes. |
