Chronic Pain
Learn about Chronic pain, its common symptoms, valuable resources, and how pain management can help you find pain relief.
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is discomfort that persists or recurs for more than 3 to 6 months, often occurring after the wound or illness has healed.
- Acute pain is usually the sign of a credible threat, such as a sprained ankle. The brain detects a DIM (Danger In Me) after receiving a nociceptive signal and produces pain to protect you and prompt action
- Chronic pain, on the other hand, is often an indication that the body’s protective systems have become over-vigilant. This means the brain is producing pain even in the absence of tissue damage or a credible threat.
In essence, chronic pain is a car alarm that keeps going off throughout the night, even though no one is tampering with the door.
Tissue damage doesn’t have to be present to experience pain – Pain is never detected, it is only produced – Pain nerves, pathways, and signals do not exist – Our body has danger sensors, not pain sensors
Pain can be a byproduct of many factors. We don’t even need to be in active injury to experience pain. Simply thinking you might be hurt or being told that you are injured or ill can cause pain.
Common Symptoms of Chronic Pain
Symptoms of Pain
Body pain is unique to everyone, but people with chronic pain often say it aches, burns, shoots, stabs, or zaps like an electrical shock.
Chronic pain may occur in one specific area or in multiple areas, with fluctuating intensity that changes with activity, stress, weather, or even for no clear reason at all.
Sensory-Related Symptoms
People with chronic pain often experience heightened sensitivity to sound, light, smells, or temperature changes. They may also notice tingling, numbness, or “pins and needles” sensations in their muscles or skin. Muscle spasms are common, as is a feeling of swelling or warmth in the affected area.
Some people also report a distorted sense of their body, such as feeling that a limb or body part is larger (or smaller) than it actually is. This distorted perception of self, body perception disorder, is usually due to changes in the brain’s somatosensory map, or cortical smudging.
Fatigue-Related Symptoms
Fatigue is very common in chronic pain. Constant pain is mentally and physically exhausting, and it often disrupts sleep. Many people struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get deep, restorative sleep.
Cognitive Symptoms
Mental and emotional symptoms are also very common with chronic pain. Many people experience “brain fog”, mental fatigue, slowed thinking, difficulty concentrating, memory issues, or trouble finding the right words.
Fear and anxiety are frequent, especially fear of movement (the worry that moving will make the pain worse). Depression, irritability, hopelessness, and a heightened stress response are also common.
Lifestyle Impact
Chronic pain often leads to reduced mobility, stiffness, and guarding behaviors. This can cause people to avoid activities they once enjoyed, resulting in decreased strength, endurance, and coordination. Social withdrawal, strained relationships, difficulty at work, and loss of interest in hobbies or self-care are also common.
Did you know that chronic pain and PTSD often go hand in hand?
Many people living with persistent pain have also experienced trauma, and the two conditions can feed each other in a painful cycle.
Trauma can make the nervous system more sensitive (heightened central sensitization), while ongoing pain can keep the brain in a state of hypervigilance and fear. This connection helps explain why some people feel intense anxiety with pain, struggle with touch or movement, or find that stress dramatically worsens their symptoms.
The good news? Understanding this link opens powerful new doors for healing, including approaches that calm both the body and the nervous system simultaneously.
How To Relieve Pain Without Medicine
- Safe Place Visualization: Imagine a safe, tranquil place within your mind. What does it look, feel, and smell like? Safe place visualization helps you take a breath, and breathe, giving you a brief reprieve, to calm your nervous system.
- Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE): Learning what pain is and how it works is the most powerful resource you can have in the management of chronic pain.
- 5-4-3-2-1: Pause, take a breath, and identify 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
- Gentle Touch: Be gentle and kind to yourself. We all have the tendency to use ice pick fingers to smash the pain away, but this isn’t what your body wants. When you hurt, show your brain that it can trust you by using peaceful pressure instead of piercing.
- Pleasurable Activities: Listen to calming music, read a book, garden, draw, journal, or go spend some time in nature. Do something that brings you joy and reminds you just how delightful life can be.
Next Step
If chronic pain has been a part of your life for too long, pain management coaching can offer you practical support. Learn more about pain management coaching and take the next step toward pain relief.
Disclaimer
All information provided on this website, including, but not limited to, educational materials, pain neuroscience explanations, treatment suggestions, and any other content shared during sessions, classes, or coaching, is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition, nor is it a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
You should always consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical concerns, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of information you receive here.
Jennifer Brand Spa
Pain Management at 2717 Hwy K, O’Fallon, MO 63368