Different Types of Back Pain in Vacaville

Your Vacaville chiropractor knows when you understand how pain is defined, you will have better control over it. For the sake of research and medical practice, pain has been divided into 3 categories.

3 Categories of pain in Vacaville

Acute pain lasts for a short time

Acute pain is something that lasts less than 3 months or something that is related to tissue damage. This is the type of pain that is caused by a paper cut or needle prick. Here are some examples of acute pain:

• Labor pains. Childbirth pain is acute, and the cause is certainly identifiable.
• Smashing one's finger with a hammer. The pain is similar to touching a hot stove wherein there is immediate pain, withdrawal, and then a "slower" aching pain.
• Touching an iron or hot stove. The pain felt is fast, immediate, and intense with an almost simultaneous withdrawal of the body part that got burned. A few seconds after the initial pain and withdrawal, another type of pain will be experienced.

When the pain persists, there could be other factors influencing it and there's a possibility that it will develop into chronic pain. These influences include things like the pain signal continuing to reach the central nervous system after the tissue has healed, a person's thoughts about the pain, lack of exercise, and even emotional sates such as anxiety and depression.

Chronic pain continues after tissue heals

Chronic pain is a general term used to describe pain that lasts for more than 3 to 6 months or is already beyond the point of tissue healing. This is also termed as "chronic benign pain" or "chronic non-cancer pain," depending on the situation.

When it is chronic pain, it is less directly related to identifiable tissue damage and structural problems. A few examples of chronic pain are fibromyalgia and failed back surgery syndrome. Also, chronic pain is more understood than acute pain.

There are many forms of chronic pain, but it is often placed into 2 major categories:

• Pain with an identifiable cause, like an injury. There are structural spine conditions such as spondylolisthesis, spinal stenosis, and degenerative disc disease can cause continuous pain until they are treated successfully. These conditions are caused by a diagnosable anatomical problem. If the pain caused by these conditions have not gone down after a few weeks or months of nonsurgical treatments, then spinal surgery will be considered as a treatment option. In reality, this type of chronic pain may be considered as a long-term acute pain even though it is mostly referred to as chronic pain.
• Chronic pain with no identifiable cause. When there is still pain after the tissue has healed and there is no clear reason for the pain that can be identified, it is sometimes called as "chronic benign pain."

It seems like pain can establish a pathway in the nervous system, becoming the problem in and of itself. In short, the nervous system could be sending pain signals even though there is no current tissue damage. This is a misfire of the nervous system since it creates a pain that doesn't exist. In such cases, the pain is more of a disease rather than a symptom of an injury.

For more tips on back pain as well as treatment options for it, you can visit Absolute Integrative Physical Medicine in Vacaville, CA. Their clinic is well-equipped with state-of-the-art apparatuses so setup an appointment today by dialing the number (707) 474-5688.