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Acute and chronic pain
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The first type is acute pain caused by tissue damage, which decreases as it heals. Acute pain has a sudden onset, short duration, precise localization, appears when exposed to intense mechanical, thermal or chemical factors. It can be caused by infection, damage or surgery, lasts for several hours or days and is often accompanied by symptoms such as heart palpitations, sweating, pallor and insomnia. Acute pain (or nociceptive) is called pain, which is associated with activation of nociceptors after tissue damage, corresponds to the degree of tissue damage and duration of action of damaging factors, and then completely regresses after healing.
The second type - chronic pain develops as a result of damage or inflammation of tissue or nerve fiber, it persists or repeats for months or even years after healing, does not bear a protective function and causes suffering to the patient, it is not accompanied by signs characteristic of acute pain. Unbearable chronic pain has a negative impact on the psychological, social and spiritual life of a person. With continuous stimulation of pain receptors, the threshold of their sensitivity decreases with time, and the sky pulses also begin to cause painful sensations. The development of chronic pain researchers associate with untreated acute pain, emphasizing the need for adequate treatment. The unhealed pain subsequently leads not only to the material burden on the patient and his family, but also entails huge expenses for society and the health care system, including longer hospitalization periods, reduced work capacity, multiple visits to outpatient clinics and emergency centers. Chronic pain is the most common common cause of prolonged partial or total disability.
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