Everyone experiences pain differently, and depending on the type of pain you’re suffering from, it will generally be categorized into one of two groups – acute pain and chronic pain. Acute pain is the most common type of pain, and it is typically the result of trauma. For example, if you stub your toe on the kitchen table, you’ll be feeling acute pain in your toe. Conversely, chronic pain is a type of pain that is persistent or that lasts for longer than three months. Chronic pain can develop out of acute pain, or it can develop for another reason. For example, if that same stubbed toe led to nerve damage that never healed properly, you may suffer from chronic toe pain.
Although these two types of pain are often intertwined and related, they typically need to be treated in slightly different manners. Below, we take a closer look at some of the different ways acute and chronic pain are managed.
Treating Acute Pain
We treat both types of pain at our clinic, but acute pain tends to be treated more commonly in hospitals and emergency departments. Fractures, sprains, bruises and cuts are all common forms of acute pain that result from trauma or physical injury. Although treatment should be individualized to the patient, minor to mild acute pain is often treated with conservative options like:
- Rest
- Anti-inflammatory medications
- Pain-relieving medications
- Elevation
- Compression
- Hot or cold therapy
- Casting
For more severe forms of acute pain, options like manual therapy, physical therapy or surgery may be recommended. Most providers will recommend that you try six weeks of conservative therapy before you pursue surgery, although certain acute injuries may require more immediate surgical intervention.
Treating Chronic Pain
Treating chronic pain is a little more difficult than acute pain, because it’s not always obvious what’s causing the pain. When you stub your toe, it’s easy to hone in on suspected problems. However, if you’ve been feeling mild discomfort in your spine for the last few months and it’s progressively gotten worse, there are a number of different issues that could be contributing to your pain. Because of this, the most important aspect to developing a successful chronic pain treatment plan is to determine the underlying cause of pain.
With the help of a physical exam, movement screens and imaging tests, a chronic pain specialist can help pinpoint exactly what’s going on in your body. From there, a treatment course is charted.
Many of the same treatment options for acute pain can be applied to chronic pain, but treatment tends to focus on more of the active treatments instead of passive options like rest and medications. While those aspects can play a key role in your recovery, chronic pain oftentimes responds better to treatments like:
- Physical Therapy
- Exercise
- Stretching Techniques
- Posture Awareness and Education
- Weight Loss and Improve Diet
You’re also more likely to need to adjust your treatment strategy when trying to rid yourself of chronic pain, so take note of what’s working and what’s not working and discuss these options with your doctor. Don’t just keep trying certain treatments if they aren’t producing results, because odds are a few simple adjustments can greatly reduce your pain.
For more information about either type of pain, or for help with your pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.