Chronic Pain - Are Underlying Disorders The Reason Behind It?

Persistence of pain even after healing of an affected area after injury or ailment is known as chronic pain. Most pains lasting for more than 3-6 months can be categorized as chronic pain. Chronic pain can also be a consequence of undiagnosed underlying conditions. Chronic pain might be continuous or episodic, merely inconvenient or totally incapacitating.

Symptoms of Chronic Pain include -

1. Mild to severe pain that keeps occurring from time to time or is present continuously is often difficult to relieve.
2. Constant feelings of discomfort, stiffness, tightness or soreness in the affected area.
3. Nerve pain is often described as burning, shooting, or electric shock-like sensation.

Chronic pain usually does not occur alone and is often affects the person in more than one ways such as -

1. Lack of sleep

2. Fatigue

3. Disability

4. Mood disturbances including depression, anxiety, stress, irritability, etc.

Contributing factors - 

There are a number of factors that can make one prone to chronic pain. In most of the cases, the reasons behind chronic pain can be rather complex. Sometimes, even though the chronic pain begins with an illness or an injury, the ongoing pain is capable of developing into a psychological aspect even after the physical issues have been healed, thus making treatment tricky. Some of the factors that may contribute include:

1. Underlying disorders or diseases: Certain diseases are more likely to lead to chronic pain such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, diabetes cancer, nerve injuries, etc.

2. Aging: Common conditions associated with normal aging can have an effect on joints and bones, giving rise to chronic pain.

3. Missed diagnosis and improper healing: Missed diagnosis or incomplete healing of injuries due to various factors as well as damage to nerves often leads to chronic pain.

4. Personality type and psychological factors: Anxious or depressed people are more likely to be adversely affected by the chronic pain issues as focussing on the pain symptoms and mood disturbances can play a role in magnifying the pain symptoms.

Treatment -

Chronic pain is usually managed using a multimodal approach utilizing a combination of physical therapy, medications, physiotherapy and interventions/ injections. This approach minimizes the effect of day-to-day activities and maximizes the chances of reducing your pain. Some of the interventional techniques commonly used include:

1. Joint injections: These are utilized for pain originating from the joints. The injections help in reducing pain, providing an opportunity to actively participate in physiotherapy

2. Nerve blocks:  Nerve blocks are used to block pain signals from reaching the brain and hence reduce the pain.

3. Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA): The target in this technique is nerves that are responsible for sending pain signals to the brain. In this technique, the radiofrequency current is passed along special needles to generate heat which reduces the capability of nerves to transmit the pain signals. This technique can produce prolonged pain relief.

4. Regenerative medicine: This involves using your own body's healing capability to help repair the damage responsible for pain generation. This modality may involve using your own blood components or stem cells to enhance the healing.

5. Alternative approach: These include acupuncture, massages and yoga along with other treatments from alternative medicine.