Pain is a complex feeling and concept.

For most people, pain is a warning sign; their body’s way of telling them to stop and help protect them against an injury. In many cases, this is an accurate response to a sudden and unusual feeling of discomfort. But what does it mean if you’re experiencing pain for extended periods that seem to linger far longer than it should? If this is the case, you may suffer from chronic pain.

What is Chronic Pain?

It can be difficult to determine what constitutes regular pain and which factors mean your condition is chronic.

If you are experiencing one or more of the following symptoms, there’s a good chance that you have chronic pain:

  • Pain that lasts longer than three months.
  • Pain that is not necessarily a direct result of injury or specific tissue damage.
  • Pain that cannot be recreated consistently with a specific movement or activity.
  • Hypersensitivity to the pain.

Understanding Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is an incredibly frustrating condition that can impact all areas of your life. Luckily, the medical community has conducted a great deal of research in recent years to gain a better understanding of pain, where it comes from, and how to treat it.

Educating yourself on chronic pain is the first step to healing. Read these facts to better understand the condition:

  • The brain is one of the most significant components in the interpretation of pain.
  • While getting imaging done to a particular area (i.e., your spine), the findings may not always correlate to what your symptoms are. It’s very common for asymptomatic individuals to have abnormal results on an MRI and vice versa.
  • The intensity of your symptoms may not always match the severity of the injury, especially with chronic pain. Sometimes, as someone has experienced pain for long periods, the window for pain-free activity can lessen because they have become very sensitive to the discomfort. Understanding this and learning that specific activities should not be painful and are okay to participate in can make a huge difference in the body’s interpretation of these movements.
  • Stress and other environmental factors can impact the severity of the perceived pain of an individual.

Treating Chronic Pain

While physical therapy cannot address every aspect of your pain (for example, the stress from work that you hold in your shoulders, resulting in increased neck pain), physical therapists do have an excellent understanding of how the body and pain work.

We can implement treatments to calm irritated structures through manual therapy and movement. Trained physical therapists will also help you understand what is and isn’t contributing to your pain, allowing you to get on the right path towards a pain-free lifestyle.

Have you been experiencing pain, whether it be acute or chronic? If you’re ready to take control of your pain and return your body to a comfortable state, contact one of the physical therapists at Set Physical Therapy today!