Acute pain is
something we all experience when we injure ourselves or suffer some form of
trauma, such as an operation. It is also our bodies’ way of warning us
when an underlying disease process may be developing, prompting us to seek
help. In the vast majority of people, the pain settles down as the body’s
healing processes take effect or when a disease is brought under control.
Chronic pain is a persistent pain,
which continues after healing or is the result of ongoing damage and includes
spinal pain, post-traumatic pain (e.g. after amputation or surgery), pain
involving the central or peripheral nervous system (e.g. post stroke pain,
complex regional pain syndrome, diabetic neuropathy, post herpetic neuralgia
and sciatica) and pain associated with other chronic diseases such as angina,
arthritis, endometriosis, headache and pancreatitis. This includes cancer pain,
which encompasses any pain in patients with cancer that is caused by the cancer
or associated with the treatment.