Pains are said to be ways your body tells you something is wrong with it.
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
According to research, 1.5 billion people globally are in pain one way or the other, and 80 percent globally who are in pain have not been able to get relief for their pains.
Just as the cry of a baby depicts different things and new born babies do not necessarily speak but cry to indicate that something might be wrong, so also is pain in an adult. You do not treat all pain the same way, just as you do not attend to all babies’ cry the same way. You can sometimes differentiate between the cries of such babies. There are cries that indicate a wet diaper needs to be changed, there are cries that signal hunger and there are others still that signal a baby just wanting to be naughty. Pains differ one to the other. There’s usually more to the pain you feel. Your pain depicts different things. You do not need to handle it superficially.
The degree to which individuals feel and tolerate pain differs. This is usually known as pain threshold. Some have low threshold, while some others have a very high threshold of pain. At other times, pain could be so severe as to have destroyed the nerve system of an individual that he/she is unable to feel pain. An example is a chronically diabetic patient. This does not give you the opportunity to take such pain with levity. Pain is a language with which the body tells you something is wrong and you need to attend to it. This brings us to the different types of pain there are.
Types of pain
Even though the experience of pain varies from one person to the next, it is possible to categorize the different types of pain. There are basically two broad categories of pain namely Acute and Chronic pain.
Acute pain begins suddenly and lasts for a short period of time, between 3 to 6 months. It is caused by something specific and usually sharp in quality. It gradually subsides when the underlying cause of pain ceases. Examples of acute pain are labour contractions, menstrual cramps, burns, cuts, bee stings, broken bones, muscle strain amongst others.
Chronic pain on the other hand is a persistent pain that lasts weeks to years. Chronic pain, unlike acute pain, can linger on even after the underlying cause of pain has ceased. Chronic pain can limit your mobility and reduce your flexibility, strength, and endurance. You may find it difficult to get through daily tasks and activities. Examples of chronic pains are headache, cancer pain, arthritis pain, post-trauma pain, post-surgical pain, nerve pain pain, psychogenic pain (pain caused by mental, emotional, or behavioral factors).
You will be able to manage or overcome your pain faster by identifying and understanding the type of pain you have. There are various types of treatment options which may suit the intricacies of each type of pain.
When you feel pain in any part of your body, no matter how mild, do not ignore it. Early detection always saves the day.
