Everyone feels pain. It is a natural and necessary part of life and survival. The purpose of pain is to alert us to potential danger, but it doesn’t always work that way. Pain is a paradox in that it is both a very basic and primitive process that can also be extremely complicated and devastating for many people. Health professionals have come to understand that pain has biological, psychological, and social components.
There are generally considered to be three different classifications of pain: acute, subacute, and chronic. Each of these classifications refer to the time since the onset of pain. In addition, pain can be further classified into four different types: nociceptive, neuropathic, mixed or unspecified, and psychiatric.(1) Pain is treated differently depending on which of these categories it falls into. Common treatment techniques include exercise and activity, physical/ thermal modalities, manual therapy and pain neuroscience education.
At Live Well SA, our licensed and experienced therapy staff are experts at managing every type of pain. We use evidence- based techniques to help people manage their pain symptoms in order to improve everyday function. If you or someone you know is struggling with pain which affects their daily activities, please reach out to us to schedule an assessment to find out how we can help.
Learn more about pain
Institute for Chronic Pain: https://www.instituteforchronicpain.org/understanding-chronic-pain/what-is-chronic-pain
Physio-pedia: https://physio-pedia.com/Pain_Behaviours
Understanding pain (video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_3phB93rvI
Citations
- Beissner, Katherine. “Conservative Pain Management for the Older Adult,” Geriatric Physical Therapy, Mosby Inc, 2012, 395.