Pain
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What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is pain that lasts for more than three months at a time and persists longer than a usual recovery period or occurs with a chronic health condition.
Chronic pain can interfere with your normal activities, work, and life and general. Chronic pain can happen in all parts of the body. It can be present all the time or come and go. Pain often creates a cycle of suffering that is hard to break.
Around 25% of adults in the U.S. experience some kind of chronic pain. Pain can be aching, burning, shooting, squeezing, stiffness, stinging, or throbbing.
Common kinds of chronic pain
- Back and back injury pain
- Cancer pain
- Arthritis
- Headaches and migraines
- Pain disorders that cause nerve pain either due to inflammation, injury, infection, damage, degeneration, or dysfunction of the nerves
- Pain due to damage to brain or spinal cord
- Psychogenic pain (pain with no detectable physical cause)
Risk factors for chronic pain
Chronic pain isn’t necessarily preventable, but some people may be able to prevent other conditions that contribute to chronic pain.
Known risk factors
- Genetics
- Obesity
- Aging
- Traumatic or ongoing injury
- Having a labor-intensive or physically strenuous job
- Frequent stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Smoking
Treating and managing chronic pain
Chronic pain can be treated in a variety of ways. treatment usually depends on the type and cause of your pain, your age, and overall health.
You can treat pain with medications, medical treatments, lifestyle change, therapy, rehabilitation, and alternative treatments.
How can a group medical visit help?
Chronic pain and pain in general can contribute to anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, and mood swings. Managing chronic pain can also be difficult to do on your own. learning about pain management and treatment in a group setting can help give you insight to your own pain and how your peers are managing theirs.
Group Medical visits offer people an additional resource to help manage their conditions with the support of medical providers, dietitians, and mental health experts, as well as the lived experiences of other patients.