About Chronic Pain

Understanding pain: Goals of this section

Pain is like an alarm system for your body. When you are injured, the alarm system goes off, sending a pain message through your nervous system from the site of injury to your spinal cord and brain. Once your brain receives the pain message, it decides if there is a threat and if your body needs to respond to keep you safe.

In cases of acute (brief) pain, the alarm system remains active after an injury to help warn you of possible danger and protect you while you heal. Over time, as the body recovers, the alarm system normally sends fewer messages to your brain and the acute pain related to injury decreases and eventually goes away.

In this section, you will:

• learn more about chronic pain and its causes

• learn about different types of chronic pain

• understand how chronic pain can affect different parts of your life

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