The longer pain goes on, the more susceptible it is to other influences and developing into a chronic pain problem. These influences include such things as the ongoing pain signal input to the nervous system even without tissue damage, lack of exercise (physical deconditioning), a person’s thoughts about the pain, as well as emotional states such as depression and anxiety. This is one of the major differences in chronic back pain vs normal back pain.
Chronic Back Pain: Types of Chronic Pain Problems
There are at least two different types of chronic pain problems – chronic pain due to an identifiable pain generator, such as an injury, and chronic pain with no identifiable pain generator, if the injury has healed.
Identifiable Back Pain Generator
Chronic pain due to an identifiable pain generator is clearly due to an identifiable cause. Treatments for this pain are much easier to administer simply because the problem can be diagnosed much faster. If the pain caused by degenerative or other anatomical conditions does not subside after a few weeks or months of conservative, non-invasive treatments, other treatments, possibly invasive, may be considered as an option.
Unidentifiable Back Pain Generator
Chronic pain due to an unidentifiable pain generator continues beyond the point of tissue healing and there is no clearly identifiable source of pain. For this reason, it is often deemed “chronic benign pain”. Because pain can set up a pathway in the nervous system, which can become the problem itself, a pain signal can be sent to the brain despite there being no source of pain. This could be a case of Neuropathic pain instead of Chronic pain.
Chronic pain is usually less directly related to identifiable tissue damage and structural problems.
Examples of chronic pain are: chronic back pain without a clearly determined cause, failed back surgery syndrome (continued pain after the surgery has completed healed), and fibromyalgia.
Examples of chronic pain are: chronic back pain without a clearly determined cause, failed back surgery syndrome (continued pain after the surgery has completed healed), and fibromyalgia.
This does not mean that your back pain is not considered a chronic condition. The main difference between chronic back pain and normal back pain is the amount of time that pain is experienced.
Chronic Back Pain Influences
Chronic Pain is influenced by many factors:
- ongoing pain signal to the nervous system despite no tangible source of pain
- physical deconditioning due to lack of exercise
- psychological states such as depression or anxiety, etc.
Chronic Back Pain Doctor in Plano, Texas
Chronic pain is much less understood than other types of pain, such as acute pain or certain types of neuropathic pain. At the Spine Institute in the DWF area, our physician, Dr. Rodriguez, is trained and specializes in various chronic back pain treatments. If you need chronic back pain relief, call us at (214) 709-1904.
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