Chronic Pain

DEFINITION

• Pain is "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage."
• Chronic pain is usually defined as pain that persists beyond the time expected for healing of an injury or resolution of an illness.
  • Standard definitions emphasize 3-6 months’ duration, intensity of 6-7/10 on a visual analog scale (VAS), and associated emotional distress and physical impairment.
• Chronic pain can also be defined as pain that represents an adaptation of the nervous system such that:
  • Pain continues that is an over response to a noxious stimulus.
  • Pain is a noxious experience of a neutral stimulus.