Chronic pain is something different from temporary physical pain we feel from time to time that may be caused by a fall, sports injury or a minor accident. Under normal circumstances, temporary aches and pains will subside after a few weeks or months and we call these acute pains.
However, chronic pain is a condition that doesn’t go away. Instead, you can suffer for years with a painful condition and your body never seems to shake off the pain. Sometimes these lingering pains can be with you for a lifetime. An example of chronic pain can be pain from arthritis or constant back pain from a back injury that never completely healed.
How we feel pain
We have nerves that run throughout our bodies that are responsible for us experiencing pain. Our nerves send relevant warning signals to the brain which tells us to react. For example, the nerves in our hands will tell our brain to let go of the hot baking dish, which is an obvious protective measure for us to learn not to touch hot things.
But instead of our nerves only sending emergency warning messages and then stopping, with chronic pain constant signals are being sent to the brain over a long period and they never get switched off.
This can lead us to experience constant or fluctuating chronic back, shoulder and neck pain, joint pain as well as headaches and facial pain.
Getting help with chronic pain
Depending on the severity, chronic pain can be a debilitating condition that interferes with our daily life and activities. Even the most simple of chores that we take for granted can be so affected that we will put off doing them because we know it will cause us pain.
If you are actively avoiding doing things and taking part in everyday activities to prevent feeling chronic pain, then you should seek out help from a chronic pain specialist who will be able to help you.
Many leading chronic pain specialists in London can help by prescribing stronger painkillers than you buy yourself, put you on a physiotherapy treatment course to help strengthen your supporting muscles and improve your joint flexibility, or even prescribe surgery to help alleviate your pain if this is the best course of action for you to find relief.
Seeing a pain specialist
Depending on the severity of your chronic pain, your pain specialist may recommend you make a few lifestyle changes to help you better manage or reduce the level of pain felt. It can often be quicker and more effective to go directly to see a pain specialist in London than to go and see your GP for help.
A fully qualified and experienced pain specialist will have all the tools to hand they need to help ease your chronic pain symptoms. They will be able to get to the root of the problem and know the best way to treat you to get the best results.
Chronic pain specialists are fully qualified doctors that have taken further in-depth training in the management of chronic pain and will use their expert skills and the latest treatment techniques and technology to help to relieve your pain.
