Acute or Chronic Pain?
Acute pain is a normal sensation triggered in the nervous system to alert you to possible injury and the need to take care of yourself. Should you experience severe pain, deformity or prolonged swelling the injury should be checked by your doctor or the emergency room. Usually rest, elevation, ice and compression will suffice to treat minor injuries. The use of Bowenwork therapy early after an injury can help speed healing and reduce pain.
Chronic pain is pain that persists long after a reasonable healing time. Pain signals keep firing in the nervous system for weeks, months, even years. There may have been an initial mishap -- sprained back, serious infection, or there may be an ongoing cause of pain – such as arthritis. Some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage. Many chronic pain conditions affect older adults. Common chronic pain complaints include headache, low back pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to the peripheral nerves or to the central nervous system itself), psychogenic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside or outside the nervous system).
Chronic pain can:
• affect one’s ability to concentrate,
• memory,
• difficulty performing routine tasks,
• alteration in sleep,
• affect mood
• and sexual desires
Treatment:
• it is important that your health professional listens carefully to your history
• Pain control is many faceted – medications are frequently a starting point but usually are not as effective as one would hope. Many alternative/complimentary therapies are very useful in controlling pain, increasing the ability to sleep, which in turn improves the ability to concentrate and an improved mood. Relaxation therapies, biofeedback, and behavior modification are also used. Surgery in some situations is also recommended.
There is no easy answer to resolving chronic pain and as the client your input is vital to moderating your pain or resolving it. Please review my techniques and see if together we can improve where you are at this moment.
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