September is Pain Awareness Month. This is a good time to practice bodily awareness to both identify and manage physical pain. 

Review the four types of pain below, and how they manifest physically. Assess whether any of these types of pain match your current experience.

You may find it helpful to fill out our Pain Disability Index assessment, too.

Neuropathic Pain

What it is: Neuropathic Pain is caused by abnormalities in how one of your systems is interpreting pain. The problem can originate from your spinal cord, nerves, or even your brain.

Pain signals: If you’re experiencing neuropathic pain, you may feel tingling, numbness, a burning sensation, or shooting pain.

Nociceptive Pain

What it is: Nociceptive pain is caused by physical injury. Examples include arthritis, fractures, burns, and sports injuries. Nociceptive pain is the most common type of pain.

Pain signals: Words you may use to describe nociceptive pain include sharp, throbbing, or burning.

Acute Pain

What it is: Acute pain is a broad way to describe pain that comes on suddenly. Depending on the cause, it may last a few seconds, or it may last weeks or months.

Pain signals: Acute pain is sharp. If the cause is physical injury, the symptoms would be similar to those of nociceptive pain.

Chronic Pain

What it is: Chronic pain is ongoing and typically lasts several months. While it can be caused by ongoing tissue damage, that isn’t always the case. Even after the injury or illness that caused the initial pain has healed, chronic pain can remain.

Pain signals: Chronic pain is linked to the pain from conditions like arthritis, back pain, cancer, headaches, nerve pain, and fibromyalgia.

From Pain Awareness to Management

Whether the cause is a sports injury or chronic health condition, listen to your body’s pain signals. Recognizing physical pain is the first step in the healing process.

The next steps in healing are to identify the causes and explore treatment options.

Remember, you don’t have to manage your pain symptoms alone. Give Advanced Sports Chiropractic a call and see how we can help.