NINDS Chronic Pain Information Page: NINDS

Article title: NINDS Chronic Pain Information Page: NINDS

What is Chronic Pain?
While 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, chronic pain is different. Chronic pain persists. 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 -- arthritis, cancer, ear infection, but some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage. gen exstart profile$ 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).

Is there any treatment?
Medications, acupuncture, local electrical stimulation, and brain stimulation, as well as surgery, are some treatments for chronic pain. Some physicians use placebos, which in some cases has resulted in a lessening or elimination of pain. Psychotherapy, relaxation and medication therapies, biofeedback, and behavior modification may also be employed to treat chronic pain.

What is the prognosis?
Many people with chronic pain can be helped if they understand all the causes of pain and the many and varied steps that can be taken to undo what chronic pain has done. Scientists believe that advances in neuroscience will lead to more and better treatments for chronic pain in the years to come.

What research is being done?
Clinical investigators have tested chronic pain patients and found that they often have lower-than-normal levels of endorphins in their spinal fluid. Investigations of acupuncture include wiring the needles to stimulate nerve endings electrically (electroacupuncture), which some researchers believe activates endorphin systems. Other experiments with acupuncture have shown that there are higher levels of endorphins in cerebrospinal fluid following acupuncture. Investigators are studying the effect of stress on the experience of chronic pain. Chemists are synthesizing new analgesics and discovering painkilling virtues in drugs not normally prescribed for pain.

Organizations

American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA)
P.O. Box 850
Rocklin, CA 95677-0850
ACPA@pacbell.net
http://www.theacpa.org/
Tel: 916-632-0922
Fax: 916-632-3208

American Council for Headache Education
19 Mantua Road
Mt. Royal, NJ 08061
achehq@talley.com
http://www.achenet.org/
Tel: 856-423-0258 800-255-ACHE (255-2243)
Fax: 856-423-0082

National Headache Foundation
428 West St. James Place
2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60614-2750
info@headaches.org
http://www.headaches.org/
Tel: 773-388-6399 888-NHF-5552 (643-5552)
Fax: 773-525-7357

National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain
1330 Skyline Drive
#21
Monterey, CA 93940
mgordon@mbay.net
http://www.paincare.org/
Tel: 831-655-8812
Fax: 831-655-2823

Pain-Hope Through Research
Information booklet on pain compiled by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Peripheral Neuropathy Information Page
Peripheral Neuropathy information sheet compiled by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Trigeminal Neuralgia Information Page
Trigeminal Neuralgia (tic doloreaux) information sheet compiled by NINDS, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Central Pain Syndrome Information Page
Central Pain Syndrome information sheet compiled by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Information Page
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (also called Causalgia and Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome) information page compiled by NINDS.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Fact Sheet
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS) fact sheet compiled by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Shingles Information Page
Shingles information page compiled by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Shingles: Hope Through Research
An informational booklet on shingles compiled by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

This fact sheet is in the public domain. You may copy it.Provided by:
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892

» Next page: NINDS Coffin Lowry Information Page: NINDS

Medical Tools & Articles:

Tools & Services:

Medical Articles:

Forums & Message Boards

Ask or answer a question at the Boards:

homepage | back to top

Search Specialists by State and City

Assessment Questionnaire

NINDS Chronic Pain Information Page: NINDS

Medical Tools & Articles:

Forums & Message Boards

Assessment
Questionnaire