It might be a slow burn that intensifies without movement. Or, perhaps, it pulses pain and radiates as you try to move through your day-to-day activities. Do you find yourself repeating the same comments over and over again? About how you’ve slowed down and you feel past your age or how you haven’t aged gracefully? In the medical realm, that’s referred to as chronic pain. The body is screaming for aid that sometimes doesn’t have an obvious cause.
There is no one-size-fits-all to describe or handle pain. And, as humans, we are innately intricate and unique. We’ve had patients with conditions that impact their entire spine or just parts of it, like the cervical, thoracic, or lumbar areas. The shoulders, knees, and hips are major joints that can have a variety of impacts on them, causing or creating pain. The sacroiliac joints support the weight of the upper body when a person is standing. These joints link the pelvis and lower spine and are made up of the bony structure above the tailbone, known as the sacrum, and the top part of the pelvis, known as the ilium. All of these locations and joints in the body have residual impacts on many other parts of the body, and pain can totally take over.
A more unique chronic pain condition is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), which causes long-lasting pain and inflammation in the body. It’s often caused by the body’s overreaction to a physical injury, such as a fracture, surgery, or penetrating wound. CRPS can affect any part of the body, but it usually affects the arm, leg, hand, or foot. Multiple sclerosis patients can have multiple pain points with symptoms that include tingling, burning, and painful facial sensations, and because MS causes neuropathic pain, patients can experience all of the symptoms outlined above. Another semi-common diagnosis that causes an array of chronic pain is fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition causing widespread pain and tenderness in muscles and soft tissues throughout the body. Additional symptoms often include fatigue, restless sleep, fogginess, headaches, cramps or abdominal pain, lack of sleep, depression, mental distress, depression, and insomnia.
Neuropathic pain is as a result of the nerve system being damaged or malfunctioning. Often, but not always, patients describe a pins and needles feeling, which is often associated with neuropathic pain. It can also feel like an electric shock, tingling, sensitivity to cold or touch, or a burning or shooting sensation.
