Is pain a constant part of your life, or does it keep coming back in a familiar pattern? Either way, understanding chronic pain and its causes can be an important first step.

Learning more about what’s happening in your body can help you have clearer, more productive conversations with your healthcare provider and make informed decisions about your care. With the right treatment plan, many people can better protect their health and improve their quality of life.

Understanding Chronic Pain

If you have pain that lasts for more than three months, it’s considered chronic pain. You might feel pain all the time, or it might go away and return repeatedly. Chronic pain can affect any part of your body.

Sometimes, though, there’s no clear cause. In these cases, researchers believe changes in the nervous system may play a role. Stress, emotions, and sleep problems can also make pain worse.

When it’s not managed well, chronic pain can significantly affect your quality of life. Living with chronic pain is linked with a higher risk of opioid-related problems and suicidal thoughts in some people, especially if they also have depression, anxiety, or poor sleep. Chronic pain also tends to contribute to trouble sleeping (insomnia), depression, anxiety, irritability, and fatigue.

If you ever have thoughts of hurting yourself, get help right away. Call your local emergency number or crisis service (988 in the U.S.).

Chronic pain can affect anyone, but studies show that some factors are linked with a higher risk. These factors can include older age, a past serious injury, long-term stress, smoking, a higher body weight, and having a job that’s physically demanding.

Chronic pain is different from acute pain, also called short-term pain. Acute pain comes from a specific cause, such as an injury, illness, surgery, or inflammation. It usually goes away once the underlying issue heals. If the original cause of pain has healed, but you still feel discomfort, it may be chronic pain.

What Are the Symptoms of Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain can vary, depending on the cause and type of pain. In general, it may feel like pain that’s shooting, stabbing, burning, squeezing, throbbing, aching, or stinging, among other sensations.

While chronic pain can happen anywhere in your body, it’s more common in certain areas. Types of pain include:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Headaches (including migraine attacks)
• Joint pain
• Fibromyalgia pain (widespread pain)

Common Types and Causes of Chronic Pain

When the cause of chronic pain can be identified, it usually falls into one of the categories below. Keep in mind that many people living with chronic pain have more than one type of pain or more than one underlying cause. Each type of chronic pain can come with its own causes and symptoms.

Nerve Pain

If your nervous system gets damaged or isn’t working as it should, you can end up with chronic pain. Nerve pain often feels like an electric shock, or like something is burning or stabbing you. It can be somewhat mild or more severe, and you might not experience it all the time. Migraine is a neurological condition, and it often comes and goes in attacks. Some people experience chronic migraine, which means they have headache days frequently over the course of many months.

Pain From Inflammation

Inflammation usually happens when tissue has been damaged, such as from an illness or injury. It’s also a part of autoimmune diseases. In general, inflammation means your immune system is active. If the immune system doesn’t calm down after the problem has healed, it can lead to chronic pain in areas where you’re experiencing inflammation.

Musculoskeletal Pain

If your bones, joints, or the soft tissues that support them (like tendons, ligaments, and muscles) are affected, you’re having musculoskeletal pain. Pain from health conditions like arthritis or tendonitis falls into this category. Injuries and wear and tear commonly lead to musculoskeletal pain. Back pain and neck pain are two types of musculoskeletal pain that may become chronic.

Central Sensitization

Sometimes, your central nervous system becomes more sensitive to sensations, including pain. This can lead to chronic pain and increased sensitivity to other types of input, such as lights, sounds, or touch. Several changes can contribute to this kind of sensitization.

Mechanical Pain

If you’ve experienced something that has changed the shape or structure of your body’s tissues, it can lead to chronic pain. Issues such as tumors, fractures, and more can cause mechanical pain.

Visceral Pain

If your pain comes from your internal organs, it’s called visceral pain. Sometimes, you can become more sensitive to what’s happening in your organs, which can make this pain chronic.

Pain Without a Clear Cause

Sometimes, pain lasts even when tests don’t reveal a clear injury or disease causing it. This doesn’t mean the pain is imaginary. It can happen when the nervous system becomes extra sensitive, and factors like stress, emotions, and sleep problems can make the pain feel worse.

Diagnosing Chronic Pain

Pain that lasts longer than three months is often diagnosed as chronic pain. Your healthcare provider will also try to determine the specific condition causing it or understand what’s most likely driving the pain. However, this may not always be useful because pain is usually considered a symptom, not a diagnosis.

That’s why a healthcare professional will also work to determine the cause of your pain. Your doctor will ask you many questions about your pain and your medical history. They’ll want to know how severe it is, how it affects your life, if anything makes it better or worse, and if anything significant has happened that might be connected to it.

Then, they’ll order tests based on what they think may be causing your pain. These may include a physical exam, blood and urine tests, imaging scans such as a CT scan, muscle and nerve tests, spinal tests, and others. The results can help them find the best ways to manage your pain.

Chronic Pain in Daily Life

Chronic pain can affect nearly every part of daily life. For example, it may disrupt your sleep by making it harder to fall asleep, stay asleep, and get the deep rest your body needs. It can also make it harder to build and maintain relationships, take part in activities you enjoy, and keep up with work and other responsibilities. Over time, it may also affect how you see yourself and your quality of life, which can raise the risk of anxiety and depression.

Can You Live With Chronic Pain?

Yes, you can live with chronic pain. However, chronic pain can make it harder to do some of the things you want or need to do.

Be honest with your doctor about how your pain is affecting your life and if you’re feeling down, worried, angry, anxious, or stressed because of it. This helps your doctor understand how severe your pain is and what kinds of changes you need to improve your quality of life.

Managing Chronic Pain

The approach to treating chronic pain is usually aimed at reducing pain rather than eliminating it. Treatment goals are to reduce your pain to manageable levels and ensure you can perform different daily living activities.

A pain reduction of about 30 percent is often considered a meaningful improvement. While it may not remove pain completely, it can be enough to help many people do more in their daily lives. If you’re also diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or another psychiatric condition, treating these alongside your chronic pain can lead to better outcomes.

Managing chronic pain usually involves treating one or more underlying conditions, as well as providing immediate pain relief. The exact treatments you receive will depend on any underlying issues your doctor has identified. You may be given medications or a wide variety of other treatment options, such as acupuncture, biofeedback, and physical therapy.

You and your doctor will develop a pain management plan tailored to your body and your needs. You may need to try several options before you find a combination that works for you. If you’ve followed your doctor’s suggestions and are still in too much pain to live the life you want, reach out for additional treatment options.

Join the Conversation

On MyChronicPainTeam, people share their experiences with chronic pain, get advice, and find support from others who understand.

How has chronic pain affected your life? Let others know in the comments below.