The latest in pain management

No one wants to live with chronic pain. Make sure you are informed about the types of pain that exist and how you can manage the symptoms.

What do we now know about pain?

Pain researchers tell us that there are two distinct types of pain:

• Nociceptive pain is the pain from physical damage to your body. The damage might be caused by something like a burn, or a sports injury, or arthritis. This type of pain is a signal from your nervous system that you need to act to protect and heal your body.
• Neuropathic pain may happen when the signals between your nerves and brain or spinal cord are misread. Your brain interprets faulty signals from the nerves as pain. It could also be because of nerve damage.

Pain can also be divided into two categories, depending on how long you’ve had pain.

• Acute pain usually happens suddenly and is short-lived. The term “acute” doesn’t mean severe pain, but pain that doesn’t last a long time. Most often, acute pain happens in response to an obvious injury.
• Chronic pain is where pain lasts longer than 3 months, or longer than typically expected for recovery from injury. It is also called persistent pain. 

When to see a doctor for pain

It’s best to get to the bottom of your pain condition if it:

• Hasn’t gone away after a few weeks
• Is impacting your mental health
• Prevents you from relaxing or sleeping
• Stops you from exercising or participating in your normal activities
• Hasn’t improved with any of the treatments you’ve tried

If you are experiencing symptoms, you should speak to a doctor to find out the right treatment for you. You can request a telehealth consultation with one of our Australian-registered doctors from anywhere in Australia, seven days a week.

What your doctor may want to know about your pain

Initially, your doctor will try to determine what is causing your pain. Your pain could be caused by infection or tissue damage. Your doctor may also want to find out if the pain is caused by a more serious illness, such as cancer.

There may not be an obvious underlying cause. Or you may already know the underlying cause and be receiving treatment.

In either case, your doctor will want to find out how much your pain is limiting you in your daily life. They may ask questions about your:

• Ability to take part in work, study or family life
• Ability to exercise or complete daily activities
• Mental health
• Current pain management techniques and medicines

This will help you and your doctor work out what pain management strategy will best suit you.