Chronic Pain

What Is The Difference Between Acute And Chronic Pain?

There are two categories of pain that are based on time, chronic pain or acute pain. Acute pain is pain that arises suddenly and will last from seconds to a couple of months. Acute pain typically is created by an injury or new arising condition. Examples of acute conditions are ankle sprains, torn ligament after a trauma, whiplash following a car accident, contusions, cuts, or broken bones.

Chronic pain is defined as a pain or symptom that has been ongoing for longer than 3 months. An acute pain can turn into chronic pain if it persists past a three month time period. A person can also have multiple chronic issues at once. 

What Are The Most Common Chronic Pain Conditions?

A few of the most common chronic problems I see are headaches, low back pain, neck pain, and nerve pain.

According to the American Chiropractic Association, low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide. A study by Georgetown University states around 16 million Americans will suffer persistent, chronic lower back pain and go on to state that back pain is also the leading cause of work-loss days. Chronic low back pain causes can include:

Lumbar disc bulges or herniations

This occurs with a traumatic event or by wear and tear of the disc. Trauma is commonly from repetitively lifting objects while twisting or lifting while in a bent position such as deadlifts. The pain can present as achy, sharp, pinching, or shooting pain. If the herniation is irritating or compressing a vertebral disc, it can create radicular symptoms shooting down the leg such as sciatica. 

Lumbar osteoarthritis

This is the wear and tear of the bones and joints. Typically gets worse with time and can be caused by a past injury or repetitive motions over time. Pain presents as dull and achy and causes stiffness and decreased range of motion in the low back. 

Spondylolisthesis/Spondylolysis

This is caused by a vertebral fracture or degenerative malposition where the above vertebrae is shifted forward over the bone beneath it.  

Scoliosis

Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine that can leave the body uneven. Symptoms can include dull, achy pain.

Neck pain is becoming one of the most common chronic pain condition next to low back pain. 

The usual causes is tension or strain to the neck muscles due to bad posture, traumas, or wear and tear over time. A few of the chronic neck conditions include: 

Degenerative disc disease

The wear and tear of a disc that becomes dehydrated and smaller in height. The disc then loses flexibility decreasing the range of motion of the neck and causing pain.

Cervical osteoarthritis

This is the degenerative process of the bones in the neck. It consists of bone spurs and roughening of the bone surface. The cartilage connected to the bone eventually wears away. 

Disc bulge or herniation

This occurs with a traumatic event such as a whiplash injury or by wear and tear of the disc. The pain can present as achy, sharp, pinching, or shooting pain. If the herniation is irritating or compressing a vertebral disc, it can create radicular symptoms shooting down the arm. 

Headaches

Headaches are considered chronic when you have them 15 days or more in a period of a month for 3 months. The most common types of chronic headaches are migraines and tension-type headaches.

Nerve pain

Nerve pain or neuropathic pain is caused by damage to the nerves from disease and injury. Nerve damage from disease include diabetes and multiple sclerosis.  An injured nerve can come from conditions such as spinal cord compression, disc herniations, sciatica, or carpal tunnel. Nerve symptoms include pain that is described as shooting, burning, electric, or sharp. Other symptoms include numbness, tingling, itchy, or weakness. 

How Can I Manage Chronic Pain?

Other than diabetes, most of the chronic conditions written above all can be treated and managed with chiropractic care. Chiropractic care using chiropractic adjustments helps to increase function to the joints in the spine that are stuck, misaligned, or both. Finding and removing these misalignments can help keep a condition from becoming a chronic issue if treatment is started early, can help manage pain by decreasing the severity and frequency of the symptoms, and in some cases, get rid of a chronic problem all together.  

We have 2 specialized therapies in addition to chiropractic care that are specifically designed to help those who suffer from a majority of the chronic conditions listed above. These therapies are:

Non-surgical spinal decompression therapy can help to alleviate pressure causing degeneration to the discs. Our spinal decompression unit not only pulls the spine straight down, but has the ability to pull to the side. This allows us to open up the spinal joint and disc on the either side that is creating the most pressure. This is an option not available on other spinal decompression units.

PEMF therapy, or pulsed electromagnetic field, is a source of energy that helps the body repair/regenerate/rebuild naturally, enhancing the functionality of the body's cells. Imagine your body as a battery, daily stressors and chronic conditions, such as degenerative disc disease,  slowly drain your body of its energy to function and heal at its best. That’s where PEMF technology comes in! PEMF therapy is like re-energizing your internal battery. To function optimally the energy needs to be restored.

At CORE Chiropractic, we utilize several adjusting techniques and these specialized therapy treatments to help you get the best, most comfortable results possible. We take spinal x-rays to make sure you don't have any underlying conditions that will stop us from working on you, but also to establish a baseline as to where you are at the beginning of care. Later, we can do follow up x-rays to show you how much has improved.