Table of Contents
What is Chronic Pain?
Is there any treatment?
What is the prognosis?
What research is being done?
Organizations
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. 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 800-533-3231
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
American Pain Foundation
201 North
Charles Street
Suite 710
Baltimore, MD
21201-4111
info@painfoundation.org
http://www.painfoundation.org/
Tel:
888-615-PAIN (7246) 410-783-7292
Fax:
410-385-1832
Arthritis Foundation
1330 West
Peachtree Street
Suite 100
Atlanta, GA
30309
help@arthritis.org
http://www.arthritis.org/
Tel:
800-283-7800 404-965-7100
Fax: 404-872-0457
Mayday Fund [For Pain Research]
c/o
SPG
136 West 21st Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY
10011
mayday@maydayfund.org
http://www.painandhealth.org/
Tel:
212-366-6970
Fax: 212-366-6979
National Chronic Pain Outreach Association
(NCPOA)
P.O. Box 274
Millboro, VA 24460
ncpoa@cfw.com
http://www.chronicpain.org/
Tel:
540-862-9437
Fax: 540-862-9485
National Foundation for the Treatment of
Pain
P.O. Box 70045
Houston, TX 77270
markgordon@paincare.org
http://www.paincare.org/
Tel:
713-862-9332
Fax: 713-862-9346
National Headache Foundation
820 N.
Orleans
Suite 217
Chicago, IL 60610-3132
info@headaches.org
http://www.headaches.org/
Tel:
773-388-6399 888-NHF-5552 (643-5552)
Fax:
773-525-7357
National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
National Institutes of
Health, DHHS
45 Center Dr, Rm. 4AS19 MSC 6400
Bethesda,
MD 20892-6400
nidrinfo@od31.nidr.nih.gov
http://www.nidr.nih.gov/
Tel: 301-496-4261
Prepared by:
Office of Communications and Public
Liaison
National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892
NINDS health-related material is provided for information
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an official position of the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke or any other Federal agency. Advice on the
treatment or care of an individual patient should be obtained
through consultation with a physician who has examined that patient
or is familiar with that patient's medical history.
All NINDS-prepared information is in the public domain and may be
freely copied. Credit to the NINDS or the NIH is appreciated.
Last updated December 03, 2004
