Source of Pain

Pain

You know it at once. It may be the fiery sensation of a burn moments after your finger touches the stove. Or it's a dull ache above your brow after a day of stress and tension. Or you may recognize it as a sharp pierce in your back after you lift something heavy. It is pain. In its most benign form, it warns us that something isn't quite right, that we should take medicine or see a doctor. At its worst, however, pain robs us of our productivity, our well-being, and, for many of us suffering from extended illness, our very lives. Pain is a complex perception that differs enormously among individual patients, even those who appear to have identical injuries or illnesses.

In 1931, the French medical missionary Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote, "Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself." Today, pain has become the universal disorder, a serious and costly public health issue, and a challenge for family, friends, and health care providers who must give support to the individual suffering from the physical as well as the emotional consequences of pain . Source: Government.

The two faces of pain: acute and chronic

What is pain? The International Association for the Study of Pain defines it as: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage. It is useful to distinguish between two basic types of pain, acute and chronic, and they differ greatly.

Acute pain, for the most part, results from disease, inflammation, or injury to tissues. This type of pain generally comes on suddenly, for example, after trauma or surgery, and may be accompanied by anxiety or emotional distress. The cause of acute pain can usually be diagnosed and treated, and the pain is self-limiting, that is, it is confined to a given period of time and severity. In some rare instances, it can become chronic.
Chronic pain is widely believed to represent disease itself. It can be made much worse by environmental and psychological factors. Chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments. It can-and often does-cause severe problems for patients. Pain management is an integral part of treating chronic pain. Source: Government

Inflamed facet joints

Facet joints are small joints at each segment of the spine that provide stability and help guide motion. They allow twisting, flexion and extension motions. These joints link the spine together in the posterior or back part of the spine.

Spinal facet joints sometimes become sources for chronic neck and back pain independent of intervertebral discs and spinal nerves. Spinal facet joints are synovial joints. Like the shoulder and the knee, spinal facet joints have a joint capsule lubricated with fluid and abundantly innervated by a network of pain-sensitive nerve fibers. These joints are prone to injury, deterioration, and inflammation. However; they can become particularly vulnerable when the intervertebral disc are injured due to trauma (such as whiplash) or when degeneration is present. This is due to loss of disc height and space and reduction of support for the facet joint. Under these conditions inflammation and nerve irritation may occur causing pain.

Types of Pain

Chronic Headaches, Fibromyalgia, Sciatic, Lower Back and Neck,

Radiating Arm or Leg, Degenerative Arthritis, Spinal Disc Syndromes,

Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Pelvic Syndromes, Failed Back Surgery