What is the difference between chronic pain and acute pain?

Healthcare professionals tend to use terms like chronic pain and acute pain without realizing that the patients may not understand what we mean and this is a good question.

Acute pain is a pain that is usually of sudden onset and something that you can pinpoint and treat. Examples of acute pain are:

- tooth ache

- surgery

- broken ankle

- burn

- stubbed toe

Chronic pain, on the other hand, may have come on suddenly, like a broken ankle, or it may come on gradually without being noticed as to when it started, like migraines. Some examples of chronic pain are:

- arthritis

- lower back pain that lasts several months

- endometriosis

- migraines

Chronic pain is not as definable is usually more difficult to treat than acute pain because it can't be pinpointed. Some doctors feel that pain lasting for three months or more should be considered chronic, while others say it should be six months or more.