Nociceptive pain is the pain associated with tissue damage. Think the pain associated with a sprained ankle or a burn. This pain generally improves as the tissue heals.
Neuropathic pain is “nerve pain” and can develop without any outside stimulus. Disease related pain, loss of limb or infection pain are all examples of neuropathic pain.
Nociplastic pain is pain that arises without clear evidence of tissue damage or threat of damage. Chronic conditions such as IBS, headaches and TMJ disorders are all associated with nociplastic pain.
Big words, complex meanings and not at all clear cut. There is overlap, there is movement between pain states but what type of pain you have is extremely important in determining what type of pain relief will work, and what type of treatment will help.
Pain.
We ALL get it.
It ALWAYS, ultimately comes from our brain.
It might be acute… you have just stepped on a piece of lego.
It might be sub-acute… your ankle sprain is on the way to healing.
It might be chronic… 1 in 5 of us gets it. Your broken arm has healed, x-rays show it, but the pain persists. The brain message continues. It gets complex…
Check out this 5min video it summarises things perfectly!
Persistent pain is most certainly NOT all in your head. Your nervous system has turned up the amplifier and we need to re-train it to turn it back down. Exercise, graded and progressive without fear is the key.
Worried you might have persistent pain? Let us HELP you get back to loving your Cronulla life.
Have questions? Lifestyle Physio love to educate our patients and want to see you thrive with or without your aches and pains.