Introduction: About Chronic Pain
- Chronic pain is different from acute pain.
- Acute pain is a protective symptom related to a causal factor. (See more in Working with Pain.)
- While chronic pain often has roots in an injury or illness, it is a condition related to the nervous system having become sensitized, causing pain that is no longer reliably connected to what is happening in the body.
- Chronic pain is associated with an increased sensitivity to pain and stress.
- Worldwide, 1 in 5 adults suffers from chronic pain.