Causes of Chronic Pain: Why Pain Can Continue
Since 1994, I have been dealing with chronic pain, and I like to say that I have come to understand what pain is, how it can affect us, and what we can learn from it. What we do know about pain is that some pain and suffering are unavoidable, and some can be prevented or relieved naturally. That is why I focused on the different causes of chronic pain.
One thing I know for sure is that chronic pain is different than acute pain. Acute pain has a purpose that protects us and focuses on improving an injury or an illness. Chronic pain can persist for months or years and often doesn’t have a simple explanation. Understanding what the causes of chronic pain are, can help you better understand how to manage it.
What Causes Chronic Pain?
As we begin to explore some different options or strategies for helping to ease or manage chronic pain, keep in mind that our bodies need to signal pain. Remember that pain is not our enemy; it is our body’s way of warning us that something isn’t right.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the causes of chronic pain are many, and sometimes several factors contribute to the pain a person experiences.
Injury and Ongoing Tissue Problems
The causes of chronic pain can stem from previous injuries, surgeries, repetitive strain injuries, and musculoskeletal problems.
Inflammation
Inflammation is a normal part of healing. However, when it becomes persistent, or your body has a dysregulated inflammatory response, it can become chronic inflammation, contributing to pain. Some examples of inflammatory concerns include Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.
Nerve Damage or Irritation
Nerve damage can occur in various ways. Sometimes when you have an injury, your nerves are also injured due to compression, irritation, or disease. Sometimes your pain becomes neuropathic pain, leading to discomfort because damage or a disease directly affects your nervous system. CRPS / RSD is one form of a disease with neuropathic pain.
Changes in How the Nervous System Processes Pain
Sometimes, over time, when your pain persists, your nervous system can become oversensitive to it. This can lead to central sensitization. When you shift into central sensitization, the communication between your brain and the spinal cord amplifies pain signals and how you sense things. When your body shifts to central sensitization, and not everybody does, even slight touches or the wind can trigger pain. That is why managing your stress and how your body reacts is important.
Chronic Health Conditions
Many of the following health conditions contribute to chronic pain.
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Migraine
- Back and neck conditions
- Autoimmune/inflammatory conditions
- CRPS
Why Chronic Pain Is Often More Complicated Than One Cause
Pain isn’t just about pain. Nothing that happens in the body is just about what is happening. All our body systems and lifestyle habits influence how we experience and manage our pain.
How we sleep, manage our stress, the amount and type of movement, how we eat, our emotional well-being, our gut health, inflammatory response, and overall health impact pain. Not one signal, issue, or even the injury itself is solely responsible for chronic pain.
Focusing on all of you, the whole body is key to managing chronic pain and improving your overall quality of life.
Stress, Emotions and Pain
Many of us are constantly under stress, and it can be a factor in chronic pain or how we experience our pain. When our body is under stress, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, releasing increased levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones create vasoconstriction, stress on the cardiovascular system, and affect glycolysis in muscles. Emotions like anger, anxiety and grief affect hormones and neurotransmitters that can actually bring about physical sensations of pain.
Stress makes us feel anxious, short-tempered, and overwhelmed. Also, pain causes us to clench our muscles and breathe more shallowly, which makes the pain worse.
Pain and stress also have a two-way relationship. Experiencing pain can increase our stress level, and experiencing stress can make our pain feel worse. Managing stress may help you better manage your pain.
Food Choices
What we eat can support our overall health and may influence inflammation. Focusing on whole and minimally processed foods, including plenty of vegetables, fruits, quality proteins, healthy fats, and other nutrient-dense foods, helps provide the nutrients our bodies need. Staying hydrated is also an important part of supporting overall health.
Exercise
Movement can also be an important part of managing chronic pain. Appropriate physical activity can support mobility, strength, function, and emotional well-being. The type and amount of movement that is appropriate will depend on your and your condition. Stretching, yoga, and Tai Chi have been found helpful for pain management.
When the Original Cause Isn’t the Whole Story
Oftentimes we don’t know what really triggered the pain. I know that was the case for me. My injury was minor, but why did my body create neuropathic and central sensitization? Thinking about this made me look at ALL of me, my habits, lifestyle, past illnesses, and the injury, which gave me a much broader approach to managing it and reclaiming part of my life.
My focus became on improving my overall health to reduce my pain. That is why supporting your whole body can be a part of managing chronic pain; read my article on Natural Solutions for Chronic Pain.
That is why I also wrote my book, The Healthy Habits Challenge, to share with you the 8 habits I focused on to improve my overall health and reduce my pain.
The Bottom Line
Chronic pain is much more than trying to identify one thing that’s wrong. Injuries, inflammation, nerve damage, health conditions, and changes in the nervous system can all contribute to chronic pain. Lifestyle habits, stress, emotions, and overall health can also influence how we experience and manage pain. It isn’t always about finding one single cause. If you need more help managing your pain, my 8-Week Nervous System Reset can help you learn practical ways to support your body and nervous system.