Everyone is familiar with acute pain—the kind you experience with a sprained ankle or after surgery—but how does it differ from chronic pain?

Key Differences

Acute pain acts as a warning signal for injury or illness, and it often resolves as the underlying cause heals. Acute pain often responds well to medications and standard treatments, and it usually resolves within a few months.

Chronic pain, on the other hand, persists beyond the normal healing time—usually defined as lasting longer than three to six months. It may result from ongoing conditions like arthritis, fibromyalgia or nerve damage, or it may linger even after the initial injury has healed.

This type of pain no longer serves a protective role. It can become a disease in itself, affecting your mental health and daily function.

Common Types

• Low Back Pain
  • Often due to degenerative disc disease, herniated discs or muscle strain
• Arthritis Pain
  • Osteoarthritis: Wear-and-tear on joints
  • Rheumatoid arthritis: An autoimmune condition causing joint inflammation
• Headaches and Migraines
  • Chronic migraines can occur 15+ days per month and last for hours or days
• Neuropathic Pain
  • Caused by nerve damage or malfunction. This pain is common in diabetes, shingles or after a stroke
• Fibromyalgia
  • Widespread musculoskeletal pain, often accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbances and cognitive issues
• Chronic Pelvic Pain
  • Common in women; causes include endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease or interstitial cystitis
• Cancer Pain
  • Can be due to the cancer itself or treatments like chemotherapy and surgery
• Chronic Post-Surgical or Post-Trauma Pain
  • Pain that persists after surgery or injury despite healing
• Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorders
  • Chronic pain in the jaw joint and surrounding muscles
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
  • Often involves chronic abdominal pain with changes in bowel habits

These conditions can overlap, and many people experience more than one type.

Causes

Acute pain can turn into chronic pain when the original pain doesn’t resolve as expected—or when the nervous system becomes sensitized over time. The most common reasons for this transition are:

• Nerve damage. If an injury or surgery damages nerves, it can lead to ongoing neuropathic pain. Nerves may continue to send pain signals even after the tissue has healed.
• Central sensitization. The nervous system becomes hypersensitive, amplifying pain signals. In conditions like fibromyalgia or chronic headaches, pain may persist without clear physical damage.
• Opioid-induced hyperalgesia, Chronic use of certain opioids can amplify and perpetuate the same pain that they intend to treat.
• Unresolved inflammation or injury. Inflammation from injury, arthritis or autoimmune disease may linger and cause prolonged pain.
• Poorly managed acute pain. If acute pain isn’t treated effectively (especially after surgery or injury), it can prime the nervous system to keep firing pain signals. This is why pain control early on is important.
• Psychological factors. Depression, anxiety, PTSD or stress can amplify and prolong pain. These conditions can affect how the brain processes and responds to pain.
• Immobility or poor healing. Limited movement caused by pain or fear of pain can cause muscle weakness, joint stiffness and increased sensitivity, perpetuating the pain cycle.
• Genetic and biological factors. Some people may have a genetic predisposition to pain persistence because of how their body processes pain or inflammation.
• Social factors. Lower income and limited access to health care can lead to delayed diagnosis, fewer treatment options and inadequate pain management.

Treatment Goals

When we treat acute pain, the source of pain is usually identifiable, and our goal is rapid relief and healing.

With chronic pain, the source of pain is often unclear or multifactorial. Because of this, our goal is to:

• improve function
• increase quality of life
• promote independence
• reduce flare-ups and reliance on medication

Treatment Options

Treating chronic pain often requires a multidisciplinary approach:

• Physical therapy to improve mobility, movement, strength and posture.
• Medications such as NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen), acetaminophen, topicals (like creams or lidocaine patches), neuropathic pain agents, muscle relaxants, opioids or ketamine.
• Neuromodulation such as Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) or spinal cord stimulation
• Interventional procedures including nerve blocks, epidural steroid injections, trigger point injections, radiofrequency ablation and Botox
• Counseling and pain coping skills
• Lifestyle changes including an anti-inflammatory diet, regular low-impact exercise or healthy sleep habits

Seek Help

Chronic pain is not always curable, but it is often manageable.

But the longer pain persists without treatment, the more likely it is to become entrenched. Early intervention improves outcomes significantly. Now is the time to seek help.