CLUE #3: You experience chronic pain everyday
It is estimated that one in three Australian adults live with chronic pain.
Most of us think of pain as a result of an injury or disease. We expect it will go away once we have medical treatment or the injury heals. For many people, this is the case. However for others, the pain doesn’t go away.
Pain is a very important alarm system. This biological process protects our bodies from injury by alerting us that tissue is damaged and in need of protection. It also aids in repairing any injuries acquired.
Pain is either acute (short-term) or chronic (lasting longer than 12 weeks). It can be mild or excruciating, episodic or continuous, merely inconvenient or totally incapacitating.
Chronic pain has less to do with an injury to body tissue and more to do with what’s happening in the nervous system. The nervous system can become sensitized and overactive, so that pain continues to be felt, even without any ongoing tissue damage.
