Chronic pain is common in Australia. One in 5 Australians aged 45 and over are living with persistent, ongoing pain. This pain can be disabling and stressful, making it hard for a person to work and do the things they enjoy. More people are seeing their general practitioner (GP) for chronic pain.

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts beyond normal healing time after injury or illness; generally 3 to 6 months. The pain experienced can be anything from mild to severe. The defining characteristic of chronic pain is that it is ongoing and experienced on most days of the week.

Chronic pain can be caused by injury, surgery, musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis, or other medical conditions such as cancer, endometriosis or migraines. In some cases, there may be no apparent physical cause.

Acute (or short-term) pain is a response to damaged tissue and usually disappears once the tissue has healed. Chronic pain is more complex, and may result from damage to body tissue from an acute or chronic condition, or changes in the nerves or nervous system that result in the nerves continuing to signal pain after the original condition has healed (Painaustralia 2019a).

Treating chronic pain

Options for treating chronic pain are wide and varied. Due to its complexity it is important that a doctor is consulted. Some treatments include:

• massage

• chiropody

• osteopathy

• anti-inflammatory medicines

• analgesic medicines

• Vitamins and Supplements

• TENS