|
Chronic pain may be defined as persistent and continous pain, for which there may be a definable cause, such as an injury or illness, or no apparent cause.
Chronic pain can be differentiated from acute pain in one precise way: acute pain is episodic or event-related. Chronic pain, by sharp contrast, is continual and sometimes constant. In fact, many chronic pain sufferers experience their pain for weeks, months, and even years. Chronic pain, which may be related to a legion of conditions and disorders (degenerative disc disease, cancer, joint pain, fibromyalgia, migraines, lower back pain, etc), is not particulary well understood by treating physicians and the medical community in general. This has the effect of placing chronic pain in the same nebulous category into which other certain impairments are casually grouped, such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and RSD, otherwise known as complex regional pain syndrome. Because the etiology and development of these disorders is poorly understood, the treatment methodology concerning them is also poor when compared to the regimens that exist for more fully understood conditions. Various medical sources, in fact, including the prestigious New England journal of medicine, have gone on record to state that patients suffering from a variety of illnesses have been routinely and systematically undertreated with regard to pain. |
| Social Security Disability Workers Compensation Attorney, Georgia |