Chronic pain that hurts and hurts here and there, prevention and treatment?
Feb 24, 2025
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Chronic pain refers to a disease in which pain caused by trauma or disease lasts for more than three months or becomes more severe even after proper treatment. Diagnosis and treatment are difficult due to various patterns and causes of pain, and it is important to improve the patient's willingness to treat and lifestyle.
Professor Jeong Moon-young said, `The pain of burning, the feeling of electricity rising, and the pain of tearing the skin are symptoms complained of by patients suffering from chronic pain. Chronic pain is not life-threatening, but it is a disease that significantly lowers the quality of life beyond the discomfort of life, so it must be treated.'
The most typical chronic pain is chronic headache, chronic low back pain, and complex pain syndrome. In addition, pain after spinal surgery, annular pain, fibromyalgia, tertiary neuralgia, and cancer pain are included.
According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of neuroblockers for chronic low back pain patients, which is one of the most representative chronic pain, increased from about 100,000 in 2010 to 1.8 million in 2023. Chronic pain also appears to be increasing due to the prolongation of life expectancy and the advancement of disease management with social development."
The main symptom of chronic pain is an abnormal sensation. Patients complain of sensory stimulation symptoms even though there is no stimulation. These senses are not limited to the first pain area, but also spread to adjacent areas, the sensory pattern changes, and even appear while traveling from one body to another. It is also accompanied by digestive system symptoms such as indigestion and vomiting, or psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
The most likely cause of chronic pain is due to an abnormality in the sensory nervous system. According to the international disease classification 'ICD-11' revised in 2018, the phenomenon of abnormal recognition of pain due to neurological abnormalities is collectively called 'chronic primary pain'. Major risk factors include personal predispositions such as women, old age, and past surgical history, psychiatric factors such as depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome, physically dangerous jobs and lack of exercise, and social factors such as substance abuse.
Chronic pain is diagnosed through 'Exclusion Diagnosis' to remove possible diagnostic names. For example, chronic low back pain, imaging tests such as spinal MRI and CT, which cause pain, are performed first, and diagnostic procedures such as EMG and nerve block are performed. If a clear lesion that can cause pain is not found even after the examination and procedure, it can be diagnosed as chronic pain.
To treat chronic pain, medication is performed first. Common painkillers often do not have much effect, and 'tricyclic antidepressants' or 'anticonvulsants' that regulate the activity of pain transmission pathways in the brainstem area are used first. If the pain persists despite medication, an injection procedure, 'neural block surgery', is performed. If symptoms do not improve afterwards, surgical treatment such as neurosuppression and neurospectomy for the causative nerve may be considered. If the causative nerve is unknown, a nerve stimulation device can be inserted into the spinal cord and continuously delivered electrical stimulation to suppress pain in certain areas of the body. Nevertheless, if pain is not resolved, treatment can be performed to resect the subject, which is the final gateway to recognizing pain in the brain.
A healthy lifestyle is important to prevent chronic pain. It is helpful to avoid overeating, drinking too much, and smoking, a healthy diet, steady exercise, and a healthy leisure life. Aerobic exercises such as jogging and swimming, improve joint mobility through stretching such as yoga, and strengthen muscles through strength exercises. As a diet, it is recommended to avoid simple sugars such as sugar and liquid fructose, eat foods high in unsaturated fatty acids such as fish and legumes, eat vegetable fiber, and drink enough water.
Professor Jung Moon-young said "Chronic pain is a disease that approaches treatment while performing various diagnoses and methods with the patient. He explained, "Why not only the doctor's prescription, technique, and success of surgery, but also the patient's willingness to treat is important."
"As it is difficult to find a clear disease name or cause of chronic pain, patients are often misunderstood as fake or mental illness. Pain can interfere with a good night's sleep, causing depression or anxiety, but it is a misunderstanding that mental illness causes pain. It is important to treat the patient without misunderstanding and prejudice because this is an obstacle that makes it more difficult to resolve the pain.'
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
