What about chronic pain?

  It has long been believed that pain is only a symptom of disease and will disappear once the disease is cured; however, this is not the case, and many diseases continue to have persistent pain long after they have been cured. In fact, many pathological pain itself is a disease that seriously affects the quality of life of patients. In 2000, the World Health Organization clearly stated that “chronic pain is a group of diseases”. The World Pain Congress recognized pain as the “fifth vital sign of human beings” after breathing, pulse, temperature and blood pressure, and pain has become one of the main indicators of a person’s quality of life.  Worldwide, pain has become one of the major killers of human health, and the most common and direct factor that causes people’s life and labor capacity to decrease and work days to be reduced. Therefore chronic pain has received widespread attention.  However, in real life, nearly 70% of people suffering from chronic pain choose to “carry on”, which is actually a misconception. Chronic pain that lasts more than 3 months and is difficult to treat can only play a damaging role in physical and mental health and quality of life. Patients in long-term pain will lead to dysfunction of the body systems, low immunity and induce a variety of complications. The persistent mental tension and anxiety brought about by pain can directly induce sleep disorders, lack of appetite, mental breakdown and even personality distortion, etc. When a family member suffers from chronic pain, the negative impact on a family even exceeds the disease itself. Among them, cervical spondylosis, lumbar disc herniation, acute and chronic lumbar sprain, knee osteoarthritis, heel pain, trigeminal neuralgia, and postherpetic pain are common chronic pains that plague urban people. What is more noteworthy is that in many cases, chronic pain may be a warning sign of certain malignant disorders, suggesting that the body needs further examination.  Chronic pain should be diagnosed and treated early. Currently, scientific advances have led to an increasing number of treatments for pain that are more and more effective. Most chronic pain can be treated satisfactorily. Patients with chronic pain should go to the pain department of a regular hospital because the pain department has its own professional characteristics in terms of analgesia and restoration of function after a clear diagnosis. For example, the four parts of the neck, shoulder, waist and legs are often worn out during the process of movement. In the early stage of wear and tear, there are no obvious bone and muscle changes, but only pain. If you take drugs or exercise blindly, you will not be able to improve the disease, but you can target the inflammation process and the pathology of pain with anti-inflammatory and anti-pain treatment, so that the pain problem can be solved perfectly and the blood circulation in the painful part of the bone and joint will be better, which is good for the joint itself. This is the right way to treat the symptoms and minimize the damage caused by pain and pain medication. In addition to basic treatments such as drugs and physical therapy, the main minimally invasive pain techniques now used in the treatment of pain disorders in China are: nerve blocks, nerve radiofrequency ablation, disc decompression techniques, ozone, vertebroplasty, implantation of nerve stimulators or analgesic pumps, endoscopic treatment of the spinal canal, etc. In addition to these minimally invasive surgical treatments, subsequent rehabilitation and surgical treatments are also necessary. If chronic pain is not relieved after formal pain management, especially for many degenerative disorders, surgery may be indicated.