Pain Classifications by Type

Acute (Nociceptive) Pain

• Definition
• Examples
  • Surgical incision
  • Fractures

Cancer Pain

• Definition

Chronic (Nonmalignant) Persistent Pain

• Definition
• Examples
  • Low back pain
  • Osteooarthritis

Neuropathic Pain

• Definition
• Examples
  • Phantom Pain
  • Postherpetic Neuropathy
  • Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

    Acute Pain

Chronic Pain      

Like an alarm clock that works:

• Serves as a warning to take action
• Turns off until it is needed again

Like a broken alarm clock: 

• Serves no useful purpose. 
• More intense over time; no way to turn it off.

• Normally functioning nervous system

• Dysfunctional nervous system

• Identifiable onset and etiology

• No clear onset or etiology

• Goes away as injury heals

• Persists past the time of healing

• Often described as dull, aching, sore, throbbing, cramping   

• Chronic pain is often described in more emotional terms, e.g.  vicious, agonizing, sickening
• Chronic neuropathic pain is often described as stabbing, shooting, burning or tingling

Cancer pain can be both ‘acute’ (related to tumor growth) and ‘neuropathic’ (related to compression of neural structures.