Pain Education

The following video will explain to you more about pain.

You might feel pain in different parts of your body, but did you know that pain is always produced in the brain, not the part of the body that hurts? Body parts can only send messages that something is wrong. The brain must interpret that message, and sometimes it creates the experience of pain.

There are different types of pain:

• Nociceptive pain – this is normal pain from an injury, like a cut or sprain.
• Neuropathic pain – this happens when nerves are damaged.
• Nociplastic pain – this kind of pain mostly comes from the brain and spinal cord.

Treatment depends on the type of pain you have. Also, people can have more than one type of pain at the same time.

Below are two videos. One explains what pain is, and the other explains the mechanisms of pain.

What is pain?

The Mechanisms of Pain

There are three main ways the body can create the feeling of pain. Each type is explained below.

Nociceptive pain

This type of pain happens when your body's pain system is working the way it should. It helps protect you by warning you about danger.

Some examples are:

• Pain from a cut or injury
• Pain after surgery
• Pain from a tumor
• Short-term inflammation, occurs when the immune system warns of danger by causing inflammation which can be interpreted by the brain as being painful.

This kind of pain usually doesn't last long. It helps you know something is wrong so you can stay safe and take care of your health.

Neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain happens when there's damage to the nerves that carry pain signals to your brain. If the nerves carrying messages to the brain get damaged, they may fire excessively or in abnormal patterns. This can be interpreted by the brain as a sharp or burning pain.

Some examples are:

• Nerve damage from diabetes (called diabetic neuropathy)
• A nerve that was cut or injured during surgery
• Damage to the brain or spinal cord

Nociplastic pain

This kind of pain happens when the brain processes pain signals the wrong way. Even normal signals from the body are processed by the brain as an injury or damage and produce pain. The pain from nociplastic pain feels the same as pain from nociceptive pain and is a "real" pain.

Nociplastic pain is sometimes associated with the following causes:

• Familial or genetic contribution
• Physical or emotional trauma
• Ongoing stress or repeated injuries
• Hormone problems

Some examples of conditions that may involve this type of pain include:

• Fibromyalgia
• Some forms of headache
• Irritable bowel syndrome

In this video, you'll learn how understanding the cause of your pain can help you find the best treatments. Instead of just treating based on your diagnosis, doctors are now looking at how your pain works. You'll also hear why both medicines and non-drug therapies, like exercise, sleep, and stress management, are important, especially for nociplastic pain.

Doctors and other health professionals can use procedures, therapies, medications, and devices to help you change how your brain processes pain. But the person who has the most control over your brain, is you. That's why the best way to manage chronic pain is a partnership between what your doctor can do (i.e., professional care) and what you can do (i.e., self-care). Today's pain treatments follow a step-by-step plan that is personalized to the type of pain you're having. Here's how it usually works:

• Diagnosis. Managing chronic pain starts by figuring out what kind of pain you have. This helps guide the right treatment.
• Education and Self-Care. Self-management is one of the most important parts of managing pain because it can directly impact how your brain produces the experience of pain. This website gives you easy instructions on different self-management techniques—like exercise, sleep, stress management, and more—all proven to help reduce pain.
• Professional Care. Your doctor may also recommend treatments like medications, medical devices, or certain procedures. These also help lower pain. By using this website, you can have an informed conversation with your doctor and decide on a plan that works best for you.

Click on the self-care modules below to learn more about strategies you can use to help manage your symptoms.