Acute pain is short-term pain. It may last for a few seconds after you stub your toe, or for a few days after you roll your ankle, or even a few weeks after you break a bone. Pain that we experience during this time is a warning sign to our body that we have an injury, and that we need to protect the area as it heals. Whether you seek medical treatment or allow the injury to heal itself naturally, as the healing process occurs over time, pain gradually decreases until you are able to return to normal function. 

Chronic pain (also referred to as persistent pain) is pain that persists beyond the healing time of the injury, and is present on most days of the week for at least 3 months or more. In chronic pain, pain is more about the sensitivity of the nervous system rather than tissue damage, as it is with a broken bone or a rolled ankle. 

Our body sends messages from the periphery along the peripheral nervous system to the spinal cord. Once these messages reach the spinal cord, they are sent to the brain, where the brain collects all the incoming information to determine, "How dangerous is this really?" The brain answers this question in an instant, and if the answer is "yes, this is dangerous!", appropriate action will be taken to remove yourself from harm’s way.

In the case of acute, pain this is a helpful response as it allows you to remove your hand from the hot plate before being badly burnt, as just one example! However, in the case of chronic pain, the brain can often decide "yes, this is dangerous!" when there is no actual threat of danger or damage to the tissues. This process is often termed central sensitisation, which means that your pain alarm system is overactive. This has occurred due to changes in the way your body transmits, interprets, and responds to stimulus. It is much like a highly sensitive car alarm that continues to go off when it is windy even though no one is breaking into the car. Similarly, in chronic pain, pain does not always equal damage, harm, or risk.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for chronic pain. Appropriate treatment requires a tailored, individual, and coordinated approach between multiple health professionals, within which your GP plays a key role in coordinating. Allied health professionals such as Exercise Physiologists, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Osteopaths, and Physiotherapists are commonly involved. Treatment may include medication, exercise, relaxation, helpful thinking, changes in activities of daily living, counselling, massage and many more treatment modalities.

An Exercise Physiologist (EP) is a 4- to 5-year University-qualified Allied Health professional who specialises in the delivery of exercise, lifestyle, and behavioural modification programs for the prevention and management of chronic diseases and injuries. An EP will look at your health holistically, investigating not only at the site of the initial injury or pain, but at the body as a whole and how pain may have affected the body. With an integrated and individualised approach to exercise prescription, an EP will select exercises that target a range of factors contributing to your current health status, including muscle imbalances, pain postures, muscle function, cardio-respiratory fitness, balance, and flexibility. An EP who is skilled in Chronic Pain management can prescribe an appropriate exercise program to help you get moving at a comfortable level and to provide you with a number of strategies to assist in the management of your pain. 

At Inspire Fitness, we pride ourselves on providing a high quality service to the community, one that address the needs and the demands of the community. We offer an Exercise Physiology service for all Chronic Pain clients, with Medicare rebates available when referred by your GP, and Private Health Fund rebates available for clients without a GP referral.

Contact Inspire Fitness for Wellbeing on (03) 9857 3007 or [email protected] for further information on our Pain Management Service.

Written by Nicole Marlow, Accredited Exercise Physiologist.

Inspire Fitness for Wellbeing is supporting National Pain Week, which will take place from July 22nd-28th. The aim of National Pain Week is to de-stigmatise pain, and reduce the isolation and suffering of people living with pain.

At Inspire Fitness, we have recently developed a Pain Management service under the supervision of Accredited Exercise Physiologist Nicole Marlow. The aim of this Exercise Physiology service is to empower members of the community who are living with chronic pain, so that they can manage their condition effectively.

Throughout National Pain Week, we will be releasing a series of blog articles to help educate the community on how exercise can be used as a treatment for such debilitating conditions.