About Chronic Pain

What is pain?

Pain is the brain’s way of warning us about danger or injury. Pain starts when the body detects harm, and also in the absence of harm, but the brain decides how strong it feels. This is why the same injury can feel different to different people. Pain is considered chronic when it persists beyond the time of tissue healing.

Pain is more than just a physical feeling—it also affects daily life. Just consider these facts:

• 50-100 million Americans suffer from pain in our country – more people than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. That is nearly one out of every three people, according to the IOM Pain report “Relieving Pain in America.”
• We spend over $500 billion per year on the treatment and consequences of uncontrolled pain according to the CDC report “Prevalence of Chronic Pain and High-Impact Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2016.”
• Over 20 million Americans experience high-impact chronic pain (HICP) or pain that significantly impacts their quality of life.
• Pain is the leading cause for why people are out of work.

Chronic pain vs. acute pain

• Acute pain is new pain that goes away.
• Chronic (or persistent) pain lasts longer than 3 to 6 months and can affect daily life and well-being. Some experts prefer the term “persistent pain” because it better reflects how pain continues over time.
• High-impact chronic pain is chronic pain lasting more than three months and severely limits work, social life, and self-care. People with this type of pain often experience more severe symptoms and mental health challenges.

What causes chronic pain?

Pain often follows injury, infection, or disease. Chronic pain isn't just about structural damage, however—it’s often the nervous system stuck in a pain loop. If pain continues for a long time, changes in the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems can maintain the pain after the body has healed.

• Common chronic pain conditions include:
• Arthritis 
• Back pain, especially lower back pain
• Pelvic Pain
• Fibromyalgia
• Migraines
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome CRPS

How is chronic pain treated? 

Chronic pain is best treated with a comprehensive, whole-person approach. Pain affects each person differently, and Stanford’s treatment plans are tailored to the individual’s needs and preferences.

There is no one way to manage pain. Instead, treating the whole person usually works best by using different therapies based on the type and level of pain. Treatment time varies, but most people get care for several months, with doctors and specialists working together to help.

Below are key approaches to pain treatment, each designed to target pain from different angles.
 

6 Broad therapies for chronic pain

1. Self-Empowerment or Increasing Your Agency

This includes learning, building skills, and gaining confidence. 

2. Psychological and Behavioral Therapies 

Pain psychology can help people manage long-term pain. For example, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been shown to improve anxiety, depression, and pain.

3. Physical and Occupational Therapy

These therapies are important for improving daily life and movement. They can help with setting goals, managing activity levels, building strength, moving safely, and increasing endurance.

4. Complementary Alternative Medicine Approaches 

This includes practices like acupuncture, nutraceuticals, and supplements.

5. Nerve Blocks and Procedures

These treatments include trigger point injections and minimally invasive procedures like spinal cord stimulators and drug delivery pumps.

6. Medications

There are more than 200 medicines to help with pain. Some you can buy at the store, while others need a prescription. Examples include ibuprofen and Naprosyn, which are types of medicine called NSAIDs.

When to call a doctor about pain

Your pain is something more serious when it's interfering with your daily life.

To help determine if you should seek medical care, ask yourself:

• Is this pain stopping me from doing daily activities, like work or exercise?
• Do I feel anxious, scared, or overwhelmed by the pain?
• Has the pain lasted longer than expected, or is it getting worse?
• Does the pain come with other concerning symptoms, like fever, numbness, or sudden changes in movement?

Pain that limits your ability to function or causes distress isn’t something you have to just live with. If your pain is affecting your well-being the Stanford Pain Management Center can help you reclaim your life.

Getting a chronic pain diagnosis at Stanford

At Stanford, a team of specialists conducts thorough evaluations and provides detailed pain diagnostics. This helps them understand your pain and develop a treatment plan tailored to your needs.

What to Expect:

1. Referral & First Contact 

People are referred to our clinic by their doctor.

2. Comprehensive Evaluation

Our team, which may include pain doctors, psychologists, and physical therapists, will look at your pain through your medical history, physical exams, and sometimes tests like imaging or nerve studies.

3. Personalized Treatment Plan

Once we understand your pain, we’ll work with you to develop a plan that may include psychology, education, empowerment, procedures, or other treatments.

Each step is designed to help us find the best approach to managing your pain and improving your daily life.

Does chronic pain ever go away? 

For some people with chronic pain, the right treatment can significantly reduce pain and improve quality of life. For others, the same treatments may not work as well, but there is still hope. Chronic pain does resolve for some people. In more complex cases, especially when pain has lasted a long time and deeply impacted a person’s life, a team-based approach is often the best way to find relief.

The ACPA defines successful treatment for chronic pain as learning how to manage it in a way that allows life to move forward, helps a person take part in daily activities, and reduces discomfort and side effects.

It's important to remember that successful treatment doesn’t always mean being completely pain-free. Instead, it means being able to manage pain, regain function, and lead a fulfilling, happy life.