Question: I’ve seen many doctor/hospital shows on television refer to “acute pain”. What exactly is acute pain?

Answer: Pain was defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) in their journal “Pain” Number 6, page 250, published in 1979 as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”. Reference to pain without a modifier (such as emotional pain) usually means physical pain, the definition that preceded this sentence. Even when the term “pain” is qualified with another term, such as mental pain, it is still difficult to specifically describe what pain is.

The presence of pain may be an indication that something is wrong. Pain is often defined in terms of the condition that causes it. In fact there is an entire specialty in the field of medicine called pain medicine or pain management, and it may involve a team of medical personnel from physicians to clinical psychologists and physical therapists. Further, pain is often described in terms of its intensity, as being slight to severe and there are several type of pain scales that attempt to define the intensity of pain by self description from the patient. For example, facial expressions that represent changes in pain intensity are assigned a rating of from 1 to 10 for example, and patients are supposed to describe their pain based on how they feel in relation to the image of the face on the scale. A rating of 1 is no pain and a rating of 10 represents the most severe intensity of pain.

So now that we have a basic understanding of “pain” what is “acute pain”? Again, the term “acute pain” is somewhat general and may be subject to interpretation. But there are certain characteristics that most medical practitioners will agree upon. Acute pain normally begins suddenly, and is usually sharp in quality. Acute pain may be caused by many events and circumstances such as broken bones, burns or cuts, dental work, labor in childbirth, or surgery for example. Also, it can be mild and last for only an instant, or it can be severe and last for weeks or months. In most cases when referring to acute pain, it means pain that doesn’t last much longer than 6 months, and it disappears when the initial cause has been treated or has healed.

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