Ep 47: Acute vs. Chronic Pain - What’s the Difference?

In my Yoga for Injury Management mentorship for teachers, I recently facilitated a lecture on injuries in the upper body. But you can't talk about injuries without also talking about pain. Therefore, I took some time to explain the differences between acute pain and chronic pain before getting into upper body injuries. 

In this episode, I share some of that lecture with you...

Listen to episode #37 for further understanding: Understanding Pain Beyond Tissue Damage

Transcript

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In my yoga for injury management mentorship, I recently facilitated a lecture on injuries in the upper body. But I cannot talk about injuries without also talking about pain. So I took some time to break down and explain the difference between acute pain and chronic pain before getting into injuries. And I want to share some of that lecture with you on this episode.

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Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright, and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you if you're a yoga teacher, you're looking for support, you love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business, and helpful ideas, tools, strategies, and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you want to dive deep and set yourself up for success. I'm so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now, let's do this together.

Yeti Stereo Microphone-2: 1:36

Welcome back to the podcast. Okay. You know, I love studying and teaching about injuries, right. If you don't know that now you do. And I truly believe in my soul that yoga teachers and movement educators of all modalities. Should have a working knowledge of pain and injuries. I mean, we are working with students, actual bodies. And I will reiterate that you are teaching more students with pain and injuries than, you know, So first let's talk about pain. We generally think of pain as also having correlated tissue damage, whether it's hard or soft tissue, it doesn't matter if you haven't already better yet. Even if you have go back and listen to episode number 37. Titled understanding pain beyond tissue damage. I'll link it to the show notes below. But from the lens of pain science, we know that the experience of pain has many, many factors, including, and in addition to physical damage, that's whether you have actual tissue or structural damage or not. A quick case in point is Phantom limb syndrome. My mother experienced this phenomenon and it was so fascinating to me. This was about 15 years ago. So to say that it went against what we thought then about pain is an understatement. Of course, the doctors told us about it. In a 10 minute doctor's visit, but it wasn't widely known in the general public. And she definitely wasn't educated about it. Leading up to the decision where her leg needed to be amputated. All right. So in the case of Phantom limb syndrome or a Phantom limb pain, There is no tissue. So how is their pain? I'm going to let you ponder on that. For a second. The traditional and more common understanding about pain. Is that when an injury occurs, specialized nerve fibers called nociceptors detect potential harm. And send signals to the brain. The brain interprets these signals, considering the body's condition. Past experiences, emotions, and context to decide if it should trigger a pain response. Pain is your body's protective signal. Urging you to rest, heal and avoid further damage, but your brain doesn't just turn pain on. Based solely on physical damage. It's a complex experience shaped by bio-psycho-social factors that biological, psychological, and social. This explains why two people with similar injuries might experience very different pain levels and pain experiences. So let's get into the difference between acute and chronic pain. Acute pain arises from recent injury or inflammation, which typically triggers a protective response in the body. This response encourages rest limiting movement to prevent further injury and support healing. Acute pain, often restricts physical activity, making it challenging for a person, a student to attend a yoga class. Unless they're seeking very gentle. Therapeutic movement specifically designed for recovery. For instance. Someone with a fresh injury, like a sprained ankle or a recent surgery, would likely be resting more or using specific rehabilitation exercises, or maybe even going to physical therapy rather than coming to a group yoga class. Acute pain is short-term pain. That arises suddenly, usually as a direct response. To an injury or a specific physical stimulus, such as a cut, a bruise, a burn or a broken bone. This type of pain typically lasts anywhere from a few seconds to several weeks, but it generally resolves. As the underlying injury or condition heals, usually within three to six months, depending on the injury. Uh, acute pain serves as a biological warning signal. Right? Uh, physical warning from the body to protect the injured area and prevent further harm. Key characteristics of acute pain include the location of it or the cause of it. Often being well-defined localized and associated with a specific injury or event. Also during acute injury, there is an inflammatory response. Inflammatory chemicals are released sensitizing the pain receptors, those nociceptors in the effected area. This process activates the sympathetic nervous system fight or flight. Increasing your alertness and directing resources towards healing. And finally as tissues heal and inflammation decreases the pain gradually diminishes and eventually disappears. From a movement perspective, gentle mindful movement can help to maintain range of motion and reduce stiffness without aggravating, acute pain. But this needs to be done with intention. Once the pain subsides, the nervous system turns off the pain signal, meaning acute pain is typically self-limiting. And can resolve naturally with proper care. Now let's take a look at chronic pain. Chronic pain develops over time and can persist well beyond your body's typical healing period. Often lasting months or years. People with chronic pain may adapt to their discomfort and develop long-term coping strategies. Because chronic pain conditions such as back pain or arthritis are ongoing and fluctuate in intensity. Yoga students with chronic pain are often drawn to continue to practice as a way to maintain movement, reduce tension, and improve their quality of life. They might also experience days with higher or lower pain levels, but use yoga as a part of a sustainable supportive routine rather than strictly avoiding physical activity. Chronic pain is long-term pain that persists for more than three to six months, and often continues beyond the normal healing time of an injury. This type of pain can arise from an initial injury, but chronic pain can also persist without any apparent physical cause a nervous system plays a key role in this process, as it can become sensitized to pain. Creating a cycle in which pain persists independently of ongoing physical damage. The key characteristics of chronic pain include nervous system sensitization, emotional and psychological factors. Complex origin and spread and longterm impact on the nervous system. So let's look at each of these. First in nervous system sensitization with chronic pain, your nervous system becomes trained to expect and produce pain. Even in the absence of tissue damage. This is due to a process called central sensitization. Where the spinal cord and brain amplified pain signals making your body more reactive. To even mild stimuli. Next is emotional and psychological factors. Chronic pain often interacts with psychological factors, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, which can further increase pain, sensitivity. Psychological stress. For instance, can reinforce pain pathways in the brain, making chronic pain, harder to manage and create a cycle of pain and emotional distress. Then there's complex origin and spread. So chronic pain can shift from its original site of injury to other parts of the body. And people may develop secondary pain. Due to altered movement patterns, muscle tension, or compensatory changes in posture. And finally long-term impact on the nervous system. Because chronic pain engages the brains pain pathways for extended periods. It can alter the brain structure and function. This effect can make the brain hypervigilant. To potential threads contributing to a sense of constant discomfort or fear of movement. Firsthand. I'm going to tell you that proximal, hamstring, tendinopathy, and frozen shoulder or chronic conditions that still to this day have me in a heightened state of awareness of both of those areas of my body. For you as the teacher of student who may be in chronic pain, addressing it involves working gently with the nervous system to retrain the body's response to pain. Practices that encourage relaxation, like deep breathing and slow, mindful movements. I can help. Down-regulate the nervous system. Reducing sensitivity to pain. Acknowledging the emotional components of chronic pain can also empower people to approach pain management holistically. So here's a quick summary of the difference between acute and chronic pain. First is the duration. Acute pain is short term and typically resolves. With healing while chronic pain persists beyond normal healing time and can become self perpetuating. Next is the cause. Acute pain is often directly tied to a specific injury. Chronic pain may persist long after the initial injury heals or exist without any clear physical cause. Third is your nervous system involvement, chronic pain involves significant nervous system sensitization. Whereas acute pain is mostly a localized, protective response. And finally are the treatment needs or recovery strategies for each. Acute pain generally requires rest and healing while chronic pain. Uh, benefits from nervous system regulation, psychological support. And gradual re-introduction of movement. Yoga students are generally less likely to practice with acute pain because of the nature of the injury. In acute cases, the recovery strategies include lots of rest. And mobilization and calming a heightened nervous system. You are more likely to experience students with chronic pain. Who have just been dealing with the aches and pains that they've grown comfortable with. Over the longterm. If you're working one-on-one with a student, this knowledge can help you tailor your teaching to individual student needs. And create a supportive environment for those managing either acute or chronic pain. Since chronic pain is often influenced by psychological and social factors, gentle yoga. That includes breath, work, mindfulness and body awareness can help Sue the nervous system. Reduce pain, sensitivity and improve students' relationships with their bodies. This information informs you your teaching and elevates your confidence while teaching students with pain. Okay. If you cannot tell already, I love talking about anatomy, pain, injuries, and pain science, and I want all teachers of movement to understand how a working knowledge of it affects your teaching. I don't think we talk about the importance of pain and injuries enough, and if this conversation feels uncomfortable, that's okay. Don't worry. This is exactly where change happens. Pick up an anatomy book. Watch a video series, talk to your students about their bodies. Really watch them move and notice what you see. And find trusted teachers at accounts on social media that will teach you. Just keep taking the steps to be more informed. I hope that this episode sparks some deeper thought around why knowledge of pain. Uh, understanding and recovery is so important as a movement educator. I've added a link in the show notes for you to send me a quick text message about your thoughts on this episode. Or any other, I won't know your phone number. It's a neat addition to the platform I use that allows for this new and super easy way for you to communicate with me. Once you click on it. It will take you to your messages. Don't delete the code. That's how your message will get to me. And I would love to know your thoughts on this topic. I love diving into these conversations because there are so many important discussions to be had in the teaching world. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life and allow it to be fulfilling. And rewarding. The ability to take care of yourself while you care for so many of your students is important too. If you love this episode, let me know, subscribe to the podcast. So you're always in the know when a new episode drops and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. And if you've been taking notes in your journal, as you listen to these episodes, I'm so glad you are. And I would love to hear about it. Don't forget to download the ebook sequencing for different injuries. The link is in the show notes. I promise you it will help you form a foundation. For teaching students with injuries. And it will be a great resource for you to return to again and again. Finally, if you download the ebook, you'll be joining my newsletter. That's just for yoga teachers. I've got more exciting teachings coming soon. So I want to tell you all about them. The link is in the show notes below, and I would love for you to join it so we can always stay connected. All right. That's it for now. Bye.

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Mhm.