Although pain classes are not diagnoses, categorizing pain helps guide treatment. Multiple systems for classifying pain exist. These include multi-dimensional classification systems, such as the IASP Classification of chronic pain, and a variety of systems based on a single dimension of the pain experience.
Of the latter systems, those based on pain duration (i.e., acute vs chronic pain), and underlying pathophysiology (i.e., nociceptive vs neuropathic pain) are used most often. Key features of pain types and syndromes Acute pain Pain usually concordant with degree of tissue damage, which emits with resolution of injury Reflects activation of nociceptors and/or sensitized central neurons Often associated with ANS and other protective reflex responses (eg. Muscle spasms, “splinting”) Chronic pain Low levels of identified underlying pathology do not explain the presence and/or extent of…
