Chronic pain: a unifying theory of mechanism

Abstract

This article presents a novel practical insight into the continuing debate on the origin and mechanism of chronic pain. The paper hypothesizes that there is a common neuropathic etiology of all types of general chronic pain and that transition of acute to chronic pain involves development (or aggravation) of peripheral compressive proximal neural lesion. Proposed is a cyclic mechanism of dynamic nerve compression. Intermittent nature of proximal neural damage is postulated to be essential in maintaining nociceptive sensitization-driven chronic pain. Hypothesis-based introduction of a vicious cycle of chronic pain and explanation of persistent pain in conditions such as spinal cord injury, neuroma, and overlapping pain should stimulate relevant research. This article encourages diagnostic alertness to compressive proximal neural lesions, which are often misdiagnosed in chronic pain patients.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Chronic Pain Management in the Community Pharmacy Setting: A Cross-Sectional Survey of the General Public’s Knowledge and Perceptions

“…Overall, study participants were fairly similar to the US as a whole but were several years older on average. As chronic pain becomes an increasing health concern with age [43], younger individuals may have opted out of participating in this survey. However, the findings may therefore be more relevant to end-users of a community pharmacy-based MBSR program for chronic pain management.…”