What are the 3 types of pain that all people suffer from?

THE pains in the human body they can be caused by various factors; a blow, a scratch or a consequence of some other ailment you suffer from, although pain of unknown origin also exists. From there the idea of ​​investigating and Classify the types of pain into three: common (nociceptive), nervous (neuropathic), and chronic generalized (fibromyalgia) pain.

It was in 1978 when the taxonomy subcommittee of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) began to investigate how the pain that people suffer manifests until it came to the conclusion that it is not simply something biological and that it also depends from other factors. .

However, only in 2018 was a definition reached that was accepted by professionals and other specialized organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), among many others.

According to the IASP, pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with or similar to that associated with actual or potential tissue damage”.

“Pain can be classified as nociceptive, neuropathic or, only in the case of chronic pain, central sensitization, depending on the type of lesion and the pathophysiological pathway that leads to pain perception,” the document adds.

As a result of this study, the IASP and WHO created the 11th International Classification of Diseases, which came into force in 2022.

There they introduced the concept that long-term illnesses or conditions associated with chronic pain should be recognized in their own right. In this sense, they also explained in detail how chronic pain works, which they characterized as follows:

• Chronic pain, which persists for more than three months
• In one or more anatomical regions, characterized by significant emotional distress (anxiety, anger/frustration or depressed mood) or functional disability (interference in activities of daily living and reduced participation in social roles);
• The symptoms are not better explained by another diagnosis.

What are the three types of pain

Common pain, also known as nociceptive, it is the type of pain that we know and in which most of the pain we experience is grouped. They are those that occur following an injury to some part of the body. That is, it is a pain whose cause and purpose are known.

The second is nerve pain, also popularized as neuropathic, which is even more intense than the common one. It occurs as a result of a previous injury or illness that affects the central nervous system, that is, the one that transports information to the brain. The cause of the pain is known, but its purpose is not.

Finally, The third type of pain is enigmatic pain.. Unlike the previous two, neither the cause nor the purpose of this one is known. It generally arises in response to other events, but of which the person is unaware.

This type of pain is not stored in a particular area and is felt as generalized tiredness throughout the body.