1991 Barbara A. Schaffer Chronic pain is one of the most pressing health care issues in the U.S. and other industrial nations because of the magnitude of the problem. There has never been an intensive survey done of chronic pain sufferers and it would be very difficult to do because many are treated by family practitioners and many have given up on health care and suffer silently within the confines of their home and family. This article pertains to all cases of chronic pain no matter what the cause.
Acute pain is the direct result of an injury or disease.
It can be seen as a symptom of the disease. Chronic pain becomes a disease process of its own even though it may originally have been caused by an injury or disease. They see chronic pain as any pain that lasts for over a month past the normal healing time for an injury or disease. If a person breaks his wrist there is usually pain for 7 to 10 days. But if after 6 weeks there is still pain, RSD may be developing.