Acute, chronic, and subacute are three different ways to describe pain.
Acute pain is pain that comes on quickly, usually as a result of a traumatic accident or illness.
Chronic pain is pain that develops more slowly and is persistent or long-lasting.
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Subacute pain is somewhere in between the two.
Different types of pain have different treatment strategies.
For example, healthcare providers treat acute pain by treating the underlying cause.
Chronic pain may require different strategies like physical therapy, injection therapies like steroids, and/or prescription pain medications.
Acute pain tends to be very isolated.
Such pain comes on quickly but often has a limited overall duration.
Chronic Pain
The opposite of acute pain ischronic pain.
Chronic pain refers to any sort of physical injury, illness, or disease that develops slowly.
Rather than being short-lived and finite, chronic pain is persistent and long-lasting, or constantly recurring over time.
Chronic pain is usually defined as pain that lasts for more than three months.
Some people have chronic pain that needs to be managed for the rest of their lives.
Chronic pain can have many causes, including a past injury or illness that you have otherwise recovered from.
It can also be sparked by a condition like osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy, orfibromyalgia.
People with advanced cancers may also experience chronic pain.
Usually, this means more than four weeks but less than three months.
It may feel dull or sharp.
Both acute and subacute pain may evolve into chronic pain, especially if they are insufficiently treated.
How Is Acute Pain Treated?
How Is Chronic Pain Treated?
Summary
Acute, chronic, and subacute are terms used to describe the duration of pain.
Chronic pain describes pain that continues for more than three months.
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