7 Most Common Non-Cancer Chronic Pain Conditions

As we all know, pain is one of the most common reasons for all the visits to physicians in different settings all around the world. Acute pain is a sign of injury and insult to the body and pain is one of the defending mechanisms to protect us against harmful stimuli. Like any other system in our body we have a control system to stop nerve stimulation when the insult is over, but this can fail in many ways like many other systems in our body. This is the etymology of non-cancer chronic pain.

1- Headache

Chronic headache is one of the most debilitating conditions which affect millions of people all over the world. Many people lose their jobs and are not able to do their activities of daily life due this medical issue. About 4% of the adults are suffering from this condition and women are affected 2-3 times more than men. Definition of chronic headache is 15 days or more of headache per month for over 3 months. There are many conditions that can cause this problem like migraine, tension headache, hemicranias continua, rebound headache and many more.

2- Back Pain

This is one of the most common reasons of regular visits to primary care, emergency rooms and many other disciplines. More than 84% of adult have experience back pain. Many people lose their job and quality of life due to back pain. When pain is present for 12 or more weeks, we call it chronic back pain.

3- Neck Pain

Neck pain is another very common reason for so many visits per year. Prevalence of neck pain is pretty close to back pain. Many people just have axial pain and some have extremities and neurologic symptoms while many patients have both.

4- Fibromyalgia

This is a very common condition and very hard to treat. These patients usually have chronic pain, fatigue and insomnia. Many people are affected by Fibromyalgia and often remained undiagnosed for a long period of time.

5- Knee Pain

About 25% of adults are affected by chronic knees pain. This condition can be very debilitating and affect activities of daily life, work productivity, quality of life and life satisfaction as a whole.

6- Shoulder Pain

Sport, Motor Vehicle Accident and work related injuries are very common and many patients are suffering from chronic shoulders pain.

7- Hip Pain

Chronic hip pain affects mobility and productivity of millions of people and has a huge impact on many people’s lives.

Read the full article by Dr. Ashtarani here.