If you or a loved one suffers from chronic pain, then you already understand how chronic pain and illness can take their toll.

Pain that persists and does not respond to medical therapy impairs your ability to perform basic tasks of daily living. It can also sap your strength and spirit, and jeopardize relationships with the people closest to you. Understanding how pain works is an important first step in finding a therapy that brings you relief, restoring your ability to participate in the activities — and with the people — you enjoy most.

Pain Is a Natural Response

Pain is the body’s natural response to physical harm or possible damage to tissue or organs. Pain occurs when specialized nerve endings, called pain receptors or nociceptors, are activated by injury or illness.

There are millions of nociceptors located throughout your body. Nociceptors can be triggered by acute or chronic diseases, as well as various types of injury, including trauma, excessive heat or cold, physical pressure, or chemical changes within body tissues that signal damage

When a pain receptor is activated at the site of the injury or illness, it triggers the release of chemical messengers that transmit the pain message to the brain. This message is relayed across a pain nerve pathway. The pathway begins at the nerve ending, and is carried along the nerve fiber to where the nerve enters the spinal cord. When the message reaches the spinal cord, it is transmitted to the brain, which interprets the electrical impulse as the feeling we call “pain.” This unpleasant sensation instantly prompts you to do something to stop the source of pain.