Frequently Asked Questions

What is chronic pain?

• Chronic pain is discomfort that lasts beyond the expected healing time of an injury.
• The International Association for the Study of Chronic Pain defines chronic pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in those terms.”
• HPA specialists focus on the treatment of this serious medical condition.

What causes chronic pain?

There are many causes of chronic pain including:

• Degenerative diseases, like osteoarthritis or degenerative disc disease
• Injury, such as a torn ligament, muscle, tendon, cartilage, or bony fracture.
• Pain that lingers on after surgery-due to tissue or nerve damage.
• Pain that lingers on after cancer- due to the tumor causing damage or damage from the cancer treatments.
• Disorders where the nervous system is on “high-alert” or “irritable” such as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS also called RSD) or fibromyalgia.
• Ask your HPA specialist about your chronic pain condition.

How do acute and chronic pain differ?

Acute pain describes pain following an injury or surgery that serves a very important role in the body. This pain signals your body to avoid putting weight on a broken leg (for example) and the inflammation helps the body’s healing process. Typically, the pain resolves as the healing progresses over several weeks. Chronic pain serves no useful function in the body and our goal at HPA is to help you manage chronic pain successfully.

How is chronic pain treated?

Treatments vary depending on your exact diagnosis but often include what is called a “multi-disciplinary” approach including:

• Treatment of the pain itself with injections/medications/surgery or related approaches
• Treatment of the patients’ impaired functioning with rehabilitation approaches to strengthen the patient and try to restore functionality.
• Addressing the patients psychological state for depression, anxiety and related conditions that are commonly seen with chronic pain.
• HPA can help custom design a treatment approach for your chronic pain condition