Types of pain

Pain comes in many forms and is dealt with by your body in very different ways.

Acute Pain

An acute pain is the kind of pain associated with a sudden injury such as trapping your finger in a car door. This will cause your body to release pain-suppressing chemicals that occur naturally in the immune system.

Acute pain is short-term and usually has an easily identifiable cause, such as an injury. It is the body’s warning system for damage to tissue or the onset of a disease. Acute pain is often sharp followed by a duller ache and is initially centralised to one area before spreading out. This type of pain is most responsive to medication.

Chronic pain

Chronic pain is the kind of debilitating pain such as the continual throbbing pain of a back ache that just won’t go away. Although this kind of pain will initially result in the release of the natural pain relieving chemicals found in your body, chronic pain does not trigger the same response from the immune system.

Chronic pain is long-lasting and can either be continuous or can be recurrent, where the pain comes and goes over a long period.

Unlike the instant pain experienced with an acute injury, the pain experienced by chronic pain sufferers has often outlived its purpose, as it doesn’t help the body to prevent injury.

The PainWave X4000 makes safe, effective therapy for chronic pain both affordable and accessible for sufferers. And unlike TENS machines which only block pain signals to the brain, the PainWave X4000 works with your body on the cause of pain to remove it.

Types of Chronic Pain

Skin wounds (cutaneous pain)

Cutaneous pain is caused by an injury to the skin. Just below the skin are thousands of tiny nerve endings called cutaneous nociceptors. Because they are so tightly grouped, they produce a well defined, localised pain. The kinds of injuries that result in cutaneous pain include cuts and minor burns.

The PainWave X4000 is of benefit for these types of injuries as it promotes faster healing of injured and inflamed tissue, by encouraging significant oxygen increases in the blood for muscles, tissues and skin.

Repetitive Strain Injury

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is the general term for injuries that affect the muscles, tendons and nerves of the upper body, mainly in the neck and arms. RSI can be caused by a combination of over exertion, poor posture and repetitive actions.

RSI conditions include tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, tennis elbow and De Quervain's Syndrome.

Additionally, Diffuse RSI occurs where a number of different symptoms exist without any specific centre of pain. The most common symptoms include general aches and pain, swelling, numbness, tingling, weakness and cramps.

The PainWave X4000 may be useful to RSI sufferers as it helps reduce swelling by increasing the blood supply to the body and limbs.

Aching bones and joints (somatic pain)

Somatic pain comes from ligaments, tendons, bones, blood vessels and even nerves themselves. This kind of pain is picked up by nerves called somatic nociceptors, which are far less common or densely packed than other types of nerve. Because of this, the pain produced is a dull, poorly-localised pain that lasts for a longer time. Examples of somatic pain include a sprained ankle and broken bones.

The PainWave X4000 can help relieve somatic pain by encouraging new blood vessels to form where needed. In addition, the device produces no heat and even works through clothing, bandages and plaster casts.

Internal aches and pains (visceral pain)

Visceral pain originates from body organs. Visceral nociceptors are the nerves located within body organs and internal cavities. These nerves are even scarcer and thus produce a much milder, but longer lasting, pain which feels more like an ache.

Visceral pain is extremely difficult to locate and several types of injuries to organs also cause referred pain, where the sensation is localised to an area completely unrelated to the site of the injury.

Nerve damage (neuropathic pain)

Neuropathic pain is better known as "neuralgia" and can occur as a result of injury or disease to the nerve tissue itself. This can disrupt the ability of the nerves to transmit the correct pain signals information to the brain, which makes it difficult to locate any obvious cause for the pain.