What causes chronic pain?

A number of different factors can cause chronic pain. Often conditions that accompany normal ageing may affect the bones and joints in ways that result in chronic pain. Other common causes are nerve damage and injuries that fail to heal properly.

Some types of chronic pain have multiple causes. Back pain, for example, may be due to a single factor or any combination of these factors:

• Years of poor posture
• Ill-considered lifting and carrying of heavy objects
• Being overweight, which puts excess strain on the back and knees
• A congenital condition such as curvature of the spine
• Traumatic injury
• Wearing high heels
• Sleeping on a poor-quality mattress
• Ordinary ageing of the spine (degenerative changes)

Disease can also be the underlying cause of chronic pain. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are well-known culprits, but persistent pain may also be due to conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, stomach ulcers, AIDS and gallbladder disease.

In many cases, though, the source of chronic pain can be very complex and difficult to unravel. Although it may start with an injury or illness, ongoing pain can develop a psychological dimension after the physical problem has healed.

This fact alone makes pinning down a single course of treatment tricky. It is why doctors often find they have to try a number of different curative steps.