Pain, Explained
Taking pain lightly, yet seriously.
Pain is the universal experience nobody wants to RSVP to. Yet, we all end up at the party, sometimes dragging a bum knee, a broken heart, or a mystery headache that arrived uninvited and won’t leave.
Pain isn’t just one thing; it’s complicated. It’s seldom a stub-your-toe-and-move-on kind of deal. Pain has layers. Since I’ve had many questions lately about pain, let’s pull back the curtain a little more on this shape-shifting, often misunderstood frenemy.
What Is Pain?
Pain is the body’s built-in alarm system.
It’s a signal that something might be wrong. At its core, pain is a sensory and emotional experience that’s designed to protect us. It alerts us to injury, illness, or dysfunction, whether that’s a sprained ankle, a paper cut, or something deeper under the surface.
The International Association for the Study of Pain (I’m sure they’re probably a painfully tired group, haha!) defines pain as:
“An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”
Did you catch that pain isn’t just what you feel physically? It’s also how you react to it emotionally. And two people can feel the same injury in very different ways. That’s what makes pain so tricky. It’s not just a signal; it’s an experience shaped by biology, psychology, memory, and context.
The Categories of Pain
There are many ways to describe pain. Sometimes putting a name to it can help you sort through the next steps to responding to that pain.
Pain by Duration
Acute Pain – Think: paper cut, stubbed toe, or post-op pain that yells, “HELLO! I’m here!” but generally fades as you heal.
Subacute Pain lingers past the acute phase (weeks to a few months), not quite overstaying its welcome, but close.
Chronic Pain – If it’s been three months or more, it's officially chronic. Sometimes it’s got a known cause (arthritis, fibromyalgia), sometimes it’s constantly nagging.
Breakthrough Pain – You're already managing pain, and suddenly—WHAM!—it surges past your management defenses.
Pain by Cause
Knowing what caused the pain can help us avoid it in the future or deal with it. Use this list to look up potential interventions to treat or mitigate pain.
🤕 Nociceptive Pain – Your classic damage response. It’s the body’s way of saying, “Hey, something is wrong here!” Examples: a sprain, a burn, a surgical incision.
⚡️ Neuropathic Pain – Caused by nerve dysfunction, it’s often electric, burning, stabbing. Phantom limbs, shingles, and diabetic neuropathy hang out here.
‼️ Inflammatory Pain – Arthritis, infections, even that post-leg-day soreness when you’ve done 87 squats because you felt unstoppable.
💔Psychogenic Pain – Triggered or amplified by emotion, trauma, or stress. It doesn’t make it any less real; it’s not discoverable on a scan.
🫣Referred Pain – Pain that’s playing hide-and-seek. You feel it in one place, but the origin is somewhere else, like shoulder pain from a heart attack.
Pain by Location
🦴‼️Somatic Pain – Surface-level and structured: muscles, joints, bones. Usually feels achy or sharp.
☢️ Visceral Pain – Deeper and duller. Originates from organs, like the gut or bladder.
😵 Musculoskeletal Pain—Often, this is your everyday wear-and-tear kind, affecting muscles, bones, and ligaments. It is also known as “Why does everything hurt when I wake up?” If you’re prone to taking pain relievers, I highly encourage you to read my article about them here.
❤️🩹 Emotional Pain – Oh yes, it counts. The heartbreaks, grief waves, and disappointments all processed on the same neural pathways as physical pain. It's like your soul pulled a hamstring.
... How Do We Manage All This?
Humans have tried almost everything from ancient herbs to Tylenol to deep breathing in a dark room to alleviate pain. Here’s a quick tour:
🔬 Chemical Interventions
Over-the-counter meds (NSAIDs, acetaminophen)
Prescription medications (opioids, antidepressants, anti-seizure meds)
Topical treatments
Supplements like turmeric, magnesium, or CBD (jury’s still out for some)
💆♀️ Therapeutic Approaches
Physical therapy
Massage
Acupuncture
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (especially powerful when pain and mental health get tangled together like earbuds with cords in a pocket)
🧠 Mind Over Ouch?
Can we think our way out of pain? Practices like mindfulness, visualization, and biofeedback tap into the brain’s pain-dampening systems. I’m sure you’ve heard about the people who can walk barefoot across hot coals. They’re not mutants—they're mentally trained. (I’m not recommending this unless you want to meet a burn specialist to watch them in action.) This tells you that we do have some mental power over pain, but it takes training and practice, which most of us aren’t willing (or able?) to do. If you want to increase your pain tolerance, this might be an interesting and likely place to start. Sport psychology also has a lot of approaches to pain endured through sports, so that’s another place to start.
But Wait, Do People Have Different Pain Tolerances?
Some say women have higher pain thresholds (childbirth!), while others argue men do too; they just grunt louder. Science suggests it’s not so simple—tolerance is a blend of biology, experience, psychology, and sometimes, pure stubbornness (that’s me). You can build tolerance over time, and you can become more sensitive if pain wears you down. The takeaway is that pain is personal.
🎯 Your Personal Pain Plan
Pain isn’t just something to experience, react to, and endure. It’s something to address, intentionally. I urge you to take some time to think about your pain. Pain is your body’s way of talking, and it’s time to listen. What is it telling you? What caused this to begin with, and can you do something to prevent it from repeatedly assaulting you?
Your health philosophy matters here, too. Do you prefer natural remedies? Do you lean toward clinical therapies? Are you okay with daily meds, or do you want to avoid them? There’s no wrong answer—only the answer that aligns best with you.
Here are a few pain management skills to think about:
Movement (even gentle)
Breathwork or meditation
Tracking patterns (Is it worse in cold weather? After poor sleep?) Respond accordingly.
Knowing when to ask for help
Here’s how to make a simple plan for pain in another one of my articles
And don’t forget the Core 4:
🧘 Movement | 🥦 Nutrition | 💧 Hydration | 💤 Sleep
Let’s use me as an example. I had double knee replacement (yes, both knees—because I like a challenge). Structurally, the surgery worked out great, but my left knee likes to remind me it’s not completely happy. Sitting? Hurts. Standing? Hurts. But movement? It loves it. My solution? I walk every day. I strength train. I stretch like I’m prepping for a Broadway audition. I walk on a treadmill when I’m in meetings. I also avoid sugar and other inflammatory foods, like fried foods. That’s my pain management. No pills, just the Core 4 in action.
Final Thought: Pain Can Teach Us Something (Even If We Hate the Lesson)
Pain might not always make us stronger, like many songs about pain suggest. But it can give us grit, empathy, and a reason to pause and listen. It reminds us we’re alive—and that healing isn’t just about removing the pain, but responding to it by paying attention to what it’s trying to tell us.
So next time pain knocks, instead of slamming the door or surrendering your day, ask it: What are you trying to tell me? And now what will I do about it that makes the most sense so that I can heal and remove the cause of it?
A little more about Dr. Alice Burron and Strategic Action Health:
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