Inflammation and Pain

 

Pain

 

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.

 

Pain is a signal in your nervous system that something may be wrong. It is an unpleasant feeling, such as a prick, tingle, sting, burn, or ache. Pain may be sharp or dull. It may come and go, or it may be constant. You may feel pain in one area of your body, such as your back, abdomen, chest, pelvis, or you may feel pain all over.

 

Pain can be helpful in diagnosing a problem. If you never felt pain, you might seriously hurt yourself without knowing it, or you might not realize you have a medical problem that needs treatment.

 

There are two types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain usually comes on suddenly, because of a disease, injury, or inflammation. It can often be diagnosed and treated. It usually goes away, though sometimes it can turn into chronic pain. Chronic pain lasts for a long time, and can cause severe problems.

 

Pain is not always curable, but there are many ways to treat it. Treatment depends on the cause and type of pain. There are drug treatments, including pain relievers. There are also non-drug treatments, such as acupuncture, physical therapy, and sometimes surgery.

 

 

Inflammation

 

A normal part of the body's response to injury or infection. Inflammation occurs when the body releases chemicals that trigger an immune response to fight off infection or heal damaged tissue.

 

Inflammation is the immune system's response to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, toxic compounds, or irradiation, and acts by removing injurious stimuli and initiating the healing process. Inflammation is therefore a defense mechanism that is vital to health.

 

Inflammation is when the body sends cells to defend against an irritant. It is a key aspect of the body's immune defenses. Inflammation can be short-lived (acute) or long-term (chronic). The body may send cells to defend against a foreign body, such as a thorn, an irritant, or a pathogen.

 

The inflammatory response (inflammation) occurs when tissues are injured by bacteria, trauma, toxins, heat, or any other cause. The damaged cells release chemicals including histamine, bradykinin, and prostaglandins. These chemicals cause blood vessels to leak fluid into the tissues, causing swelling.

 

Inflammation is a process by which your body's white blood cells and the things they make protect you from infection from outside invaders, such as bacteria and viruses.

 

But in some diseases, like arthritis, your body's defense system -- your immune system -- triggers inflammation when there are no invaders to fight off. In these autoimmune diseases, your immune system acts as if regular tissues are infected or somehow unusual, causing damage.

 

Inflammation can be either short-lived (acute) or long-lasting (chronic). Acute inflammation goes away within hours or days. Chronic inflammation can last months or years, even after the first trigger is gone. Conditions linked to chronic inflammation include:

• Cancer

• Heart disease

• Diabetes

• Asthma

• Alzheimer’s disease

 

Symptoms of inflammation include:

• Redness

• A swollen joint that may be warm to the touch

• Joint pain

• Joint stiffness

• A joint that doesn’t work as well as it should

Inflammation may also cause flu-like symptoms including:

• Fever

• Chills

• Fatigue/loss of energy

• Headaches

• Loss of appetite

• Muscle stiffness

 

Inflammation can affect your organs as part of an autoimmune disorder. The symptoms depend on which organs are affected. For example:

• Inflammation of your heart (myocarditis) may cause shortness of breath or fluid buildup.

• Inflammation of the small tubes that take air to your lungs may cause shortness of breath.

• Inflammation of your kidneys (nephritis) may cause high blood pressure or kidney failure.

• You might not have pain with an inflammatory disease, because many organs don’t have many pain-sensitive nerves.

 

 

Pain and Inflammation

 

Pain results when the buildup of fluid leads to swelling, and the swollen tissues push against sensitive nerve endings. Other biochemical processes also occur during inflammation. They affect how nerves behave, and this can contribute to pain.

 

Every pain syndrome has an inflammatory profile consisting of the inflammatory mediators that are present in the pain syndrome. The inflammatory profile may have variations from one person to another and may have variations in the same person at different times. The key to treatment of Pain Syndromes is an understanding of their inflammatory profile. Pain syndromes may be treated medically or surgically. The goal should be inhibition or suppression of production of the inflammatory mediators and inhibition, suppression or modulation of neuronal afferent and efferent (motor) transmission. A successful outcome is one that results in less inflammation and thus less pain.

 

The origin of all pain is inflammation and the inflammatory response. The biochemical mediators of inflammation include cytokines, neuropeptides, growth factors and neurotransmitters. Irrespective of the type of pain whether it is acute or chronic pain, peripheral or central pain, nociceptive or neuropathic pain, the underlying origin is inflammation and the inflammatory response. Activation of pain receptors, transmission and modulation of pain signals, neuro plasticity and central sensitization are all one continuum of inflammation and the inflammatory response. Irrespective of the characteristic of the pain, whether it is sharp, dull, aching, burning, stabbing, numbing or tingling, all pain arise from inflammation and the inflammatory response.

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Personalized Pain Management Based Upon Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Inflammatory Profile at Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY 

 

Traditional Chinese Medicine has a well established system of ancient inflammation profiling. At Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center, RUI personalized pain management is based upon ancient inflammation profiling system of Traditional Chinese Medicine, her family inherited skill and knowledge, and her training and practice of conventional Western medicine. RUI inflammation profiling system is the key to the success of personalized pain management at Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY. The inflammatory profile has variations from one person to another and has variations in the same person at different time. Based upon personalized and time-related inflammation profile, RUI design acupuncture treatment modalities to treat the root of pain, or to treat the root of disease underlying pain at Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY. RUI integrative, personalized, drug-free pain management is offered at Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY. RUI pain management is through modulation of inflammation at Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY. RUI pain management is regenerative pain management for degenerative diseases at Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY. At Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY, RUI pain management is for tissue and organ restoration, such as neurorestoration and cartilage restoration. Rochester Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center is located in Clinton Crossings Medical Center in Rochester, NY 14618. Syracuse Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center is located in Northeast Medical Center in Fayetteville, NY 13066. Binghamton Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center is located in Vestal, NY 13850. RUI pain management is integrative pain management for integrated comprehensive pain management in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY. 

 

The common chronic pain seen in our Arthritis and Pain Treatment Center clinics: neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, sciatic pain, neuro pain syndromes, headaches, nerve pain, arthritis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc diseases, facial pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, arm pain, hand pain, hip pain, leg pain, ankle pain, foot pain, knee pain, joint pain, muscular pain, autoimmune diseases, abdominal pain, cancer pain management, spinal disorders, spinal pain, and other chronic pains and pain syndromes.

 

 

Inflammatory Disorders

 

What is inflammation?

 

Inflammation is the body’s immune system’s response to an irritant. The irritant might be a germ, but it could also be a foreign object, such as a splinter in your finger. When your body encounters an offending agent or suffers an injury, it activates your immune system. Your immune system sends out inflammatory cells, cytokines, and substances, which stimulate more inflammatory cells.

 

These cells begin an inflammatory response to trap bacteria and other offending agents. The inflammatory response initiates healing injured tissue. The result can be pain, swelling, bruising or redness. But inflammation also affects body systems you can’t see.

 

What is the difference between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation?

 

There are two types of inflammation, acute inflammation and chronic inflammation.

 

Acute inflammation: The response to sudden body damage, such as cutting your finger. To heal the cut, your body sends inflammatory cells to the injury. These cells start the healing process. An injury or illness can involve acute, or short-term, inflammation.

 

There are five key signs of acute inflammation:

• Pain: This may occur continuously or only when a person touches the affected area.

• Redness: This happens because of an increase in the blood supply to the capillaries in the area.

• Loss of function: There may be difficulty moving a joint, breathing, sensing smell, and so on.

• Swelling: A condition call edema can develop if fluid builds up.

• Heat: Increased blood flow may leave the affected area warm to the touch.

These signs are not always present. Sometimes inflammation is “silent,” without symptoms. A person may also feel tired, generally unwell, and have a fever.

 

Symptoms of acute inflammation last a few days. Subacute inflammation lasts 2–6 weeksTrusted Source.

 

Chronic inflammation: Your body continues sending inflammatory cells even when there is no outside danger. For example, in rheumatoid arthritis inflammatory cells and substances attack joint tissues leading to an inflammation that comes and goes and can cause severe damage to joints with pain and deformities.

 

 

 

Chronic inflammation can continue for months or years. It either has or may have links to various diseases, such as:

 

• diabetes

• cardiovascular disease (CVD)

• arthritis and other joint diseases

• allergies

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

• psoriasis

• rheumatoid arthritis

The symptoms will depend on the disease, but they may include pain and fatigue.

 

 

What are the symptoms of acute and chronic inflammation?

 

Acute inflammation may cause:

Flushed skin at the site of the injury.

Pain or tenderness.

Swelling.

Heat.

 

Chronic inflammation symptoms may be harder to spot than acute inflammation symptoms. Signs of chronic inflammation can include:

 

Abdominal pain.

Chest pain.

Fatigue. (example: systemic lupus)

Fever. (example: tuberculosis)

Joint pain or stiffness. (example: rheumatoid arthritis)

Mouth sores. (example: HIV infection)

Skin rash. (example: psoriasis)

 

What conditions are associated with chronic inflammation?

 

• Chronic inflammation is involved in the disease process of many conditions, including:

• Alzheimer’s disease

• Asthma

• Cancer

• Heart disease

• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS)

• Diabetes

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD)

• Arthritis and other joint diseases

• Allergies

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

• Psoriasis

• asthma

• chronic peptic ulcer

• tuberculosis

• rheumatoid arthritis

• periodontitis

• ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease

• sinusitis

• active hepatitis

 

Inflammation plays a vital role in healing, but chronic inflammation may increase the risk of various diseases, including some cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, periodontitis, and hay fever.

 

What are causes of inflammation?

 

Inflammation happens when a physical factor triggers an immune reaction. Inflammation does not necessarily mean that there is an infection, but an infection can cause inflammation.

 

 

Measuring inflammation

 

When inflammation is present in the body, there will be higher levelsTrusted Source of substances known as biomarkers.

 

An example of a biomarker is C-reactive protein (CRP). If a doctor wants to test for inflammation, they may assess CRP levels.

 

CRP levels tend to be higher in older people and those with conditions such as cancer and obesity. Even diet and exercise may make a difference.

 

 

 

* Do not stop your conventional western medicine care during acupuncture care! RUI Acupuncture care is only part of your comprehensive medical care, and is integrated with your conventional western medicine care.

* Contact us to schedule a professional evaluation and consultation appointment first, before you decide to have acupuncture care.