If you’ve ever twisted your ankle, accidentally cut yourself, or had a toothache, you’ve probably experienced acute pain — a temporary sensation that usually comes on suddenly and can be intense. Often, it’s caused by an illness, injury, surgery, or trauma.
“Typically, people use descriptors like sharp, dull, burning, achy, shooting, or throbbing,” says Carolyn Kloepping, MD, an anesthesiologist and pain management physician at Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian in New York City. “Acute pain can sometimes be intermittent or constant.”
In most cases, acute pain goes away once the underlying cause is treated, so it’s important to see a doctor to discuss treatment options. Understanding acute pain is key to recognizing it early, getting the right treatment, and finding relief.
Here are seven essential things to know about acute pain.
1. Acute Pain Is Different From Chronic Pain
The main difference between acute and chronic pain is how long each one lasts. Acute pain is short lived, lasting less than three months. It should resolve once the sprained ankle heals, cut mends, or toothache is treated.
[1]
Chronic pain, on the other hand, is persistent pain that lasts three months or longer. It may be due to disease, injury, or unknown causes.
[2]
Unlike acute pain, chronic pain does not always go away once the underlying cause is addressed.
[3]
2. There Are Many Potential Causes of Acute Pain
As a pain management physician, Dr. Kloepping says she often sees “patients who have acute pain affecting their low back, related to some kind of injury like a workout-related injury, car accident, exacerbation of degenerative changes in their low back, or disc herniations.”
Other common causes of acute pain include:
- Broken or fractured bones
- Childbirth
- Cuts, scrapes, and burns
- Dislocated joints
- Headaches
- Infections
- Injury from a fall or a hit
- Sore throat
- Sprains or strains
- Surgery or other medical procedures
- Toothaches
Not all causes of acute pain require immediate medical attention. Minor cuts and scrapes typically get better with at-home care. More serious causes of pain, such as broken bones, dislocated joints, or severe burns, may require a trip to urgent care or the emergency room.
“Typically, acute pain should respond to conservative measures like RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation), if appropriate,” says Kloepping. “But if the acute pain is related to an acute or major trauma — like a major car accident or a major injury — someone should seek care instead of assuming that it’ll get better on its own.”
If you have any questions about how you should address the cause of the acute pain, speak with your doctor.
3. Acute Pain Can Act as Your Body’s Warning System
Experiencing some acute pain is not necessarily a bad thing. It may actually be your body’s way of protecting you from worse pain.
For example, the burning sensation you feel when you touch a hot stove will cause you to pull your hand back. The pain when you step on a sore foot is a sign to stop putting pressure on it, which can prevent further injury.
This protective type of acute pain is called nociceptive pain. It’s the aching, burning, or throbbing pain you feel after an injury that causes tissue damage. Nerve endings called nociceptors activate and send a message to the brain that something is wrong and needs to be addressed.
[4]
4. You Shouldn’t Ignore Acute Pain
You don’t have to live with pain or hope the pain goes away on its own, and trying to push through pain can just make it worse. “Don’t try to tough it out,” says Kloepping. “If pain is significantly impacting your quality of life, if it’s impacting your normal activity level, you should seek care.”
Recognizing and treating acute pain early can help speed healing, improve recovery outcomes, enhance your overall quality of life, and boost daily functioning.
[5]
“Our goal with acute pain is that we address it early on, that we restore the patient’s function and their capacity early on, so that they don’t become debilitated by the pain or deconditioned as a result of whatever process is causing their acute pain,” says Kloepping.
If you’re experiencing pain, see your doctor to receive a diagnosis and develop a comprehensive treatment plan that addresses the underlying cause.
5. Acute Pain Treatment Includes Medication and Nonmedication Options
There are many treatment options to help you manage acute pain. Your treatment approach will depend on the specific cause of the pain.
“We consider a variety of treatment options,” says Kloepping. “Sometimes we’ll use pharmacologic treatment options or medications to help address acute pain. Our typical mainstays are nonopioid analgesics.”
According to Kloepping, nonmedication options also play an important role in treating acute pain. These may include:
[7]
6. Talk to Your Doctor About Acute Pain That Doesn’t Respond to Treatment
Recovery timelines are different for everyone and can depend on the underlying cause of the acute pain. But if the pain you’re having doesn’t respond to initial treatment or becomes worse, you should talk to your doctor.
“If pain is not improving over about one to two weeks or is significantly worsening; if the patient has new symptoms, such as weakness, numbness, fevers, bowel or bladder dysfunction; or if the patient has any swelling or redness over an affected area associated with pain, we recommend they come and see their physician for an assessment,” says Kloepping.
Your doctor may reevaluate the cause of the pain, suggest a new treatment, or refer you to a pain management specialist for a more targeted treatment approach.
7. Acute Pain Can Become Chronic
In one study, approximately 32 percent of people with acute low back pain transitioned to chronic pain.
[8]
It’s not known exactly why some people with acute pain develop chronic pain, while others don’t, but some factors may increase this risk, including:
[9]
- Being female
- Being younger
- Certain health conditions
- Genetics
- A history of anxiety or depression
- The nature of the original injury or surgery
- Preexisting pain
Pain can lead to changes in the central nervous system that make you more sensitive to pain or cause you to feel pain even after the initial cause of the pain has healed, potentially resulting in chronic pain.
[10]
“Our bodies can become sensitized to pain, leading to something called central sensitization, if the acute pain is not well managed in its early phases,” says Kloepping. “Central sensitization involves increased flow of information between the site of origin of pain to the brain, resulting in pain persisting much beyond its typical time course and pain that may be a little bit more difficult to address in the long run.”
Recognizing, addressing, and treating acute pain promptly can help prevent it from becoming chronic.
The Takeaway
- Acute pain is intense, sudden, and short lived, lasting from a few minutes to three months.
- Minor causes of acute pain, such as cuts and scrapes, may get better with at-home care, while more serious causes of acute pain, such as broken bones and severe burns, require medical attention.
- Early diagnosis and treatment of acute pain can help improve recovery outcomes and prevent the transition to chronic pain.
