{"id":29825,"date":"2024-01-29T17:33:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T22:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/uncategorized\/comprendre-la-douleur-chronique\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T11:23:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T15:23:21","slug":"comprendre-la-douleur-chronique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/chronic-pain\/comprendre-la-douleur-chronique\/","title":{"rendered":"Understand chronic pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex-1 overflow-hidden\">\n<div class=\"react-scroll-to-bottom--css-zatpr-79elbk h-full\">\n<div class=\"react-scroll-to-bottom--css-zatpr-1n7m0yu\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col pb-9 text-sm\">\n<div class=\"w-full text-token-text-primary\" data-testid=\"conversation-turn-3\">\n<div class=\"px-4 py-2 justify-center text-base md:gap-6 m-auto\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-1 text-base mx-auto gap-3 md:px-5 lg:px-1 xl:px-5 md:max-w-3xl lg:max-w-[40rem] xl:max-w-[48rem] group final-completion\">\n<div class=\"relative flex w-full flex-col lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)] agent-turn\">\n<div class=\"flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-grow flex-col max-w-full\">\n<div class=\"min-h-[20px] text-message flex flex-col items-start gap-3 whitespace-pre-wrap break-words [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-5 overflow-x-auto\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"2d9533bc-7ae6-4791-a99b-a86463d99493\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light\">\n<p>By definition, chronic pain is pain that has been experienced for more than three months. This condition is multifactorial and can affect function, morale, cause stress\/anxiety and can take up a lot of space in our daily lives.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is possible to be functional and lead a happy life despite chronic pain. In fact, there are ways of moving from a life focused on suffering to one focused on functioning.<\/p>\n<h2>Hypersensitivity of the pain system<\/h2>\n<p>Pain acts as an alarm system, indicating danger. It&#8217;s important to be able to feel this pain in order to protect ourselves. However, when pain has been felt for a long time, the alarm system is sometimes too sensitive and goes off without any real danger. With chronic pain, the brain is so accustomed to sending pain signals that it no longer knows what else to do. It has to get used to not feeling pain again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>To desensitize our alarm system, we can :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Visualize without pain<\/li>\n<li>Move without increasing pain<\/li>\n<li>Gradually increase our activity level<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Reorganizing the brain<\/h2>\n<p>In the brain, we have a world map of our body parts. Each part of the body is represented in proportion to its use. When we&#8217;ve been experiencing pain for a long time, the boundaries of our world map become blurred, which explains why pain can change location. For example, we may have pain in one shoulder one day, then the next day the pain will be more localized in the elbow. This doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean we have a new injury.<\/p>\n<h2>Influence of context<\/h2>\n<p>Pain is affected by our emotions. Unpleasant emotions can increase our suffering, while pleasant ones can reduce it. You may have already noticed that if you&#8217;re going through a period of intense stress or have received bad news, your pain will tend to be worse. On the other hand, when you&#8217;re doing something that makes you happy, such as spending time with friends, the pain will be less.<\/p>\n<p>There are many ways to manage chronic pain. Here are just a few:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Regular physical activity (walking, yoga): Stimulates the release of endorphins, which reduce pain.<\/li>\n<li>Healthy lifestyle habits: sleep, diet<\/li>\n<li>Effective pain relief methods: TENS, heat, ice<\/li>\n<li>Mindfulness meditation<\/li>\n<li>Energy management:<br \/>\n-Don&#8217;t wait for pain to increase too much before taking a break.<br \/>\n-Change position often<\/li>\n<li>Abdominal breathing. Cardiac coherence.<\/li>\n<li>Medication (as prescribed by doctor\/pharmacist)<\/li>\n<li>Good stress management<\/li>\n<li>Pain-free visualization: imagine yourself performing movements without feeling pain.<\/li>\n<li>Cognitive distraction techniques: leisure activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your physiotherapist will help you stay active and functional despite chronic pain.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\">Visit the clinic nearest you:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/chelsea-gatineau\/physiotherapie-a-la-clinique-de-gatineau\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Chelsea Gatineau (secteur Hull)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/vaudreuil-dorion\/physiotherapie-a-la-clinique-de-vaudreuil\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Vaudreuil-Dorion<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/mirabel\/physiotherapie-a-la-clinique-de-mirabel\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Mirabel<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/valleyfield\/physiotherapie-a-la-clinique-de-valleyfield\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Valleyfield<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/quebec\/physiotherapie-a-la-clinique-de-quebec-duberger-les-saules\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Qu\u00e9bec<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/boucherville\/physiotherapy-at-boucherville-clinic\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Boucherville<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abccliniquesante.com\/en\/trois-rivieres-2\/physiotherapie-a-la-clinique-de-trois-rivieres\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Physiotherapy \u2013 Trois-Rivi\u00e8res<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mosely, G.L. et Butler, D. (2015), The Explain Pain Handbook Protectometer, Moigroup Publications, 49 pp<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By definition, chronic pain is pain that has been experienced for more than three months. This condition is multifactorial and can affect function, morale, cause stress\/anxiety and can take up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":431,"featured_media":24532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,214],"tags":[237,213,142,136],"class_list":["post-29825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chronic-pain","category-physiotherapy","tag-chronic-pain","tag-douleur-chronique-en","tag-douleurs-en","tag-physiotherapy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understand chronic pain - ABC Clinique Sant\u00e9<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By definition, chronic pain is pain that has been experienced for more than three months. 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