ACUTE PAIN
Acute pain without obvious injury addresses the onset of pain/ discomfort in the absence of an obvious 'event' that may have caused it.
We don't always need to damage or injure ourselves to have pain.
Pain is a protector and an alarm system and will precede injury.
However it is not always clear why we get pain:
(ie. "I just woke up this morning and I had a pain in my back."
or "I just looked around and got a stabbing pain in my neck."
But we know that our nervous system is picking up 'danger signals' and setting off an alarm to protect us.
Red Flags for Acute Pain
Signs and symptoms that may indicate a serious underlying pathology, requiring immediate medical attention:
- Ongoing pain (under 18 or 50+)
- Thoracic pain
- Lumbar pain (of non mechanical origin)
Note: This is not a comprehensive list, but these flags indicate the need for further investigation.
