This blog is dedicated to the most common and misunderstood mechanisms that cause pain to persist. This is a huge health care and social cost, and if we don’t change the way we talk about and treat this pain, there will continue to be unnecessary suffering.

There are some types of pain we are particularly interested in, and want to have investigated and treated as soon as we can, since they can be a sign of serious disease and cannot be ignored.

These symptoms are:

1. Constant pain that is worse at night

2. Hot, red swollen joints

3. Sudden onset pain in someone who takes cortisone

4. Pain in the front or back of the chest, particularly a crushing or squeezing pain with associated pain that runs down your arm.

5. Pain accompanied by fever and unexplained weight loss

6. Pain with Bladder or Bowel dysfunction

7. Previous history of cancer

8. Progressively increasing pins and needles or numbness affecting walking and particularly causing numbness in the groin region

Watchful waiting has a time and a place — but in the case of these symptoms, please get checked out. Pain can indicate cancer, fracture and infection — and in this case your brain is giving you a very good, helpful signal to do something about it! A medical professional can test and triage your symptoms quickly, or send you for the required tests — to make sure your pain is not a sign of a serious condition.

Although we remember that the brain can create very significant pain with very little tissue damage, if you have symptoms such as these, it’s important to seek medical advice (and remember that understanding pain is still important!)