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Anatomy of Chronic Pain and its Symptoms | Central Chiropractor

Anatomy of Chronic Pain and its Symptoms | Central Chiropractor


Many individuals in the United States suffer from chronic pain without understanding the source of their painful symptoms or why these have triggered from the start. A healthcare professional can help a patient understand their chronic pain but it's important for the person to first comprehend the function of their own body.

Why does chronic pain occur?


To understand chronic pain, you need to comprehend the anatomy of the nervous system. Throughout the body, the nervous system transmits messages to and from the brain, and it's a system is very complex and intricate.

The central nervous system primarily consists of the the spinal cord and the brain. Branching off the spinal cord is the peripheral nervous system; both the central or peripheral nervous systems can be impacted by neuropathic pain, a kind of chronic pain which is commonly caused by a malfunction of the nerves.

Anatomy of Chronic Pain


The peripheral nervous system has 31 pairs of nerve roots which stretch from the spinal cord to the various areas of the body. These nerves help you feel (those are the sensory nerves) and move (those are the motor nerves). Following is a graph that shows you just how many pairs of spinal nerves are at each level of the spine.

SPINAL CORD31 Pairs – Spinal Nerves
Cervical8 pair
Thoracic12 pair
Lumbar5 pair
Sacral5 pair
Coccyx1 pair


The peripheral nervous system is further divided into:

  • The somatic nervous system, which has nerves that go into the musculoskeletal system (bones, ligaments, joints, tendons) along with the epidermis. It is what helps you feel pain.
  • The autonomic nervous system, which operates on the "involuntary" functions of the body. That means that it makes sure that your heart keeps pumping and your food is digested by you without even thinking of it.

Nociceptors are yet another important part of your nerves, and you want to understand them if you would like to know certain forms of chronic pain. Nociceptors are receptors at nerve endings, that function when something occurs that causes pain and they're triggered. If you slam your finger in the car door, the nociceptors on your finger will turn on and send a pain message through the nerve to the spinal cord and forth into the brain. Two minutes until you slammed your finger, however, the nociceptor was not active because there was no stimulus (or harm) to make it react.

It is believed that a single cause of chronic pain may be due to malfunctioning nociceptors. They may be constantly sending pain messages even if there is no direct cause. Continuing the above example, state that your finger is treated after you slammed it but you still continue to feel discomfort. The nociceptors in the nerves of your finger might be malfunctioning within this case. This could result in chronic pain symptoms.

Symptoms of Chronic Pain


Chronic pain, long-term, persistent pain, is a very subjective experience, however, we can't mention something as categorical as, "all chronic pain patients will experience chronic pain this way." Instead, it's more likely to say that chronic pain can take on many forms and may manifest into a variety of symptoms. Such may include:

  • throbbing
  • aching
  • shooting
  • electric
  • burning
  • sharp
  • feeling stiff
  • feeling tight
  • feeling sore

Chronic pain may result in other issues, especially social and emotional ones. Pain may:

  • Result in sleeplessness,
  • Drain you of energy,
  • Lead to depression,
  • Make you not want to do activities you typically like,
  • Weaken your immune system because a lot of your body's energy is spent dealing with all the pain.

Lots of these other issues build off each other, which means you might hear the term "vicious cycle" when speaking about chronic pain. For instance: The pain makes it hard to sleep through the night, and that means you're excessively tired the following day. You don't want to go to work since you're so tired, or do anything else. Your self-esteem begins to draw out even more, as you are not too active, in the end even withdrawing from social events.

To acquire the very best remedy for chronic pain, you must take inventory of just how much it is affecting your life--outside the physical pain. You can't simply take care of the chronic pain on your own. Seek for a solution along with the help of medical professionals and your physician can assist you to live your own life coping with chronic pain.

Green-Call-Now-Button-24H-150x150-2.pngThe scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .

By Dr. Alex Jimenez

Additional Topics: Wellness


Overall health and wellness are essential towards maintaining the proper mental and physical balance in the body. From eating a balanced nutrition as well as exercising and participating in physical activities, to sleeping a healthy amount of time on a regular basis, following the best health and wellness tips can ultimately help maintain overall well-being. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping people become healthy.

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The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to contact us. Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN* email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com phone: 915-850-0900 Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*