Conditions

Chronic pain can result from diseases or injuries that are so severe, daily activities are no longer tolerable. Chronic pain is resistant to conventional medicine and lasts more than three months. This can be anything from back, neck, or joint pain, and anything in between. It can take a toll on your mental health, creating a cycle of physical and emotional pain.

Peripheral neuropathy refers to a type of damage to the peripheral nervous system and the network that allows communication between the central nervous system and the rest of the body. It can result in muscle weakness and pain from traumatic injuries, disorders, and infections, with its most common cause being diabetes.

Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes widespread pain throughout the body and an overly sensitive reaction to painful stimuli. It can cause fatigue, migraines, and mental distress. Fibromyalgia affects the way your brain processes pain, called abnormal pain perception processing, causing you to have a more amplified perception of your discomfort.

Anxiety and stress are emotional responses that are a common part of life. They are usually in response to external triggers or excessive worrying and can sometimes be so overwhelming that they interfere with everyday life. In more serious cases, these feelings of extreme unease can be persistent and require a conversation with your physician.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of hereditary disorders affecting your connective tissue. Connective tissue forms a framework to provide elasticity, protect, and give structure to all of your organs. With EDS, a gene mutation causes individuals to have overly stretchy, fragile skin, hypermobility, and increased proneness to scars and bruising.

Tendinopathy (tendinosis) is an umbrella term encompassing pain and pathological characteristics involving the tendons. It’s the breakdown of collagen in the tendons from aging, overuse, and sudden stress. Since this condition suggests little inflammation, a mixture of therapies are considered in treatment options to keep it from leading to tendonitis.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a condition in which a major nerve, called the median nerve, is compressed as it passes through the carpal tunnel. This nerve provides signals to move certain hand muscles, and when extensive pressure is applied, causes pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness of the hand. If the pressure continues for too long, it can lead to nerve damage and other symptoms.

Ulnar neuropathy (ulnar nerve entrapment) is pain, tingling, and numbness from damage or compression to the ulnar nerve that runs the length of the arm to the fingers on the outside of the hand. Pain is typically felt in the wrist, elbow, fourth and fifth fingers and can be treated by occupational therapies before it gets to the point of surgery.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain disorder most commonly affecting people over the age of 50. It involves the trigeminal nerve that runs from your face to your brain and can make simple activities evoke an intense jolt of facial pain in the eye, cheek, and jaw. Though this condition is not life-threatening, the pain can be so severe that it’s almost incapacitating, lasting anywhere from minutes to a few hours.

Opiate dependence is when the voluntary decision to take drugs begins to feel less voluntary and more like an intense desire. Opioids are used to manage chronic pain and due to their highly addictive nature, increase the susceptibility of a user dependence. These drugs alter your brain chemistry and tolerance, causing you to need a higher dosage to procure the same effect, potentially leading to addiction.