Acute pain is a direct response to a disease or an injury to tissue, and most likely will subside upon treatment of the disease or injury, while chronic pain goes on and on.
Common types of chronic pain include back pain, headaches, arthritis, cancer pain, and neuropathic pain, resulting from injury to nerves. According to experts, the first step in treating chronic pain is to identify the source of the pain. Persistent pain should never be ignored because it could hint at a disease or injury that will worsen if left untreated, and, the physical and emotional effects can be devastating.