What's the difference between acute and chronic pain?

Acute pain is recent, tissue-based, and protective. It's your nervous system signaling that something has been injured or stressed — a sprained ankle, a tweaked back, a strained shoulder. Acute pain typically resolves as the tissue heals, usually within 6–12 weeks.

Chronic pain is pain that persists beyond the expected tissue-healing window, usually defined as 3+ months. By that point the pain is often less about ongoing tissue damage and more about a sensitized nervous system, learned movement patterns, and physical deconditioning. The treatment shifts: less focus on the original injury, more focus on graded movement, nervous-system regulation, and rebuilding capacity.

The two require different plans. Treating chronic pain like acute pain — repeated passive treatment, rest, anti-inflammatories — usually fails.