Chronic pain

What it means

Persistent pain, usually defined as pain that has lasted longer than 3 to 6 months.

Acute pain is provoked by a specific disease or injury, serves a useful biologic purpose, is associated with skeletal muscle spasm and sympathetic nervous system activation, and is self-limited. Chronic pain, in contrast, may be considered a disease state. It is pain that outlasts the normal time of healing.

In everyday care

Most people with this sign do not have a rare disease — it appears in common conditions far more often. These general reference pages cover the same topic:

Rare diseases that can present with this14

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category