Acute Pain occurs immediately after an injury (trauma, surgery) or with a disease (e.g. cancer, osteoporotic bone collapse, arthritis, flare-up of a rheumatic disease), and it can last for days or weeks up to 3 months.

Chronic Pain is defined as pain that lasts longer than 3 or 6 months.

Pain can be nociceptive (sharp, aching) or neuropathic (throbbing, stabbing, hot, burning, cold, tingling, numbing), or it can be a mixture of both.

Acute pain is usually easier to treat than chronic pain.

Chronic pain can be associated with social and psychological factors and may interfere with mood, sleep, quality of life and mobility.