Different Kinds of Pain

There are a few different kinds of physical pain that you can feel. All pain is meant to warn your body of some sort of danger or injury. You need to have it, no matter how uncomfortable it can be. There are four main types of pain that you can feel.

1. Somatic Pain
This is the main type of pain that you feel. It happens when something impacts you physically, hurting your muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and other parts of your body. It can be acute or chronic. Arthritis falls into this category, as does pain from broken bones.

2. Neuropathic Pain
This is pain that comes about because of some sort of damage to your nerves. You might have a pinched nerve, for instance, which can be very painful. The nerves carry the impulses to your brain that make you feel everything, so this can be rather inhibiting. Sometimes the nerves can report that the body is in pain when there is not actual physical damage, making you feel pain when you should not.

3. Visceral Pain
This pain is often referred to as a cramp. Your hollow organs can contact, causing you to feel the pain even though the body is not damaged.

4. Mixed Pain
This is simply pain that comes from one or more of these sources at the same time. If you are involved in a traumatic accident, you could be exposed to the somatic pain of a broken arm and the neuropathic pain of a pinched nerve.