Abstract

Chronic pain (CP) is defined as pain lasting more than 3 months. It affects thousands of Canadians daily through biological, psychological and social factors. Not only are physiological factors affected in those who experience chronic pain but also sleep, mood, and general quality of life. We do not yet know the exact biological mechanisms through which acute pain and injury develop into chronic pain, however, in this article; we discuss a dominant hypothesis that might offer an explanation: Central Sensitization. In addition, the purpose of this article is to explore the biological mechanisms of chronic pain and the importance of using physiological measures to assess the outcomes of pain management programs. This paper draws attention to the importance of having further research conducted in order to understand the underlying biological causes of chronic pain as well as identifying specific biomarkers that can be used to measure treatment outcomes. This will allow us to design effective and innovative pain management programs in order to improve the quality of life for CP patients.

Keywords: Chronic pain; Stress response; Central sensitization; Pain management; Physiological measures