Editing Pain (section)

=== Chronic versus acute ===
{{main|Chronic pain}}

Pain is usually transitory, lasting only until the noxious stimulus is removed or the underlying damage or pathology has healed. But some painful conditions, such as [[rheumatoid arthritis]], [[peripheral neuropathy]], [[Cancer pain|cancer]], and [[idiopathic]] pain, may persist for years. Pain that lasts a long time is called "[[Chronic pain|chronic]]" or "persistent", and pain that resolves quickly is called "[[Acute (medicine)|acute]]". Traditionally, the distinction between acute and chronic pain has relied upon an arbitrary interval of time between onset and resolution; the two most commonly used markers being 3 months and 6 months since the onset of pain,<ref name = Turk&Okifuji2001>{{cite book | vauthors = Turk DC, Okifuji A | veditors = Bonica JJ, Loeser JD, Chapman CR, Turk DC |title=Bonica's management of pain |publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |location=Hagerstwon, MD |year=2001 |isbn=978-0781768276 |chapter=Pain terms and taxonomies of pain}}</ref> though some theorists and researchers have placed the transition from acute to chronic pain at 12 months.<ref name="isbn0-443-05683-8"/>{{rp|93}} Others apply "acute" to pain that lasts less than 30 days, "chronic" to pain of at least six months' duration, and "subacute" to pain that lasts from one to six months.<ref name=Thienhaus1>{{cite book | vauthors = Thienhaus O, Cole BE | veditors = Weiner R |title=Pain management: a practical guide for clinicians | url = https://archive.org/details/painmanagementpr00wein | url-access = limited |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |year=2002 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/painmanagementpr00wein/page/n60 28] |isbn=978-0849322624 |chapter=Classification of pain}}</ref> A popular alternative definition of "chronic pain", involving no arbitrarily fixed duration, is "pain that extends beyond the expected period of healing".<ref name = Turk&Okifuji2001/> Chronic pain may be classified as "[[cancer pain|cancer-related]]" or "benign."<ref name=Thienhaus1/>