Acute and chronic pain in orthopaedic and rheumatologic diseases: mechanisms and characteristics.

Pain is one of the most frequent clinical symptoms encountered by orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists as it is one of the main reasons for patients seeking medical help. Traumas and/or inflammatory rheumatologic diseases give rise to two different types of acute pain, but their chronic evolution is so similar that they both need to be treated as early as possible. It is now widely accepted that chronic pain is a disease per se, and that its location may be less important than the way in which it is perceived by people suffering from it. Consequently, its pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment should be based on its specific characteristics, other disease-related factors, the ability of patients to cope with it, and the way in which they live their lives.