Dr. Sanjay Gupta

You can almost predict based on other factors, seemingly arbitrary factors, which of those patients is going to be in greater pain.

And also the likelihood that it would turn into chronic pain.

Going back to that thing, like this should not cause chronic pain.

you'll immediately pull your finger away.

Right.

And that's reflex.

But then the idea that, ah, that really hurts.

Yes.

And maybe even how you would quantify it yourself, both in terms of intensity and unpleasantness.

Those are the two things pain folks really want to know.

Not only how much does it hurt, but how unpleasant is it?

Which is, again, people are going to define this differently, but it could be so variable person to person.

and so variable within the same person, which is remarkable.

I think so.

I think that that is where the science is headed.

That you should start thinking of chronic pain much in the same way that you think of any other chronic disease.

you're trying to avoid diabetes, you're trying to avoid heart disease, people would not put pain necessarily in that same category, right?

I wouldn't.

Because you think of it just purely like a physical sort of sensation.

But I think we're starting to understand that pain is really affected by all these different things in the body, much like many of these other chronic diseases are.