Clinical term

Chronic pain

Pain is called chronic when it persists or recurs for more than three months. It may accompany an identified disease or be a condition in its own right.

Scientific basis

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), developed with the IASP, distinguishes chronic primary pain, considered a disease in itself (for example fibromyalgia or some forms of chronic low back pain), from chronic secondary pain, linked to another condition (osteoarthritis, nerve injury, cancer, etc.).

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. Over time, several mechanisms can add to the initial cause: sensitization of the nervous system, reduced movement, psychological and social factors.

Blue Portance / SBNFA™ reading

SBNFA™ does not claim to explain chronic pain. It adds one question to the analysis: what possibilities for adjustment remain available to the system? Persistent pain is often accompanied by reduced movement and a more rigid organization, which in turn can limit the possibilities for adaptation.

In this reading, the variability of support and configurations is one of the functional conditions observed in a person with persistent pain. The hypothesis that it may play a part in how the pain evolves belongs to the SBNFA™ reading.

Contribution to the analysis of sitting

When pain increases while sitting, observing how long a position is held, the support points and the possibility of changing configuration provides functional information, without identifying the mechanism of the pain.

Not to be confused with

Acute pain, a warning signal of limited duration; central sensitization, one of the possible mechanisms that sustain pain; neuropathic pain and nociplastic pain, categories of mechanism rather than of duration.

Sources and scope

Established international definition and classification (IASP, ICD-11). This entry does not replace a medical evaluation.