Acute pain
Short definition
Acute pain is pain of recent onset and limited duration, usually associated with an identifiable injury, disease or procedure, which tends to resolve as healing occurs or the cause is treated.
In plain language
It works as an alarm signal: it indicates that something is damaging or threatening the body. Examples are pain after surgery, a fracture or a burn. When it persists beyond the normal recovery time, it may become chronic pain, which has different characteristics.