In chronic pain, the pain persists even though what has happened?

• A. Injury is healed
• B. There is ongoing tissue damage
• C. The pain worsens
• D. There is fever

Answer: (A)

In chronic pain, the pain experience can continue even after the tissue injury has healed. This happens because the nervous system can become sensitized and continue to generate pain signals independent of active tissue damage. After an injury, the brain and spinal cord may undergo changes—central sensitization and neural plasticity—that keep pain pathways more responsive, amplifying or sustaining pain even when there’s no ongoing damage. This is why persistent pain can outlast the initial injury and may be influenced by factors beyond tissue healing, such as stress, attention, and mood.

If there were ongoing tissue damage, you’d expect the pain to persist because nociceptors would keep sending signals from the injured area. Fever isn’t part of the mechanism driving chronic pain, and pain doesn’t have to worsen to be present—the pain can stay steady or fluctuate even if tissue damage has resolved.

So the situation described—pain persisting after the injury has healed—best reflects pain maintained by the nervous system rather than continued tissue injury.