Chronic pain isn't like that. Weeks, months, or even years after the injury, your body continues to pain. Chronic pain is defined by doctors as any pain that lasts for three to six months or more. Chronic pain can have a significant impact on your daily life as well as your mental health. However, you and your doctor can treat it together. A cascade of messages whizzes through your nerve system to give you the sensation of pain. When you injure yourself, pain sensors in that location are activated. They transmit a message to your brain in the form of an electrical signal that goes from nerve to nerve.