Pain comes in many forms, but it’s chronic pain that keeps millions of people up at night and unable to live a normal, healthy, active life. Is there ever going to be light at the end of the tunnel for these people?

As we reported recently, a woman who has never felt pain before experienced it for the first time after being given naloxone, a drug often given to addicts, and then being exposed to a high-energy laser. It was more than just an experiment for curiosity’s sake — the finding could have major implications for finding a way to treat pain beyond the ways we know of today, which are fraught with complications.

Pain is of course incredibly useful to us. Those who suffers from this rare condition where they lack the ability to experience pain often gnaw off their fingers or lips without realizing the damage they’re doing.

But many lack the ability to live a normal life because of the opposite problem: chronic pain that they can’t seem to get rid of.

But there is hope, as the medical community continues to advance in its knowledge of pain. This most recent story is one example of a potential new breakthrough in pain management, but there are others.

Recent studies at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine showed that a new treatment for chronic pain had a high rate of success, with 72 percent of 371 randomly select patients reporting being free of pain between six months and three years after treatment, according to the National Pain Report.

Some scientists believe that many forms of chronic pain are reversible, and the condition is sometimes referred to as Tension Myoneural Syndrome. Many times, all it takes is some education on treating the symptoms on your own for chronic pain sufferers to get relief.

Of course, many treatments are still in their early stages, but there are definite breakthroughs on the horizon for chronic pain sufferers.