The American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) defines pain as: “An unpleasant sensation and an emotional response to that sensation.”
The web version of the Encyclopedia Britannica defines pain as: “A complex experience consisting of a physiological (bodily) response to a noxious stimulus followed by an affective (emotional) response to that event. Pain is a helpful warning mechanism to protect an organism by influencing it to withdraw from harmful stimuli. It is primarily associated with injury or the threat of injury to bodily tissues. “
Pain is an individual sensation that can be described or defined by the person suffering from it. It can cause distress and discomfort, generally described as: pain, pinching, throbbing, or stabbing. We can distinguish between two basic types of pain: acute and chronic.
Acute pain lasts for a relatively short time. It is a sign that body tissue is being injured. The pain usually goes away when the injury heals. Acute pain is the result of tissue disease, inflammation, or injury. It can appear suddenly, such as after surgical trauma, and can be accompanied by emotional distress or anxiety. The cause of acute pain can usually be diagnosed and treated accordingly. In certain cases, it can become chronic.
Chronic pain can range from mild to severe and usually for prolonged periods of more than three months. It is associated with the disease itself. Chronic pain can be made worse by psychological or environmental factors.
The cause of chronic pain is not always obvious. In certain cases, it can be associated with chronic conditions such as: arthritis, fibromyalgia, or lupus with symptoms such as: swollen joints, unexplained fever, extreme fatigue, trouble sleeping, or a red skin rash. Chronic pain syndromes, in particular, are complex and their effective treatment often involves coordinated, multidisciplinary consultation.
Unlike acute pain, chronic pain can be mysterious, intractable, and often very expensive to treat. The complexity of chronic pain is due to the fact that it is a bio-psychosocial condition, which occurs in various forms.
Since pain is a bio-psychosocial condition, all aspects of the condition must be addressed. Assuming that a condition is “in the head of the patient” makes the mistake of overlooking possible real pain.
On the other hand, the lack of evaluation of the psychosocial factor can also lead to a longer recovery. The complex nature of chronic pain disorders makes it impossible for a single professional to treat them successfully.
We can distinguish between peripheral and central pain.
Peripheral pain originates in the peripheral nerves or muscles, usually from trauma.
Central pain arises from a pathology or dysfunction of the Central Nervous System (CNS). This is mainly due to structural changes in the CNS, such as: spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and epilepsy.
Pain inhibition is important and necessary, especially when our safety is most important, such as when we are fleeing a dangerous situation. The purpose of pain is to tell us through our brain when it is necessary to do something about a damaged area. The brain will help us pay attention to the painful area or ignore it.
This information is transmitted by the brain and travels to the spinal cord or brain stem through electrical impulses in the fibers of certain cranial or spinal nerves. Those signals pass electrically to higher levels of the CNS.
Therefore, monitoring these signals in real time can be used as essential parameters in our effort to detect and verify pain.
Pain and gender. Recent studies using positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans of patients during pain stimuli showed different brain responses between men and women.
Various areas of the male and female brain responded differently to the same pain stimuli. The female brain showed more activity in the centers related to emotions where the men responded in the cognitive or analytical regions. These differences may be related to our evolutionary process and the different social tasks of men and women.
Women often have high levels of pain experience but lower pain tolerance. Your sensitivity to pain is affected by many factors, such as biological, hereditary, and hormonal levels.
Pain and animals. The presence of pain is due to the observation of a change in normal behavior.
The pain can manifest as a limp or a change in gait, withdrawal or protection of an injured part, abnormal posture, licking, rubbing or scratching in an area. Signs of pain and distress particular to rodents include overeating, chewing on toes and paws.
Signs of pain can be subtle, such as a change in breathing, reluctance to move, apprehension, sudden aggression, an inability to rest or sleep normally, or an expression of worry or anxiety.