Knowledge Center
Why do we feel pain?
Pain serves as an alert to potential or actual damage to the body. The definition for damage is quite broad; pain can arise from injury as well as disease. ...After the message is received and interpreted, further pain offers no real benefit. Pain can have a negative impact on a person's quality of life and impede recovery from illness or injury. Unrelieved pain can become a syndrome and cause a downward spiral in a person's health and outlook. Managing pain properly facilitates recovery, prevents additional health complications, and improves a person's quality of life.
Even after healing or a cure has been achieved, the brain continues to perceive pain. In this situation, the pain may be considered chronic. The time limit used to define chronic pain typically ranges from three to six months, although some healthcare professionals prefer a more flexible definition and consider pain chronic when it endures beyond a normal healing time.
What is Pain Management
Considering the different causes and types of pain, as well as its nature and intensity, management can require an interdisciplinary approach. ...The elements of this approach include treating the underlying cause of pain, pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies
Treating the cause of pain underpins the idea of managing it. Injuries are repaired, diseases are diagnosed, and certain encounters with pain can be anticipated and prevented.
What are some of the dangers of pharmacological/medicinal pain treatments?
Pain-relieving drugs, otherwise called analgesics, include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, narcotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and others....
Narcotics may be ineffective against some forms of chronic pain, especially since changes in the spinal cord may alter the usual pain signalling pathways. Furthermore, narcotics are usually not recommended for long-term use because the body develops a tolerance to narcotics, reducing their effectiveness over time, and can be habit forming/addictive. Furthermore, drug administration depends on the drug type and the required dose. Some drugs are not absorbed very well from the stomach and must be injected or administered intravenously. Injections and intravenous administration may also be used when high doses are needed or if an individual is nauseous.
What are some of non-medical pain management options?
Pain treatment options that do not use drugs are often used as adjuncts to, rather than replacements for, drug therapy. One of the benefits of non-drug therapies...is that an individual can take a more active stance against pain. Tension and stress can also be reduced through biofeedback, in which an individual consciously attempts to modify skin temperature, muscle tension, blood pressure, and heart rate.
Applying heat or being massaged are very relaxing and help reduce stress. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) applies a small electric current to certain parts of nerves, potentially interrupt pain signals and induce the release of endorphins.
Participating in normal activities and exercising can also help control pain levels. Through physical therapy, an individual learns beneficial exercises for reducing stress, strengthening muscles, and staying fit. Regular exercise has been linked to production of endorphins, the body's natural pain killers.
For many years it was believed that infants do not feel pain the way older children and adults do. As of the early 2000s, however, there has been a better understanding of the problems of pain, even in infancy.