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Virtually every one of us
feels pain, perhaps some more
than others, but what is it,
what causes it and why do
different people react differently
to it?
Simply, pain
is a result of a stimulus
to our nerves, which conduct
an electrical impulse to our
brain. The receptors in our
skin and organs, responsible
for picking up painful stimuli
are called nociceptors and
are specific to different
types of pain, such as cutting,
pricking, temperature or pressure.
The signals are electrical
impulses, which are set along
the nerve fibres at approximately
200 miles per hour. When the
brain receives and interprets
the signals, it then sends
out messages to the appropriate
part(s) of the body, for example
to move the hand away from
the heat source. Effectively
pain is a signal to STOP so
that further damage can be
avoided.
It is at this
stage that psychological effects
are felt. For example, with
the first incidence of pain,
a person could start to feel
anxious, stressed or even
fearful. If the pain is not
removed the response can build
to a stage where the individual
can suffer poor sleep, decreased
appetite, and there may be
a feeling of helplessness.
In turn this results in a
lower pain threshold, causing
the original pain stimulus
to result in increased perception
of pain. This cycle is often
referred to as the vicious
circle of pain (see attached
diagram Vicious circle of
pain (1)) and it is for this
reason that pain relief is
recommended by health care
professionals.
Defining and
describing pain
With over 1,300 nerve endings
per square inch in our hands
and 100 billion neurons in
the brain, it is not surprising
we all feel pain to some extent.
The difficulty comes when
trying to define pain. Given
that pain is in part a psychological
sensation, every individual's
reaction to pain varies.
There are two
main ways a health care professional
will describe pain:
- Acute, which is a short-term
pain. The pain is often
severe and generally occurs
when the body is trying
to warn you of an injury,
e.g. burn, sprained ankle
or toothache.
- Chronic, which is long
term pain. This pain occurs
everyday and can be caused
by conditions such as arthritis
and back pain.
In addition, pain can be described
as mild, moderate or severe.
The common aches and pains,
such as headaches, migraines,
period pains, toothache, sore
throat are usually in the mild
to moderate category.
In addition to
this there are many everyday
words that are used to describe
pain - throbbing, dull, deep
(chronic pain) or stabbing,
sharp, burning, sore (acute
pain). In fact the McGill
pain questionnaire, which
was designed to help measure
patients' subjective pain
experience, uses over 87 words.
Pain is without doubt one
of the most individual of
sensations.
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