PAIN : Causes, Types and Management (10-5-2020)

Pain : Causes, Types and Management

All of us have been to the doctor at least once because of pain.
So What is Pain?

Why do we feel it ?

Is it good or bad?

What are the Causes and Types of pain?

Treatment and Management.

Let see all the questions one by one: 

PAIN 

Pain is an uncomfortable feeling that tells you something may be wrong. It can be steady, throbbing, stabbing, aching, pinching, or described in many other ways. Sometimes, it’s just a nuisance, like a mild headache. Other times it can be debilitating.

Pain can bring about other physical symptoms, like nausea, dizziness, weakness or drowsiness. It can cause emotional effects like anger, depression, mood swings or irritability. Perhaps most significantly, it can change your lifestyle and impact your job, relationships and independence.

Why do we feel pain? 

People feel the pain when specific nerve called nociceptors detect tissues damage and transmit information about the damage along the spinal cord to the brain. 

For ex- For example, touching a hot surface will send a message through a reflex arc in the spinal cord and cause an immediate contraction of the muscles. This contraction will pull the hand away from the hot surface, limiting further damage. 

The brain may also release feel -good chemicals such as Dopamine, to try to counter the unpleasant effect of pain. 

Is it good or bad?

-Pain is a strange beast. It is far better to feel pain then it is to not feel pain. 
Pain happen for one simple reason : to protect you.
If your brain register pain, you typically stop doing what caused it.  So yes it is good for some extent. But it can

Types: 

Pain can either be Acute or Chronic. 

Acute :

This type of pain is generally intense and short-lived. It is how the body alerts a person to an injury or localized tissue damage. 

There are different types of acute pain:

• Somatic pain: A person feels this superficial pain on the skin or the soft tissues just below the skin.
• Visceral pain: This pain originates in the internal organs and the linings of cavities in the body.
• Referred pain: A person feels referred pain at a location other than the source of tissue damage. For example, people often experience shoulder pain during a heart attack. 

Chronic pain:

Long lasting than acute pain.Chronic pain can be mild or severe. It can also be either continuous, such as in arthritis,  or intermittent, as with migraine..

Describing pain

There are other more specialized ways of describing pain. 

Includes:

Neuropathic pain: This pain occurs following injury to the peripheral nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. It can feel like electric shocks or cause tenderness, numbness, tingling, or discomfort.

• Phantom pain: Phantom pain occurs after the amputation of a limb and refers to painful sensations that feel as though they are coming from the missing limb.

• Central pain: This type of pain often occurs due to infarction, abscesses, tumors, degeneration, or bleeding in the brain and spinal cord. Central pain is ongoing, and it can range from mild to extremely painful. People with central pain report burning, aching, and pressing sensations

Diagnose:

An individual’s subjective description of the pain will help the doctor make a diagnosis. There is no objective scale for identifying the type of pain, so the doctor will take a pain history.

They will ask the individual to describe:

• the character of all pains, such as burning, stinging, or stabbing
• the site, quality, and radiation of pain, meaning where a person feels the pain, what it feels like, and how far it seems to have spread.
• which factors aggravate and relieve the pain
• the times at which pain occurs throughout the day
• its effect on the person’s daily function and mood
• the person’s understanding of their pain.

Treatment and Management

Doctors will treat different types of pain in different ways. A treatment that is effective against one type of pain may not relieve another.

Acute pain treatment

Treating acute pain often involves taking medication.

1. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs)

These are a type of analgesic, or pain reliever, that can reduce pain ,suitable for acute pain like headache etc.. 

It cang help to reduce localized inflammation(anti inflammatory drug). 

2.Opioids

Doctors prescribe these drugs for the most extreme acute pains, such as those that result from surgery, burns, cancer and bone fracture . But Opioids are highly addictive, cause withdrawal symptoms, and lose effectiveness over time. They require a prescription.

Chronic pain treatment

A range of non drug therapies can help relieve pain. These alternatives to medication may be more suitable for people experiencing chronic pain.

These therapies include:

• Acupuncture: Inserting very fine needles at specific pressure points may reduce pain.

• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS):TENS is the one of the Electrotherapy Modality use in PHYSIOTHERAPY. It's aims to stimulate the brain’s opioid and pain gate systems and thus provide relief.

• Surgery: Various surgeries on the nerves, brain, and spine are possible for treating chronic pain. These include decompression, and electrical deep brain and spinal cord stimulation procedures.
• Biofeedback: Through this mind-body technique, a person can learn to control their organs and automatic processes, such as their heart rate, with their thoughts more effectively. Virtual reality may now play a role in the use of biofeedback in pain management, according to 2019 research.
• Relaxation therapies: These include relaxation therapy and exercise  mostly in the realm of alternative and complementary medicine. A person can try yoga, meditation, massage therapy, distraction techniques.

• Physical manipulation: A Physiotherapist or chiropractor can help to relieve pain by manipulating the tension .
• Heat and cold: Using hot and cold packs can help. People can alternate these or select them according to the type of injury or pain. Some topical medications have a warming effect when a person applies them to the affected area.

• Rest: If pain occurs due to an injury or overworking a part of the body, rest may be the best option.

With adequate pain management, it is possible to maintain daily activities, social engagement, and an active quality of life.