Chronic and Acute Pain: News and Information

The Words Pain and Suffering Are Typically Used Both Together in Different Ways

Author: Disabled World - Contact Details
Updated/Revised Date: 2023/06/03
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Synopsis: Information including the latest research news on treating human chronic and acute pain conditions. Pain is highly subjective to the individual experiencing it and is a significant symptom in many medical conditions, significantly interfering with a person's quality of life and general functioning. Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience defined as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm. Individuals experience pain through various daily hurts and aches and occasionally through more severe injuries or illnesses. Medical management of pain has given rise to a distinction between acute and chronic pain. Acute pain is 'normal' pain; it is felt when hurting a toe, breaking a bone, having a toothache, or walking after an extensive surgical operation. Chronic pain is a 'pain illness'; it is felt day after day, month after month, and seems impossible to heal.

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Pain

Pain is a feeling triggered in the nervous system. Pain may be sharp or dull. It may come and go, or it may be constant. Pain is mediated by specific nerve fibers that carry the pain impulses to the brain, where many factors may modify their conscious appreciation. Pain can help diagnose a problem. Without pain, you might seriously hurt yourself without knowing it, or you might not realize you have a medical concern that needs treatment. Once you take care of the issue, the pain usually goes away. However, sometimes pain lasts for weeks, months, or even years. This is called chronic pain. Sometimes chronic pain is due to an ongoing cause, such as cancer or arthritis.

Main Document

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience defined as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm. Individuals experience pain through various daily hurts and aches and occasionally through more serious injuries or illnesses. The word suffering is sometimes used in the narrow sense of physical pain. Still, it refers more often to mental or emotional pain or pain in the broad sense, i.e., to any unpleasant feeling, emotion, or sensation. The word pain usually refers to physical pain, but it is also a common synonym for suffering.

The words pain and suffering are typically used both together in different ways. Or they may be used in 'contradistinction' to one another, as in "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional" or "pain is physical, suffering is mental." Or they may be used to define each other, as in "pain is physical suffering" or "suffering is severe physical or mental pain."

Pain may range in intensity from slight through severe to unbearable and can appear as constant or intermittent. Pain is highly subjective to the individual experiencing it and is a major symptom in many medical conditions, significantly interfering with a person's quality of life and general functioning.

Typical descriptions of pain quality include sharp, stabbing, tearing, squeezing, cramping, burning, lancinating (electric-shock-like), or heaviness. It may be experienced as throbbing, dull, nauseating, shooting, or a combination of these.

Diagnosis is based on characterizing pain in various ways, according to duration, intensity, type (dull, burning, or stabbing), source, or location in the body. Usually, the pain stops without treatment or responds to simple measures such as resting or taking an analgesic called 'acute' pain. But it may also become intractable and develop into a condition called chronic pain, in which pain is no longer considered a symptom but an illness by itself.

To understand an individual's pain, healthcare practitioners will typically try to establish certain characteristics of the pain: site, onset and offset, character, radiation, associated symptoms, time pattern, exacerbating and ameliorating factors, and severity.

Medical management of pain has given rise to a distinction between acute and chronic pain. Acute pain is 'normal' pain; it is felt when hurting a toe, breaking a bone, having a toothache, or walking after an extensive surgical operation. Chronic pain is a 'pain illness'; it is felt day after day, month after month, and seems impossible to heal.

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Pain Scale Level Chart - Click to View
Pain Scale Level Chart - Click to View
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Defining Types of Pain

Pain Facts and Statistics - Did You Know?

Subtopics and Associated Subjects


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Cite This Page (APA): Disabled World. (2023, June 3). Chronic and Acute Pain: News and Information. Disabled World. Retrieved November 30, 2023 from www.disabled-world.com/health/pain/

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