WHAT IS PAIN?

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WHAT IS PAIN?

• Andrea Corkhill-Stevens
• Registered Nurse

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What is pain ....
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What is pain

• Shooting
• Throbbing
• Numb
• Sore
• Burning
• Agony
• Sharp

• Pounding
• Cramping
• Stabbing
• Tender
• Aching
• Annoying
• Debilitating

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• The International Association for the Study of
  Pain defines it as
• An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience
  associated with actual or potential tissue damage
  or described in terms of such damage.

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• Pain is whatever the experiencing person says it
  is, existing whenever the experiencing person
  says it does
• (McCaffery and Beebe, 1989)

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Differences between acute and chronic pain

• Acute Pain

• Chronic Pain

• Less than 6 weeks
• Incidence common
• Well defined
• Reasonably easy to assess

• Several weeks/years
• Incidence, often neglected
• Poorly defined
• Difficult to assess

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Differences between acute and chronic pain cont..

• Acute Pain

• Chronic Pain

• Known cause treatable
• Logical treatment
• Completely focused on the pain

• Often unable to define cause
• Reliant on experience and experiments
• Pain takes over and becomes part of life

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Differences between acute and chronic pain cont..

• Acute Pain

• Chronic Pain

• Emotional State / Anxiety
• Medication helpful
• Results good
• Pain is a Symptom

• Emotional State / Depression
• Medication may help
• Results often disappointing
• Pain is the Disease

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Pain pathways

• Acute and Chronic Pain are different
• Acute Pain
• Useful function, warning to protect body from
  injury
• Chronic Pain
• Pain no longer serving useful function ongoing/
  constant

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Prevalence of chronic pain for adults

• One in six adults reported that they experienced
  chronic pain, which equates to 528,100 New
  Zealand adults
• (New Zealand Health Survey, 2006/07)

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The Gate control Theory of Pain

• Patrick Wall and Ronald Melzack, 1965

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Factors which can influence level of pain

• Open Gate

• Closed Gate

• Tension, stress, anxiety
• Focusing on pain
• Inactivity
• Loneliness
• Depression

• Relaxation
• Distraction
• Activity
• Social Support
• Positive thinking

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• P atients
• A re
• I n
• N eed

I cant stand this!
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• We must all die. But that I can save a person
  from days of torture, that is my great and
  ever-new privilege. Pain is a more terrible lord
  of mankind than even death itself
• (Albert Schweitzer, 1953)