🔑 Key Definitions
Pain: Unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with tissue damage
Acute Pain: Short-term pain with identifiable cause (e.g., injury)
Chronic Pain: Pain lasting more than 3-6 months
Nociception: Neural process of encoding and processing painful stimuli
Acute Pain: Short-term pain with identifiable cause (e.g., injury)
Chronic Pain: Pain lasting more than 3-6 months
Nociception: Neural process of encoding and processing painful stimuli
🧠 Types of Pain
- Acute Pain: Sharp, immediate, protective function
- Chronic Pain: Persistent, may lack clear cause
- Referred Pain: Felt in area different from source (e.g., heart attack → arm pain)
- Phantom Limb Pain: Pain felt in amputated limb
- Psychogenic Pain: Pain with psychological origin
📊 Pain Categories by Origin
- Nociceptive Pain: From tissue damage (cuts, burns)
- Neuropathic Pain: From nerve damage
- Inflammatory Pain: From inflammation response
🛠 Functions of Pain
- Warning signal of tissue damage
- Promotes rest and healing
- Teaches avoidance of harmful stimuli
- Protects injured area from further damage
💡 Exam Tips
- Acute = SHORT-term, Chronic = LONG-term (3-6+ months)
- Phantom limb pain proves pain is a brain phenomenon, not just body
- Referred pain: Know the heart attack → left arm example
- Pain has both SENSORY and EMOTIONAL components