Pain

Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine by Mai Tran

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Expected results

Successful pain treatment is highly dependent on successful resolution of the pain's cause. Acute pain will stop when an injury heals or when an underlying problem is treated successfully. Chronic pain and abnormal pain are more difficult to treat, and it may take longer to find a successful resolution.

Some pain is intractable and will require extreme measures for relief.

Prevention

Pain is generally preventable only to the degree that the cause of the pain is preventable; diseases and injuries are often unavoidable. However, increased pain, pain from surgery and other medical procedures, and continuing pain are preventable through drug treatments and alternative therapies.

Key Terms

Neuron

A nerve cell.

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals within the nervous system that transmit information from or between nerve cells.

Nociceptor

A neuron that is capable of sensing pain.

Referred pain

Pain felt at a site different from the location of the injured or diseased part of the body. Referred pain is due to the fact that nerve signals from several areas of the body may "feed" the same nerve pathway leading to the spinal cord and brain.

Stimulus

A factor capable of eliciting a response in a nerve.

Further Reading

For Your Information

Books

• Adams, Raymond D., Maurice Victor, and Allan H. Ropper. Principles of Neurology. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
• Digeronimo, Theresa. The Natural Way of Healing: Chronic Pain New York, NY: The Philip Lief Group, 1995.
• Tollison, C. David, John R. Satterthwaite, and Joseph W. Tollison, eds. Handbook of Pain Management. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1994.
• Zand, Janet, Allan N. Spreen and James B. LaValle. Smart Medicine for Healthier Living: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Adults. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group, 1999.

Periodical

• Iadarola, Michael J., and Robert M. Caudle. "Good Pain, Bad Pain: Neuroscience Research." Science 278 (1997): 239.
• Markenson, Joseph A. "Mechanisms of Chronic Pain." The American Journal of Medicine 101 (supplement 1A/1996): 6S.
• Sykes, J., R. Johnson, and G.W. Hanks. "Difficult Pain Problems: ABC of Palliative Care." British Medical Journal 315 (1997): 867.

Organization

• American Chronic Pain Association. P.O. Box 850, Rocklin, CA 95677-0850. (916) 632-0922. http://members.tripod.com/~widdy/ACPA.html.
• American Pain Society. 4700 W. Lake Ave., Glenview, IL 60025. (847) 375-4715. http://www.ampainsoc.org/.

Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Gale Group, 2001.