Chapter One - Pain and Pathway Flashcards
Describe the ICF model.
What is the anatomy telling me, what is the patient telling me… if ever we’re stuck, go back to the ICF Model
Explain the meaning of these terms: body structures, body functions, impairments, activity (limitations), participation (restrictions)
- BODY STRUCTURES – anatomical parts of the body
- BODY FUNCTIONS – physiological functions of the body
- IMPAIRMENTS – problems in body structure or function
- ACTIVITY (limitations) – task or action at the level of the individual
- PARTICIPATION (restrictions) – involvement in life situations
Explain the meaning of these terms: personal factors, environmental factors, functioning, disability.
- PERSONAL FACTORS – factors within a person
- ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS – physical, social, attitude
- FUNCTIONING – the interaction among the components of the model that contribute to the overall ability to function (positive aspects)
- DISABILITY – the interaction among the components of the model that limit the person’s ability to function (negative aspects)
Why study pain?
(class notes)
A primary reason for people to seek medical attention
Understand the physiology of pain for context or background
Understand the complexities of pain and how it has an impact on our patient’s lives
(answers from students)
So we can understand and treat it
So we can find the root cause (puzzle), what’s the source? Is it the same from one patient to another?
What is the function of pain?
- Informs the body when something is wrong
- A survival mechanism
What is pain?
Pain: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage
(International Association for the Study of Pain)
How do we understand pain?
Something happens somewhere in the periphery, the signal goes to the brain, we process that signal and then there is a response (either physical or emotional)
What are the four main components of the pain pathway?
Four main components:
1- Transduction (physical injury - nerve response)
2- Transmission
3- Perception (understanding what is happening)
4- Modulation (Transitioning into chronic pain)
What makes up the CNS and the PNS?
Central Nervous System:
Brain and Spinal Cord
Peripheral Nervous System:
Nerve fibers that are all over the body sending signals to the different tissues and to the CNS
What is the purpose of receptors? Where do we find receptors? Where is there no receptors?
Receptors : somehow we have to feel the pain
Free nerve endings :
Skin
Bone
Muscles
No receptors in:
Articular cartilage
Synovial membrane
Pericardium - tissue around the heart
Brain tissue
What is an action potential?
Action Potential: signals move along a nerve process (axon) as a wave of membrane depolarization (more negative)
Rapid transitions between negative and positive electrical potentials
The action potential moves along the axon to the nerve ending where it releases chemicals
All we need to know is on that slide, don’t need to know the details
What are the two pathways necessary for pain to happen?
Afferent pathways (ascending):
Carry message to the brain for interpretation
Efferent pathways (descending)
Carry messages from the brain via the spinal cord
What are nociceptors? What are their roles?
Nociceptors
• Receptors that activate the afferent pathways• Unevenly distributed in the muscles, tendons,
subcutaneous tissue and the skin
- NOCICEPTORS are sensitive and respond to noxious stimuli stimuli that can cause tissue damage or when tissue damage has taken place
- Response to extremes of mechanical, chemical and thermal stimuli• E.g., cuts, burns, sprains
What are the three stimuli or sources of pain?
Mechanical
Chemical
Thermal
How are pain receptors different that others? How do they produce pain?
Pain receptors are unable to adapt to repeated stimuli and thus continue to react until stimuli are removed
When pain receptors are stimulated electrical impulses are transmitted to the spinal cord along wo afferent fibres
Impulses travel up the spinal cord to the brain
In the brain, the cortex interprets the impulses as pain and identifies the location
and qualities of pain
Endorphins and enkephalins, natural opioid-like substances• Block transmission of painful impulses to the brain