L06-Pain Flashcards
What was the early biomedical view of pain?
Pain is a direct, causal and automatic response to external stimuli
What are some of the problems with the biomedical view of pain?
Patients with same injuries experience different pain
Phantom limb pain
No tissue damage for things like headaches
What is the gate control theory of pain?
Pain is a multidimentional process that is mediated by other factors and is controlled by a ‘gate’ at the spinal level
What are the inputs to the gate in the gate control theory?
- Peripheral nerve fibres
- Descending central influences from the brain-psychological influences on gate
- Large and small nerve fibres – large inhibit pain, small carry pain
What are the main factors that can open and close the gate?
Physical - medication, stimulation of inhibitory fibres
Emotional - being happy or relaxed
Behavioural - intense distraction
What is the typical point that acute pain becomes chronic?
At the 6 month point
How is chronic pain managed?
Multidisiplinary clinics
Combination of treatments
Psycological treatment has been shown to work in clinical trials
Behavioural:
relaxation excercises and biofeedback (HR monitor)
What are the two main ways of measuring pain?
It is hard to measure as it is subjective:
Visual analogue scale (VAS)
Mcgill pain questionairre (MPQ)
How does the Visual analogue scale work?
Patient marks on line from no pain to worst possible pain. This measures intensity and can be done before and after treatment.
How does the Mcgill pain questionairre work?
Looks at Sensory, affective and evaluative pain
Use body maps and descriptive words for the pain.
What are the pros and cons of pain diaries?
Pros- can see how it changes over time
Can see what makes it better and worse
Cons- can be demoralising
-inconveinient
How can pain be measured in children?
Using the wong and baker faces scale rating
What are the interventions used to treat chonic pain?
Cognitive (thoughts): -distraction -Imagery -Councelling -Hypnosis Behavioural (responses): -Excercise: relaxation and physical -Biofeedback - HR monitor to tell patient to relax so as to not feel pain.
