Small Pain

Question 1

Define pain

Answer 1

• an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience
• associated with actual or potential tissue damage

Question 2

What is significant about pain?

Answer 2

• occurs in brain but is a perception
• caused by activation of nociceptors (by either thermal, mechanical or chemical stimuli)
• can be referred
• can be experienced with no biological basis

Question 3

What does ‘pain can be referred’ mean?

Answer 3

It can be felt in different location to stimulus/origin

Question 4

How is pain diagnosed?

Answer 4

• tools can be used
• clinical assessment using interviews and medical hx to determine cause

Question 5

What are the types of pain assessment tools?

Answer 5

• uni or multi dimensional

Question 6

What are nerve cells?

Answer 6

Cells of the nervous system that can be split into motor, sensory and inter neurons

Question 7

What are sensory neurons?

Answer 7

• they are pseudo-unipolar
• which means they have a dendrite (peripheral receptive branch) and an axon (central extension)

Question 8

What are the 5 types of sensory receptor?

Answer 8

Thermoreceptors - sense temp
Nociceptors - sense tissue (respond to heat, pressure, chemicals)
Photoreceptors - sense light (found in retinas)
Chemoreceptors - sense chemicals (found in taste buds)
Mechanoreceptors - sense touch/vibration (sound waves) + pressure/distortion (waves)

Question 9

How do nociceptors work?

Answer 9

• activated by noxious stimuli which causes pain sensation
• detect different stimulus modalities (chemicals, heat, pressure)
• they have an elevation stimulation threshold
• they do not adapt to persistent stimuli

Question 11

What does ‘elevation stimulation threshold’ refer to?

Answer 11

• a feature of nociceptors
• means they don’t oversaturate

Question 12

What does ‘do not adapt to persistent stimuli’ mean?

Answer 12

Nociceptors keep the pain level the same

Question 13

How do nociceptors transmit pain?

Answer 13

They have no protective sheet - free nerve endings