Unit 5: Pain

Question 1

definition of pain

Answer 1

an emotional and sensory unpleasant experience that is associated with actual damage or potential tissue damage or that is lived as such

Question 2

factors to differentiate the types of pain

Answer 2

1. duration
   * acute: appears and dissapears in specific times depending on the cause
   * chronic: remains for longer than 3-6 months. starts as acute
2. cause: origin of the pain
   * identifiable cause: we know the origin of pain ex. rheumatoid arthritis
   * unidentifiable cause: we do ot know the specific origin of the pain ex. lower back pain
3. progressivity: changes in the pain over time
   3 types:
4. decreases: the pain decreases until it dissapears
5. maintained: no changes over time
6. increases: pain grows over time

Question 3

biomedical model

Answer 3

that pain was a direct result of tissue damage. that is physical damage to the body –> pain gone when healed
but: pain can remain in time after healing the damage or even when there is no tissue that can feel damage

Question 4

biopsychosocial model

Answer 4

pain = tissue damage + perception + environment
it is not so much the damage itself that causes the pain but the perception of the person

Question 5

physiology of pain

Answer 5

gate theory: there are afferent nocireceptive signals that cause the sensation of pain as it passes through the spinal cord and is processed in the brain
2 routes:
fast pathway: composed of alpha fibers (motor), beta (temp, pressure, etc) and delta fibers (nociceptive) - can close the passage of other signals upon reaching the spinal cord

slow pathway: composed of c fibers (nociceptive). they are among the most numerous there are and the pain signal is transmittd slowly (prolonged) - open the way to pain signals

Question 6

effects of chronic pain

Answer 6

1. depression - a persistent state of sadness and loss of interest in pleasurable activaties along with the inability to carry out day to day activities
2. anxiety - state of high physiological activation without apperant stimulating cause

both in chronic pain can be both end products of pain and end up being amplifiers of it

Question 7

treatment factor

Answer 7

1. relaxation
2. biofeedback
3. cognitive therapyy
4. behavioral therapyy
5. multicomponent therapyy