Pain is an unpleasant feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli, such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting alcohol on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone." The International Association for the Study of Pain's widely used definition states: "Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage".
Pain motivates the individual to withdraw from damaging situations, to protect a damaged body part while it heals, and to avoid similar experiences in the future. Most pain resolves promptly once the painful stimulus is removed and the body has healed, but sometimes pain persists despite removal of the stimulus and apparent healing of the body; and sometimes pain arises in the absence of any detectable stimulus, damage or disease.
Pain is the most common reason for physician consultation in the United States. It is a major symptom in many medical conditions, and can significantly interfere with a person's quality of life and general functioning. Psychological factors such as social support, hypnotic suggestion, excitement, or distraction can significantly modulate pain's intensity or unpleasantness.
Read more about Pain: Classification, Effect On Functioning, Assessment, Management, Epidemiology, Society and Culture, In Other Animals, Etymology
Other articles related to "pain":
... Pethidine is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, and is delivered as a hydrochloride salt in tablets, as a syrup, or by intramuscular, subcutaneous or intravenous injection ... was the opioid of choice for many physicians in 1975 60% of doctors prescribed it for acute pain and 22% for chronic severe pain ... was supposed to be safer and carry less risk of addiction, and to be superior in treating the pain associated with biliary spasm or renal colic due to its putative antispasmodic effects ...
... First attested in English in 1297, the word pain comes from the Old French peine, in turn from Latin poena, "punishment, penalty" (in L.L ...
... The size of referred pain is related to the intensity and duration of ongoing/evoked pain ... Temporal summation is a potent mechanism for generation of referred muscle pain ... Central hyperexcitability is important for the extent of referred pain ...
... While this maneuver stretches the entire peritoneal lining, it only causes pain in any location where the peritoneum is irritating the muscle ... In the case of appendicitis, the pain is felt in the right lower quadrant despite pressure being placed elsewhere ... push on the left lower quadrant to see where the patient complains of pain ...
... In cases where the infant is in obvious pain, some doctors recommend the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) or child-safe pain-relief treatments containing benzocaine, lidocaine, or choline salicylate ... Medicines are often applied to the babies' gums to relieve swelling and pain ... numbing agent to dull the nerves in the gums so that the pain is less noticeable ...
Famous quotes containing the word pain:
“The fox, he felt, had never seen his past disposed of like a fall of water. He had never measured off his day in moments: another—another—another. But now, thrown down so deeply in himself, into the darkness of the well, surprised by pain and hunger, might he not revert to an earlier condition, regain capacities which formerly were useless to him, pass from animal to Henry, become human in his prison, X his days, count, wait, listen for another—another—another—another?”
—William Gass (b. 1924)
“Pain itself can be pleasurable accidentally in so far as it is accompanied by wonder, as in stage-plays; or in so far as it recalls a beloved object to one’s memory, and makes one feel one’s love for the thing, whose absence gives us pain. Consequently, since love is pleasant, both pain and whatever else results from love, in so far as they remind us of our love, are pleasant.”
—Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274)
“For a couple with young children, divorce seldom comes as a “solution” to stress, only as a way to end one form of pain and accept another.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)