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":
... 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 ... to see where the patient complains of 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 ... for many physicians in 1975 60% of doctors prescribed it for acute pain and 22% for chronic severe pain ... 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 ...
... 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 ... the babies' gums to relieve swelling and pain ... Teething gels work as a numbing agent to dull the nerves in the gums so that the pain is less noticeable ...
... The size of referred pain is related to the intensity and duration of ongoing/evoked pain ... a potent mechanism for generation of referred muscle pain ... is important for the extent of referred pain ...
Famous quotes containing the word pain:
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“For pain is perhaps but a violent pleasure? Who could determine the point where pleasure becomes pain, where pain is still a pleasure? Is not the utmost brightness of the ideal world soothing to us, while the lightest shadows of the physical world annoy?”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“Happiness does not await us all. One needn’t be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain than serenity and money. That is why we must hang on to one another.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)