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, pains":
... 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 ... of choice for many physicians in 1975 60% of doctors prescribed it for acute pain and 22% for chronic severe pain ... 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 ... Central hyperexcitability is important for the extent of referred pain ... Patients with chronic musculoskeletal pains have enlarged referred pain areas to experimental stimuli ...
... 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 ... applied to the babies' gums to relieve swelling and pain ... gels work as a numbing agent to dull the nerves in the gums so that the pain is less noticeable ...
... 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 ...
Famous quotes containing the word pain:
“Pain hardens, and great pain hardens greatly, whatever the comforters say, and suffering does not ennoble, though it may occasionally lend a certain rigid dignity of manner to the suffering frame.”
—A.S. (Antonia Susan)
“... [f]or a sensation to be felt as pain is for it to be pain.”
—Saul Kripke (b. 1940)