Articles: pain-measurement.
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Pressure pain detection threshold and pressure pain tolerance threshold were measured in the temples and on the fingers in 40 healthy volunteers, equally distributed as to sex and handedness. Lower pressure pain thresholds were found over the temporal muscle than in a neighbouring temporal location without interposed myofascial tissue (p less than 0.001), indicating that nociception from myofascial tissue contributes to the pressure pain threshold. ⋯ Finally, pressure pain thresholds were lateralized in dextrals but not in sinistrals. The information that can be obtained from pressure pain detection and tolerance thresholds is discussed and examination of both threshold types is recommended in future studies.
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Although patients with chronic pain are often psychologically distressed, it has been difficult to determine whether this distress is an antecedent of chronic pain or whether it is caused by the experience of living with chronic pain. The aim of this investigation was to develop a method that would allow individuals who are at risk for the development of chronic pain to be studied before their pain has become chronic. Patients with acute herpes zoster were assessed with demographic, medical, pain, and psychosocial measures. ⋯ Patients who developed chronic herpes zoster pain, however, had significantly greater pain intensity, higher state and trait anxiety, greater depression, lower life satisfaction, and greater disease conviction at the initial assessment than patients who did not develop chronic pain. In discriminant analyses, disease conviction, pain intensity, and state anxiety each made a unique contribution to discriminating patients who did and who did not develop chronic pain. This study demonstrates the feasibility of investigating psychosocial antecedents of the development of chronic pain by prospectively examining the longitudinal course of herpes zoster.
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Pain perception threshold (PPT), maximal pain tolerance (MPT) and pain discrimination of CLBP patients and controls were tested. Pain perception threshold was significantly higher in the patient group for two different pain stimuli (electrical and pressure pain). ⋯ It is concluded that CLBP patients have a decreased sensitivity for experimental pain. Two theories which might explain this decreased sensitivity are discussed.
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The Hospice journal · Jan 1992
Assessment of the terminally ill patient with pain: the example of cancer.
Efforts to understand pain associated with terminal illness have been guided traditionally by the biomedical model in which psychological and environmental factors are considered incidental and not causally significant influences of pain. More recent conceptualizations of pain, however, recognize that pain can be affected by a variety of factors including mood, beliefs about pain, past learning, as well as physical perturbations. This development has led to assessment strategies that are more comprehensive, multidimensional, and less singularly aligned with a biomedical model. ⋯ Thus, in this paper we will describe a comprehensive, multi-dimensional assessment of cancer pain. Information regarding cancer and cancer pain is first presented and then a strategy for comprehensively assessing cancer pain is outlined. Recent developments in the assessment of cancer pain are briefly reviewed.
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Langenbecks Arch Chir · Jan 1992
Review[Acute pain in surgery: the significance of a neglected problem].
Acute pain represents a significant problem in surgical patients. However, the management of acute pain in Germany is unsatisfactory, mostly because surgeons are not interested in the pain of their patients, and anesthesiologists do not give pain treatment on surgical wards. The aim of this article is therefore to point out the significance of the problem of "acute pain" for surgeons. ⋯ It is not sufficient to know the methods and advantages of appropriate management of acute pain; one must also understand the dangers. Problems caused by the treatment of pain should be recognized from a clinical point of view. Surgeons must take a greater interest in the problem of "pain", which should lead to the establishment of new concepts in the management of acute pain in surgical patients.