Friday, May 15, 2009

Pain Relief and Management

By Amanda Gamdana

Pain is a sensory and often emotional experience as a result of damage to a part or parts of the body. Pain affects us all in different ways, and everyone has his or her own unique tolerance level to it while there are some highly trained individuals who seem to be able to control theirs. Pain management or medicines arm of pain relief is a sector in health care which is expanding and gaining credibility as more and more people suffer with long term illnesses which cause pain but are at present incurable.

While some pain experienced can be eliminated by medication, under the guidance of trained physicians, other types prove to be difficult and standard medication does not always work. With acute pain for example which is usually the result of some trauma is relatively easy to control once the cause has been dealt with. Chronic pain on the other hand is normally harder to diagnose and treat; it may be caused by cancer, nerve damage or pain that is not actually at the site of trauma.

In these situations the pain may be considered to be a symptom of the disease or condition that is being treated and will be looked at as a separate item. Pain management has generally benefited from a multidisciplinary approach which can involve the use of analgesics and narcotics, including interventional procedures and physical therapy.

This method of pain relief also includes psychological techniques for biofeedback, cognitive therapy and the use of yoga and meditation for example. Sometimes pain pathways are set up that continue to transmit the sensation of pain even though the underlying condition or injury that originally caused pain has been healed; this pain is usually treated separately for the condition.

Psychiatrists or physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation are just one of many specialist physicians who are part of the pain management team treating pain relief. One of the areas concerns the use of drugs to help alleviate pain and pharmacological experts are used. This pain management team uses the special skills of professionals who will try interventional techniques to control pain.

Pain relief and management is now a major area of health care that has the attention of health care providers and nursing personnel. Although the work of pain management can be useful in the pursuit of pain relief in any situation, their main focus is on conditions that are serious, terminal and long term, like cancer, serious illness and major accidents for example. However, pain relief is something that has to be taught individually to the patients concerned. - 14130

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