Guide for Physical Therapist About Pain - Part One

This is guide for physical therapist about pain - The International Association for the Study of Pain has specified pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that associated with actual or potential tissue damage." This definition shows that pain may result from actual injury to tissue (ie, tendon, muscle, bone, etc.) or the potential damage to tissue. If actual or potential harm has happened, however, people will feel pain as real.

(Read more : overview and benefits physical therapy)

Understand to Pain

Pain is the most common signs and symptoms that may lead someone to seek help.

Our understanding of how and why pain exists has changed during over the past decade. The pain was once thought to emanate just at the stage of the tissues (e.g., if an elbow was injured, pain signals originated at the degree of the angle), it is now assured that pain is not perceived until the brain deduces there is a potential threat to the tissues. Today's findings suggest that if an elbow is injured, danger alerts originate at the stage of the elbow, these alerts are relayed to the brain, and the brain decides if it needs to respond by sending an output like pain. This response is individual. What causes someone brain to respond, may not cause another's to do so. This perception is based on many different things.

The way to the understanding of pain has major various implications. First, it changes the method a physical therapist may approach your care. While many medical professions used to focus on the healing of individual tissues, many physical therapists are beginning to use a "bio-psycho-social" design of pain therapy. In this approach, physical therapists do not only focus on the tissues of the body (bio), but they also focus on social and psychological and elements that may be influencing the quality of pain you experience. For example, if you hurt your leg at work, a physical therapist may combine different factors of your job into your rehabilitation. Your physical therapist may scheme training that replicates the positions you think during a workday or the tasks you do at work, such as lifting crates, or climbing a ladder. Your physical therapist will also discuss with you about any worries that you may have about movement, and support gives you the belief to move safely again.

Second, it can have a wide economic influence. In 2010, it was estimated that the US consumed between $500 billion and $635 billion on the medication for pain. To put these numbers in comparison, that same year $188 billion was spent treating diabetes, $243 billion was used treating cancer, and $309 billion was used treating heart disease. We are spending a tremendous amount of money on the care of pain, but these numbers may exsiccate as we better understand about pain.

How Does it Feel?

Pain is an entirely individualized experience. We often use different names to explain it, but it is difficult to know if you feel pain the same way as other feel pain. Some people talk about having a low or high tolerance to pain. Because pain is such a subjective experience, science has not evolved appropriate methods to quantify pain tolerance.

Currently, there are 2 ways the physical therapist may classify your pain:

1. The first classification of pain is time-based:

• Acute pain (experienced for less than three months).
• Chronic pain (experienced for more than three months).

These terms do not represent the mechanism causing your pain. It just helps us to categorize the pain

2. The next classification of pain is based on the likely triggering mechanism:

• Nociceptive triggers result in pain that is limited to an area of damage or dysfunction. The pain is often relieved or aggravated by certain positions or movements, which demonstrates that the pain has a clear mechanical nature.
• Peripheral neuropathic. It is induced pain occurs with a history of the disease, injury, or mechanical conditions to a nerve. Pain is experienced due to injury or damage of neural (nerve) tissue.
• Central sensitization. It results in pain that is disproportionate to the nature or grade of the injury or disease. The pain is usually non-mechanical and unpredictable in response to factors that usually increase or decrease pain.

Studies have indicated pain may also result in the following:

• Fear avoidance – an avoidance of movements or activities because of a trust about the potential negative consequences of those activities or movements (e.g., My work might harm my back).
• Catastrophizing – an excessive, negative orientation toward pain (e.g., “I feel I cannot go on because of this pain").
• Kinesiophobia – a fear of moving or exercising (eg, I am scared to return to exercising).
• Muscle weakness.
• Inability to move as freely as usual.
• Difficulty doing daily activities

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