Pain

What is Pain?

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage

What is Nociception?

Processing of noxious stimuli by the nervous system, initiated by stimulation of pain receptors (nociceptors) in the skin transmitted to spinal cord by type A delta fibres (fast myelinated fibers)

Difference between nociception vs pain

Nociception is a physiological process while pain is an output

What are the clinical presentations of pain?

Nociceptive, neuropathic and nociplastic - they tend to overlap

What is Nociceptive pain?

Standard pain, when you have somatic pain originating from musculoskeletal structures (e.g. joints, muscles, ligaments)

Does nociceptive pain equal tissue damage?

No it doesn’t equal tissue damage, the way nociceptive pain is processed in the CNS differs between individuals

What is Neuropathic pain?

Due to a lesion or dysfunction to the nervous system itself 

• Peripheral nerves - neuropathy, impingement 

• Central nerves - post stroke

What is Nociplastic pain?

Pain that arises from altered nociception, characterized by hypersensitivity in apparently normal tissues, in a regional widespread distribution 

• E.g. osteoarthritis