Understanding Pain

Understanding Pain
Author: Fernando Cervero
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2012-08-17
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0262304503

An expert explores the biological and emotional nature of pain: why it hurts and why some pain is good and some pain is bad. If you touch something hot, it hurts. You snatch your hand away from the hot thing immediately. Obviously. But what is really happening, biologically—and emotionally? In Understanding Pain, Fernando Cervero explores the mechanisms and the meaning of pain. When you touch something hot, your brain triggers a reflex action that causes you to withdraw your hand, protecting you from injury. That kind of pain, Cervero explains, is actually good for us; it acts as an alarm that warns us of danger and keeps us away from harm. But, Cervero tells us, not all pain is good for you. There is another kind of pain that is more like a curse: chronic pain that is not related to injury. This is the kind of pain that fills pain clinics and makes life miserable. Cervero describes current research into the mysteries of chronic pain and efforts to develop more effective treatments. Cervero reminds us that pain is the most common reason for people to seek medical attention, but that it remains a biological enigma. It is protective, but not always. Its effects are not only sensory but also emotional. There is no way to measure it objectively, no test that comes back positive for pain; the only way a medical professional can gauge pain is by listening to the patient's description of it. The idea of pain as a test of character or a punishment to be borne is changing; prevention and treatment of pain are increasingly important to researchers, clinicians, and patients. Cervero's account brings us closer to understanding the meaning of pain.

Pain and Perception

Pain and Perception
Author: Daniel Harvie
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9780648022756

What can illusions teach us about pain? Is what we see, hear, and feel as simple as it appears to be? The modern science of perception has unearthed new ways to think about pain - as a multi-sensory and multi-factorial phenomenon. Leading pain researchers, Dan Harvie and Lorimer Moseley, walk us through this science by interacting with illusions that challenge our assumptions on how perception actually works. A visually stunning, fun and accessible read to help anyone better understand and respond to pain.

An Introduction to Pain and its relation to Nervous System Disorders

An Introduction to Pain and its relation to Nervous System Disorders
Author: Anna A. Battaglia
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2016-05-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1118455975

Introduction to Pain and its relation to Nervous System Disorders provides an accessible overview of the latest developments in the science underpinning pain research, including, but not limited to, the physiological, pathological and psychological aspects. This unique book fills a gap in current literature by focussing on the intricate relationship between pain and human nervous system disorders such as Autism, Alzheimer Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Depression and Multiple Sclerosis. This fully illustrated, colour handbook will help non-experts, including advanced undergraduate and new postgraduate students, become familiar with the current, wide-ranging areas of research that cover every aspect of the field from chronic and inflammatory pain to neuropathic pain and biopsychosocial models of pain, functional imaging and genetics. Contributions from leading experts in neuroscience and psychiatry provide both factual information and critical points of view on their approach and the theoretical framework behind their choices. An appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of brain imaging technology applied to pain research in humans provides the tools required to understand current cutting edge literature on the topic. Chapters covering placebo effects in analgesia and the psychology of pain give a thorough overview of cognitive, psychological and social influences on pain perception. Sections exploring pain in the lifecycle and in relation to nervous system disorders take particular relevance from a clinical point of view. Furthermore, an intellectually stimulating chapter analysing the co-morbidity of pain and depression provides a philosophical angle rarely presented in related handbooks. The references to external research databases and relevant websites aim to prompt readers to become critical and independent thinkers, and motivate them to carry out further reading on these topics. Introduction to Pain and its relation to Nervous System Disorders is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in neuroscience, medical and biomedical sciences, as well as for clinical and medical healthcare professionals involved in pain management.

Explain Pain

Explain Pain
Author: David S Butler
Publisher: Noigroup Publications
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2013-07
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0987342673

Imagine an orchestra in your brain. It plays all kinds of harmonious melodies, then pain comes along and the different sections of the orchestra are reduced to a few pain tunes. All pain is real. And for many people it is a debilitating part of everyday life. It is now known that understanding more about why things hurt can actually help people to overcome their pain. Recent advances in fields such as neurophysiology, brain imaging, immunology, psychology and cellular biology have provided an explanatory platform from which to explore pain. In everyday language accompanied by quirky illustrations, Explain Pain discusses how pain responses are produced by the brain: how responses to injury from the autonomic motor and immune systems in your body contribute to pain, and why pain can persist after tissues have had plenty of time to heal. Explain Pain aims to give clinicians and people in pain the power to challenge pain and to consider new models for viewing what happens during pain. Once they have learnt about the processes involved they can follow a scientific route to recovery. The Authors: Dr Lorimer Moseley is Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and the Inaugural Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, where he leads research groups at Body in Mind as well as with Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney. Dr David Butler is an international freelance educator, author and director of the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute, based in Adelaide, Australia. Both authors continue to publish and present widely.

The Brain and Pain

The Brain and Pain
Author: Richard Ambron
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231555717

Pain is an inevitable part of existence, but severe debilitating or chronic pain is a pathological condition that diminishes the quality of life. The Brain and Pain explores the present and future of pain management, providing a comprehensive understanding based on the latest discoveries from many branches of neuroscience. Richard Ambron—the former director of a neuroscience lab that conducted leading research in this field—explains the science of how and why we feel pain. He describes how the nervous system and brain process information that leads to the experience of pain, detailing the cellular and molecular functions that are responsible for the initial perceptions of an injury. He discusses how pharmacological agents such as opiates affect the duration and intensity of pain. Ambron examines new evidence showing that discrete circuits in the brain modulate the experience of pain in response to a placebo, fear, anxiety, belief, or other circumstances, as well as how pain can be relieved by activating these circuits using mindfulness training and other nonpharmacological treatments. The book also evaluates the prospects of procedures such as deep brain stimulation and optogenetics. Current and thorough, The Brain and Pain will be invaluable for a range of people seeking to understand their options for treatment as well as students in neuroscience and medicine.

Painful Yarns

Painful Yarns
Author: G. Lorimer Moseley
Publisher: Painful Yarns.
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2007
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0980358809

This much anticipated collection of stories, written by Oxford University Fellow and Pain Scientist, Dr GL Moseley, provides an entertaining and informative way to understand modern pain biology. Described by critics as 'a gem' and by clinicians as 'entertaining and educative', Painful Yarns is a unique book. The stories, some of his travels in outback Australia, some of experiences growing up, are great yarns. At the end of each story, there is a section "so what has this got to do with pain?" in which Lorimer uses the story as a metaphor for some aspect of pain biology. The level of the pain education is appropriate for patients and health professionals. The entertainment is good for everyone. You don't have to be interested in pain to get something from this book and a laugh or two!

The Explain Pain Handbook

The Explain Pain Handbook
Author: David Sheridan Butler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Chronic pain
ISBN: 9780975091098

For: People experiencing pain'The Explain Pain Handbook: Protectometer' is a personal workbook for people experiencing chronic pain. Based on the most up-to-date research, this handbook is a key element in the Explain Pain toolkit. It introduces the 'Protectometer' - a groundbreaking pain treatment tool - that helps you understand your personal pain formula, identify your DIMs (Danger in Me) and SIMs (Safety in Me) and provides six clear strategies for recovery from pain.

Living Beyond Your Pain

Living Beyond Your Pain
Author: JoAnne Dahl
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2006
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1572244097

Using mindfulness-based techniques and cognitive behavioral tools, a leading expert on the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches readers to transcend the experience of chronic pain by reconnecting with other, more valued aspects of their lives.

Do Fish Feel Pain?

Do Fish Feel Pain?
Author: Victoria Braithwaite
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2010-03-25
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0191613967

While there has been increasing interest in recent years in the welfare of farm animals, fish are frequently thought to be different. In many people's perception, fish, with their lack of facial expressions or recognisable communication, are not seen to count when it comes to welfare. Angling is a major sport, and fishing a big industry. Millions of fish are caught on barbed hooks, or left to die by suffocation on the decks of fishing boats. Here, biologist Victoria Braithwaite explores the question of fish pain and fish suffering, explaining what we now understand about fish behaviour, and examining the related ethical questions about how we should treat these animals. She asks why the question of pain in fish has not been raised earlier, indicating our prejudices and assumptions; and argues that the latest and growing scientific evidence would suggest that we should widen to fish the protection currently given to birds and mammals.

Pathophysiology of Pain Perception

Pathophysiology of Pain Perception
Author: Stefan Lautenbacher
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1441990682

Under certain pathological conditions, the pain processing system, which includes both physiological and psychological components, can produce the experience of pain in the absence of any peripheral noxious event. Considerable evidence now indicates that alterations in pain perception are characteristic of many clinical pain states. Pathophysiology of Pain Perception primarily examines these pathological alterations in the pain-signaling system, with contributions from leading researchers in the field focusing on the functioning of the pain processing system under normal and pathological conditions. The understanding of pain perception is essential for optimal diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic pain. This book covers the basics of pain perception (peripheral and central neurotransmission, methods of assessment), various pathological (chronic pain conditions, neurological and psychiatric diseases, cardiovascular disease), and non-pathological alterations of pain perception (pregnancy, labor) as well as the treatments aiming at influencing pain perception such as pharmacological, physical and psychological treatments.