Dr LeCrone
03-30-2006, 12:45 PM
Acute pain has a biological value.
It serves as:
A warning of injury or malfunction.
An enforcer of immobility of an injured part of the body; it gives an opportunity for healing.
A signal for rest, giving the opportunity for recovery.
A survival function. For the individual who does not perceive pain, life can be short.
Chronic pain, on the other hand, does not appear to serve the same useful functions. Ask any individual who suffers from chronic back pain or rheumatoid arthritis about eh value of their pain, and you’ll get a quick negative response.
Some authorities have concluded that acute pain is the symptom of a disease. With chronic pain, on the other hand, the pain itself is the disease, leading to the label chronic pain symptom.
In acute pain, one generally experiences increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, dilated pupils, sweating palms and hyperventilation. All of those are signs of anxiety.
But different characteristics are noted in chronic pain. These include sleep disturbances that are not always related to the onset of the pain. Appetite changes, irritability and social isolation are also frequent signs of depression. At the onset of acute pain, the psychological factors associated with the pain are usually few. But as the pain persists and becomes chronic, these factors become significant so a large part of chronic pain has psychological factors associated with it.
Psychological techniques have been used for the past several years in treating chronic pain syndromes. A variety of these techniques that are available are used individually or sometimes in combination with each other to help the chronic pain patient. These techniques frequently are used as a part of a team effort to help the patient learn to cope with pain. Team members may include physical therapists, physicians, psychologists and nurses with training in chronic pain management.
Anti-depressant medications frequently are found to be useful as part of the overall effort to help the patient learn to control the pain, as depression is frequently one of the symptoms that is found in chronic pain syndrome.
One self-control procedures that has helped patients control pain is biofeedback. Because chronic pain creates stress in most individuals, biofeedback can help a person learn to decrease this stress and tension, thereby reducing his perception of the pain. A patient learns to use biofeedback information to recognize heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, skin temperature and brain wave activity.
Biofeedback equipment uses instruments that monitor what is happening in the body. Research has shown we can learn to control body functions that normally were controlled by the “involuntary” or “autonomic” nervous system. The traditional view was that the autonomic nervous system governing heart rate, blood circulation, enzyme flow and so on was beyond conscious control.
Recent research has shown that body organs like the lungs, heart and stomach all communicate with and are regulated by the brain. While science still is searching for more facts about the relationship of brain, mind and body, we are learning new ways of controlling pain and better understanding it.
Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 1988
It serves as:
A warning of injury or malfunction.
An enforcer of immobility of an injured part of the body; it gives an opportunity for healing.
A signal for rest, giving the opportunity for recovery.
A survival function. For the individual who does not perceive pain, life can be short.
Chronic pain, on the other hand, does not appear to serve the same useful functions. Ask any individual who suffers from chronic back pain or rheumatoid arthritis about eh value of their pain, and you’ll get a quick negative response.
Some authorities have concluded that acute pain is the symptom of a disease. With chronic pain, on the other hand, the pain itself is the disease, leading to the label chronic pain symptom.
In acute pain, one generally experiences increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, dilated pupils, sweating palms and hyperventilation. All of those are signs of anxiety.
But different characteristics are noted in chronic pain. These include sleep disturbances that are not always related to the onset of the pain. Appetite changes, irritability and social isolation are also frequent signs of depression. At the onset of acute pain, the psychological factors associated with the pain are usually few. But as the pain persists and becomes chronic, these factors become significant so a large part of chronic pain has psychological factors associated with it.
Psychological techniques have been used for the past several years in treating chronic pain syndromes. A variety of these techniques that are available are used individually or sometimes in combination with each other to help the chronic pain patient. These techniques frequently are used as a part of a team effort to help the patient learn to cope with pain. Team members may include physical therapists, physicians, psychologists and nurses with training in chronic pain management.
Anti-depressant medications frequently are found to be useful as part of the overall effort to help the patient learn to control the pain, as depression is frequently one of the symptoms that is found in chronic pain syndrome.
One self-control procedures that has helped patients control pain is biofeedback. Because chronic pain creates stress in most individuals, biofeedback can help a person learn to decrease this stress and tension, thereby reducing his perception of the pain. A patient learns to use biofeedback information to recognize heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, skin temperature and brain wave activity.
Biofeedback equipment uses instruments that monitor what is happening in the body. Research has shown we can learn to control body functions that normally were controlled by the “involuntary” or “autonomic” nervous system. The traditional view was that the autonomic nervous system governing heart rate, blood circulation, enzyme flow and so on was beyond conscious control.
Recent research has shown that body organs like the lungs, heart and stomach all communicate with and are regulated by the brain. While science still is searching for more facts about the relationship of brain, mind and body, we are learning new ways of controlling pain and better understanding it.
Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 1988