The Significance of Pain

On the surface, the significance of pain would seem to be obvious. Pain hurts, and it can be so insistent that it overwhelms other, basic needs. But the significance of pain goes far beyond the disruption it produces, pain is significant for managing daily activities, although we normally think of pain as an unusual occurrence we live with minor pains all the time. These pains are critical for survival because they provide low-level feedback about the functioning of our bodily systems, feedback that we then use often unconsciously, as a basis for making minor adjustments, such as shirting our posture rolling over while asleep , or crossing and uncrossing our legs.

Pain also has important medical consequences. It is the symptom most likely to lead an individual to seek treatment. Unfortunately, though, the relationship between pain and severity of an underlying problem can be weak. For example, a cancerous lump rarely produces pain, at least in its early stages yet it is of great medical importance.

Pain is also medically significant because it can be a source of misunderstanding between a patients and the medical provider. From the patient's standpoint, pain may be the problem, to the provider; in contrast, pain is a by-product of a disorder. In fact, pain is often, considered by practitioners to be so unimportant that many medical schools have virtually no systematic coverage of pan management in their curriculum. One student, reporting on his medical school experience, stated that pain had been mentioned exactly for times in the entire 40year curriculum, and only one lecture had even a portion of its content devoted to pain management.

Pain has psychological as well as medical significance. For example, both depression and anxiety worsen the experience of pain, when patients are asked what they fear most about illness and its treatment, the common response if pain,, the dread of not being ale to reduce one's own suffering arouses more anxiety than the prospect of surgery, the loss of a limb, or even death. In fact, inadequate relief from pain is the most common reason for patients' requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide.

No introduction to pain would be complete without a consideration of its prevalence and cost. Seventy to 85% of people in the united states suffer from back pain at some time in their life, 40 million people suffer from daily arthritis pain, 45 million have chronic headaches, and the majority of patients in the intermediate or advanced stages of cancer suffer moderate to severe pain.