Chronic pain

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Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer than the temporal course of natural healing, associated with a particular type of injury or disease process.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage." Pain is subjective in nature and is defined by the person experiencing it, and the medical community's understanding of chronic pain now includes the impact that the mind has in processing and interpreting pain signals.

For more information about Chronic pain, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with chronic pain

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Chronic pain found to increase risk of falls in older adults

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Chronic pain is experienced by as many as two out of three older adults. Now, a new study finds that pain may be more hazardous than previously thought, contributing to an increased risk of falls in adults over age 70. The ...


Researchers find explanation for rapid maturation of neurons at birth

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 1

At the moment a newborn switches from amniotic fluid to breathing air, another profound shift occurs: nerve cells in the brain convert from hyperexcitability to a calm frame against which outside signals can be detected.


Depression Patients More Apt to Receive Opioids for Chronic Pain

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Chronic pain patients with a history of depression are three times more likely to receive long-term prescriptions for opioid medications like Vicodin compared to pain patients who do not suffer from depression, according ...


Nanowire biocompatibility in the brain: So far so good

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

The biological safety of nanotechnology, in other words, how the body reacts to nanoparticles, is a hot topic. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have managed for the first time to carry out successful experiments involving ...


Chinese acupuncture affects brain's ability to regulate pain, study shows

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Aug 10, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Acupuncture has been used in East-Asian medicine for thousands of years to treat pain, possibly by activating the body's natural painkillers. But how it works at the cellular level is largely unknown.


Damaging inflammatory response could hinder spinal cord repair

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The inflammatory response following a spinal cord injury appears to be set up to cause extra tissue damage instead of promoting healing, new research suggests.


Long-lasting nerve block could change pain management

Long-lasting nerve block could change pain management

Medicine & Health / Research

created Apr 14, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have developed a slow-release anesthetic drug-delivery system that could potentially revolutionize treatment of pain during and after surgery, ...


Dutch researchers develop technology for pain monitoring

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Ten of thousands of patients suffer chronic pain as a result of operations, and this continues even after the wounds caused by the operation have healed. Researchers from the MIRA research institute - the University of Twente’s ...


In Between Mind-Body Split: Chronic Pain Relief

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

The Placebo effect has long been recognized as a factor in determining the efficacy of various medical intervention therapies. A newly published study, "Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia"*, ...


Mayo Clinic study suggests those who have chronic pain may need to assess vitamin D status

Medicine & Health / Medications

created Mar 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Mayo Clinic research shows a correlation between inadequate vitamin D levels and the amount of narcotic medication taken by patients who have chronic pain. This correlation is an important finding as researchers discover ...


Relief from itch seen in nerves; may aid treatment

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Apr 06, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(AP) -- Scratch an itch and you get ... aaaaaah. Now scientists have watched spinal nerves transmit that relief signal to the brain in monkeys, a possible step toward finding new treatments for persistent itching in people.


Obesity significantly increases side effects of stereotactic body radiation therapy in lung cancer patients

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Obesity, not the amount of radiation given, is the greatest factor in whether early-stage lung cancer patients develop chest wall pain after receiving stereotactic body radiation therapy to the chest wall, with obese patients ...


Seeing is relieving: New hope for chronic pain sufferers

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

An f1000 evaluation examines how pain relief improves greatly when the sufferer can actually see the area where the pain is occurring.


Baffling Chronic Pain Linked to Rewiring of Brain

Baffling Chronic Pain Linked to Rewiring of Brain

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 26, 2008 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (14) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists peered at the brains of people with a baffling chronic pain condition and discovered something surprising. Their brains looked like an inept cable guy had changed the hookups, rewiring ...


Serious games for serious health problems

Serious games for serious health problems

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Mar 06, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Gamers caught a very early glimpse of the future of serious games aimed at the health sector during the PlayMancer project’s demos at the latest Vienna Science Fair.