Category: Pain

In neuropathic pain, the perceived pain is spontaneous and manifests without any outside stimulus. The aetiology of neuropathic pain varies widely, and includes injuries and lesions to the brain and spinal cord, peripheral neuropathy arising from diabetes mellitus or as a result of chemotherapy due to cancer, trigeminal neuralgia, peripheral nerve injury, and post-stroke pain

There are many non-medical treatments available for chronic pain, including structured activity programs, psychological measures such as biofeedback, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and hypnosis, and pain relief strategies such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).

Chronic pain is a debilitating condition that affects millions of people each year across the world. Historically, pain has always been viewed as a purely biological process and psychological and social factors were considered irrelevant. If no obvious organic cause could be found, patients were often referred to a psychiatrist for treatment for their condition, […]

Pain is defined as chronic when it lasts for more than three months. At this point, it stops being just a symptom and becomes a condition in its own right, although it is also associated with many other diseases, such as cancer, arthritis, back pain, complex regional pain syndrome and fibromyalgia. The condition is relatively […]

Back pain is the commonest reason patients consult their GP, and it has been estimated that 60–80% of the population will experience the condition at some point during their lifetime. There is a significant socioeconomic impact too, with each UK worker losing an average of 12 days per year. Chronic back pain most commonly originates […]

Pain is the commonest reason for a patient to visit their doctor, with around 25% of adults suffering from chronic pain at any one time, a figure that rises to around 50% in the over-65s. Advances in our understanding of pain have allowed the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that were previously ignored, such as […]

Back pain is one of the commonest reasons for a patient to visit their doctor, and it is estimated that around 80% of adults will suffer from it at least once during their lifetime. Back pain is associated with many conditions, most of which are not serious and, with conservative treatment, resolve within a few […]

The phenomenon of acute pain serves two main purposes. First, it acts as a warning system to the body that the risk from harm is imminent. Second, it indicates that an injury has already occurred, and a period of rest is required while healing takes place. However, once pain has persisted for more than 3 […]

Somatoform disorder (SD) is defined as physical symptoms suggestive of a medical condition which are unexplained by an underlying disease or mental disorder. Somatoform symptoms are common, and mild ones, such as stress as a trigger for migraine or butterflies in the stomach before public speaking, are experienced by many people at some point in […]

The term ‘phantom limb pain (PLP)’ describes the painful sensations experienced in a part of the body that has been amputated, which persist after complete healing of the associated surgical wound. It is an extremely common phenomenon, occurring in up to 85% of patients immediately after amputation and persisting for 6 months or more in […]

A placebo is any medication or procedure with no known therapeutic effect. Placebos are often given for the psychological, rather than physiological, benefit of the patient and are also used as a control measure in the testing of new drugs. Common placebos include sugar pills, saline injections or drugs given in such miniscule doses that […]

1        Introduction 1.1       Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) remains a poorly understood phenomenon. In the realm of medical litigation, the syndrome can prove particularly challenging to substantiate. This is often due to the lack of organic pathology and the presence of complex psychosocial interactions. In addition, there is a range of opinion among medical experts […]