Pain – Open Learning

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Pain is a central concern of health care practitioners. Descartes’ concept that pain is produced by direct transmission from injured tissues to a pain centre in the brain is reviewed in the light of current understanding: pain impulses reaching the brain are filtered according to activity in other neural pathways and psychological variables such as past experience and attention. This open learning topic integrates anatomical, physiological, and psychological aspects of pain to give a better insight into this important topic.

Contents Introduction Definitions of Pain Sources of Pain Mechanical

Chemical

Thermal

Electrical

Anatomy of Pain pathways Receptors

Peripheral Pain pathways

Pain pathways within CNS

Higher level integration of Pain

Development of Pain pathways

Physiology of Pain Substance P

Endorphin and enkephalin: natural opiates

Sensitisation

Gate theory of Pain control

Psychology of Pain   Central sensitisation

Psychogenic Pain

Referred Pain Phantom Pain Reactions to Pain Reflexes

Emotional responses

Treatment of Pain Assessment of Pain

Analgesia

Anaesthesia

References Learning Outcomes

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