What is pain?
International study of pain’s definition.
“An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage,”
To the definiton belongs six key notes for further valuable context:
- Pain is always a personal experience that is influenced to varying degrees by biological, psychological, and social factors.
- Pain and nociception are different phenomena. Pain cannot be inferred solely from activity in sensory neurons.
- Through their life experiences, individuals learn the concept of pain.
- A person’s report of an experience as pain should be respected.
- Although pain usually serves an adaptive role, it may have adverse effects on function and social and psychological well-being.
- Verbal description is only one of several behaviors to express pain; inability to communicate does not negate the possibility that a human or a nonhuman animal experiences pain.
Pain serves an adaptive role, a “warning signal”, but when that warning signal does not turn off, the individual suffers.
Two important factors in pain physiology are:
- (Neural) plasticity: The capacity of neurons to change their function, chemical profile, or structure.
- Individual variation: Each subject perceives pain differently, there is a lot of variation in the perception of pain.
Classification of pain
- Acute-Chronic
- Mild-Moderate-Strong
- Nociceptive-Neuropathic-Nociplastic
What are the causes and different types of pain in OI?
Listening to the patient’s voice
Although medical professionals are focused on diagnosing diseases and finding treatments, the patients voice is extremely important!
What doctors can improve on:
- listening to people’s experiences, particularly with pain and the impact of pain.
- Pain is not directly visible like a scar but can debilitate.
- The severity of an illness or disease does not correlate to the severity of the pain. Although this is apparent, it is not well understood.
What processes and what aspects around the bone itself can cause pain or disability
Understanding bone pain within the musculoskeletal frame
- Developing an asymmetrical bone frame causes the weight to be unevenly distributed
- Hypermobility (joint laxity) contributes to
Accentuating factors (events that can heighten pain in OI and make it more challenging)
- Significant early life painful events
- Anxiety (pain and social)
- Low mood
- Family illness perception
- Sensory challenges
Disease/Pain associated disability
- Reduced physical activity
- Pain related anxiety
- Medications
- Parental/carer anxiety
Physiological and mechanical side effects of persistent pain:
Autonomic change
- Tachykardia
- Hyperventilation
- Sweating
- Blurred vision
- Pallor, nausea, dizziness
- Abdominal cramps, pins and needles
- Reduced peripheral perfusion
Altered proprioception
Mechanical Impact
- Muscle/tendon tightening
- Altered movement