Pain

Study says empathy plays a key role in moral judgments

Is it permissible to harm one to save many? Those who tend to say "yes" when faced with this classic dilemma are likely to be deficient in a specific kind of empathy, according to a report published in the scientific journal ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created 10 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

US court strikes down Arizona 20-week abortion ban

A federal court in San Francisco Tuesday struck down Arizona's ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Health created 23 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

People on higher incomes are happier with new knees

Knee replacement surgery is a very common procedure. However, it does not always resolve function or pain in all the recipients of new knees. A study by Robert Barrack, MD and his colleagues from the Washington University ...

Other created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Finding a family for a pair of orphan receptors in the brain

Researchers at Emory University have identified a protein that stimulates a pair of "orphan receptors" found in the brain, solving a long-standing biological puzzle and possibly leading to future treatments for neurological ...

Medical research created May 21, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows COPD is associated with significant and persistent pain

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is primarily associated with the respiratory symptoms that are its hallmark, but in fact, patients who struggle with the disease also experience significant amounts of chronic ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Analgesics prescribed more heavily to women than to men, study finds

Regardless of pain, social class or age, a woman is more likely to be prescribed pain-relieving drugs. A study published in Gaceta Sanitaria (Spanish health scientific journal) affirms that this phenomenon is inf ...

Medications created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sugar injections for knee arthritis may ease pain

(HealthDay)—Injections of a sugar solution appear to help relieve knee pain and stiffness related to osteoarthritis, a new study suggests.

Arthritis & Rheumatism created May 21, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Primary care docs should play role in kids' dental health, experts say

(HealthDay)—When it comes to the care of your children's teeth, dentists aren't the only experts who can help.

Dentistry created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Telerehabilitation allows accurate assessment of patients with low back pain

A new "telerehabilitation" approach lets physical therapists assess patients with low back pain (LBP) over the Internet, with good accuracy compared with face-to-face examinations, reports a study in the May 15 issue of Sp ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

CT radiation risk less than risk of examination indicator

(HealthDay)—For young adults needing either a chest or abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT), the short-term risk of death from underlying morbidity is greater than the long-term risk of radiation-induced ...

Cancer created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Music therapy reduces anxiety, use of sedatives for patients receiving ventilator support

New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Extra vitamin D may ease Crohn's symptoms, study finds

(HealthDay)—Vitamin D supplements may help those with Crohn's disease overcome the fatigue and decreased muscle strength associated with the inflammatory bowel disease, according to new research.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Pharmaceutical advances offer new options for health outcomes

Research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) explores pharmaceutical advances for treating irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and hepatitis C.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Inflammatory bowel disease raises risk of melanoma

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at higher risk of melanoma, a form of skin cancer, report researchers at Mayo Clinic. Researchers found that IBD is associated with a 37 percent greater risk for the disease. ...

Inflammatory disorders created May 20, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Commonly used catheters double risk of blood clots in ICU and cancer patients

Touted for safety, ease and patient convenience, peripherally inserted central catheters have become many clinicians' go-to for IV delivery of antibiotics, nutrition, chemotherapy, and other medications.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting alcohol on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone." The International Association for the Study of Pain has a definition that is widely used: "Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage".

Pain motivates the individual to withdraw from damaging situations, to protect a damaged body part while it heals, and to avoid similar experiences in the future. Most pain resolves promptly once the painful stimulus is removed and the body has healed, but sometimes pain persists despite removal of the stimulus and apparent healing of the body; and sometimes pain arises in the absence of any detectable stimulus, damage or disease.

Pain is the most common reason for physician consultation in the United States. It is a major symptom in many medical conditions, and can significantly interfere with a person's quality of life and general functioning. Psychological factors such as social support, hypnotic suggestion, excitement, or distraction can significantly modulate pain's intensity or unpleasantness.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Latest Spotlight News

Novel approach for influenza vaccination shows promise in early animal testing

A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccine ...

Researchers complete largest genetic sequencing study of human disease

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have led the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases.

Slowing the aging process—only with antibiotics

Swiss scientists reveal the mechanism responsible for aging hidden deep within mitochondria—and dramatically slow it down in worms by administering antibiotics to the young.

Enzyme-activating antibodies revealed as marker for most severe form of rheumatoid arthritis

In a series of lab experiments designed to unravel the workings of a key enzyme widely considered a possible trigger of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that in the most severe ...

Taming suspect gene reverses schizophrenia-like abnormalities in mice

Scientists have reversed behavioral and brain abnormalities in adult mice that resemble some features of schizophrenia by restoring normal expression to a suspect gene that is over-expressed in humans with ...

Research offers promising new approach to treatment of lung cancer

Researchers have developed a new drug delivery system that allows inhalation of chemotherapeutic drugs to help treat lung cancer, and in laboratory and animal tests it appears to reduce the systemic damage ...

Overeating learned in infancy, study suggests

In the long run, encouraging a baby to finish the last ounce in their bottle might be doing more harm than good.

Scientists uncover molecular roots of cocaine addiction in the brain

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have unraveled the molecular foundations of cocaine's effects on the brain, and identified a compound that blocks cravings for the drug in cocaine-addicted mice. The compound, already proven safe ...

Researchers analyse hunting behaviour of fish larvae in virtual reality

Moving objects attract greater attention – a fact exploited by video screens in public spaces and animated advertising banners on the Internet. For most animal species, moving objects also play a major ...

Study details genes that control whether tumors adapt or die when faced with p53 activating drugs

When turned on, the gene p53 turns off cancer. However, when existing drugs boost p53, only a few tumors die – the rest resist the challenge. A study published in the journal Cell Reports shows how: tumors that live even i ...