Arthritis Experiments

The perception of pain and the emotions that control intensity differ in individuals. Since feeling pain is somewhat adaptive, when one experiences it, he or she becomes aware of an injury and tries to remove oneself from the source that caused the injury. For this reason, pain is considered neuropathic or inflammatory in nature. Thus, when pain is the outcome from the damage caused to the neurons of the peripheral and central nervous system, then that pain is neuropathic. However, if the pain signals any kind of tissue damage, then the pain is inflammatory in nature. Due to various types of pain, the interpretation of pain by neurons and the source of that pain

which in turn inhibits the second order neurons that transmit the nociceptive signals to the

Pain is one of the most influential symptoms that leads individuals to reach out to health care professionals to seek relief. Pain is subjective and unique to each person. Some individuals may have a higher pain tolerance than others. According to Frandsen (2014), “Pain is an unpleasant, sensory, emotional sensation associated with actual or potential tissue injury” (p. 889). Pain may be caused by a variety of elements, such as tissue or nerve damage and surgery. There are three main categories that pain is classified by, which are origin, duration, and cause. The main focus of this paper is on acute pain, chronic pain, and phantom pain. It is crucial to know how to assess each type of pain, as well as how to enhance it, or decrease the pain.

Arthritic joints show to contain high levels of TNF alpha both in fluid and expressed on the surface of the high number of CD4+ T cells. Bernard et al 1995 carried out an experiment to determine if CA2 binds to transmembrane TNF alpha and the effect of the binding on these expressing cells. The experiment was carried out on a cell line which expressed mutate forms of the transmembrane TNF alpha. The studied showed that TNF alpha binds to CA2 with high avidity which results in killing of TNF+ cells.

A recent study claims to have found a large increase in the quantity of sensory nerve fibers in the skin on the palm of a sufferers hand in patients with fibromyalgia symptoms. Still other studies want to attribute fibromyalgia solely to certain viral infections like Lyme disease. It is very frustrating for researchers to pinpoint one determining factor that is central to the acquisition of fibromyalgia. It is likely to be a result of many contributing factors together leading an individual to develop this

Classical pain presentation in fibromyalgia is often manifested in the muscle on various tender spots all over the four (4) quadrants of the body. Generally, patients complain of joint pain when in fact only the surrounding muscles sore. Pain may be accompanied by fatigue, skin sensitivity, tingling sensations, diarrhea, constipation and sleep disorder. Although, these symptoms are also linked to other chronic pain syndromes, the health experts came up of a unique tool to discretely differentiate fibromyalgia from other disease conditions.

There are many mechanisms for the sensitisation of nociceptors. A common scenario for this occurrence is when peripheral tissue is subjected to exogenous injury, whether it be mechanical, chemical, or toxic. Injury results in localised increase in inflammatory mediators, leading to the sensitisation of nociceptors. Upregulation and increased expression of various membrane receptors is the most common mechanism. Ionotropic receptors, Gq protein-coupled metabotropic receptors, Gs protein-coupled metabotropic receptors, and mitogen-activated protein kinase have been shown to be upregulated in nociceptors in response to the presence of inflammatory mediators (Sessle ed 2008). The resultant effect is increased conductance, lowered threshold for the initiation of action potentials, spontaneous depolarisation, and increased after-discharges to supra-threshold stimuli (Sessle ed 2008). Sprouting, or the growth of neuronal axons into the damaged tissue, also contributes to pathological pain. Increased number of nociceptive axons increases the opportunity for spatial and temporal summation and activation of nociceptors, which under normal conditions would not be activated. Sufficient concentration of inflammatory mediators can also lead to the activation of nociceptors which do not participate in the detection of noxious stimulus (Sessle ed 2008). With an increased number of nociceptors feeding back to the CNS, the sensation of pain is

The descending pathways involved in pain utilise efferent motor nerves (gamma motor neurons). These pathways are involved in analgesic response or motor response to pain.

Pain is often an unpleasant part of being human. The experience is different for every individual person and, the result of the pain does not always depend on the stimulus but can be effected by the contest of any given situation. Neuropathic and nociceptive pain serve no observable purpose and can often be an immense burden on the lives of the people that suffer from chronic and neuropathic pain. Their physical, mental and emotional health can be seriously impacted as well as their social life, and even their career or occupation can be negatively impacted by it. Analgesic treatments that are currently available are extremely limiting, they suffer from low effectiveness, extreme financial costs and potentially harmful toxicity factors. This

Furthermore, it is very important to take the patient condition into account when deciding which pain assessment method to be used. This is to ensure that the pain assessment method is suitable and understandable by the specific patient. There are various types of patients suffering from arthritis. The health care providers or the researchers may find some obstacles when dealing with different kinds of patients. Some may have cognitive issues, particularly the elderly; some may have communication problems, for instance, the neonates; some may have limited educational level such as children. Hence, it is necessary to select and modify the pain assessment method to suit the ability of different kind of

The topic of this article is a chronic condition known as Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a chronic musculoskeletal condition resulting in “widespread pain and a variety of somatic complaints” (Marcus & Deodhar 2011a, p. 9). Fibromyalgia “can occur as a primary condition or in association with other rheumatologically conditions” (Ryan 2013, p. 37) and affects between 0.5 to 5.0% of the population. (Ryan 2013, p. 37)

This instrument would be calibrated to have an intensity range that varied the heat intensity, and the highest setting is calibrated to not be too hot to burn the rat. Like the mechanical pain threshold testing, the rats will enter their assigned cages at a 1 PM and are allowed 15 minutes to get acclimated in the cage. Once the rats are acclimated and stationary, the instrument is positioned below the surface of the left hind paw, so that the heat can radiate through the bottom of the cage. The instrument will record the amount of time between the start of the machine to the time the rat withdrawals their paw. If an ambiguous response occurs, then allow the rat 5 minutes to reacclimate and repeat the pain testing. Licking or shaking the hind paw after stimulation is a type of behavior associate with pain. Repeat the heat stimulation at least 3 more times for each rat and record the times, and then the mean for paw withdraw latencies are calculated. Each of the ten rats experienced this procedure for four days, and the rats were given two resting days from testing. The following ten days examined how optogenetics intervention could dull pain

The most common type of arthritis is Oligoarticular. Fifty percent of all cases have this type. Over the first six months Oligoarticular Arthritis affects five or less joints, and normally the larger joints like the knee, ankles, elbows, etc. In some cases after the first six months more than five joints are affected. This is called extended Oligoarticular Arthritis. Children will get this type before the age of six, and it is more common in females than males. Treatment tends to work with excellence if used in a timely manner from prognosis. Eye problems usually come with Oligoarticular, so children need frequent eye checks. If they have symptoms of pain or redness in their eyes, they could go blind and they need immediate treatment.

The basic PENS therapy consisted of the placement of 10, 32 gauge stainless steel acupuncture-like needle probes into the soft tissue and/or muscle in the symptomatic leg to a depth of 2-4 cm probes were connected to 5 bipolar leads (with each lead connected to one positive and one negative probe) from a low-output electrical generator and stimulated at 4 Hz (Ghoname et al., 1999). Although the precise mechanism of PENS-induced analgesia is not known, it has been speculated that both alterations in neural modulation produced by electrical stimulation, as well as an increase in endogenous morphine like substances within the central nervous system (CNS) contribute to PENS-induced analgesia (Han et al. 1991). PENS therapy produces short - term

Arthritis is a joint disorder, which affects one or several joints in the body. The condition has more than one hundred types of diseases with osteoarthritis being the most common. Osteoarthritis results from joint infection, or age. Patients that suffer from arthritis complain about pain in the joints. In most cases, the pain remains constant in the affected joint. It is worth noting, “The pain from arthritis is due to inflammation that occurs around the joint, damage to the joint from disease, daily wear and tear of joint, muscle strains caused by forceful movements against stiff painful joints and fatigue” (Reid, Shengelia & Parker, 2012, p. 40). However, joint pain could result from various diseases, and in such