Sean Mackey is a M.D, Ph.D, the current Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine, as well as a Redlich professor in several pain and brain related sciences at Stanford. Doctor Mackey leads the research at the Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory focusing on the dissecting chronic pain and how it effects the nervous system. The SNAPL has also attempted to map out the brain and regions in the spinal cord that understand pain in order to treat these occurrences of chronic pain on a personal level (Stanford Medicine Bio). In order to solve these problems he is mainly explores the effects of different injected drugs, such as Lidocaine, Ondansetron, and Botulinum Toxin, for ameliorating effects or help in linking how different responders …show more content…
After reading these papers I think they are both good lenses to understand his topic of how pain originates in the brain. The first provides a more traditional science approach to brains relationship with chronic pain. Although it does not give a definitive answer to how the brain causes CRPS, or complex regional pain syndrome, it presents some morphological proof. This experiment proceeded as follows, Mackey received 15 patients with right handed upper extremity CRPS and then 15 control patents with the same age. The severity of the disease for each of the patients was assessed and then the patients were scanned using a 3.0 Tesla MRI machine using a 3D I-FSGR sequence to produce high-resolution T1- weighted anatomic images. These images were used to find the volumes of grey brain matter and reach some interesting points. Most importantly I think is that morphologic abnormalities that were discovered in the left posterior hippocampus and left …show more content…
This study focused on the brain shielding the body from pain, a reflection of the first paper, and provides the other side to my view of his topic. In this paper he explains how he had 27 individuals in the first 9 months of a romantic relationship go through a series of pain trials where they were exposed to a heat block at various thresholds. While the pain was being applied they were told to focus in on a picture, either of their romantic partner or an equally attractive acquaintance, then they were told to rate their pain. The results really surprised me that it can be quantitatively determined that the pain they felt was less when viewing their partners. Mackey describes it as an analgesia affect, the brain dampening the nerves that would transmit the pain to the brain when view ones romantic partner. Many controls were put in place to make their experiment clear, for example the acquaintances and partners were rated equally attractive by a third party, the patients completed a mind-wiping arithmetic exercise after each trial, the pain scale for each patient was determined earlier through an empty trail and the skin area was cooled after
Pain is not only defined as a sensation or a physical awareness, but also entails perception. Moreover, pain is an unpleasant and an uncomfortable emotion that is transferred to the brain by sensory neurons. There are various kinds of pain and how one perceives them is varied as well. Certain parts of the brain also play a key role in how one feels pain such as the parietal lobe, which is involved in interpreting pain while the hypothalamus is responsible for the response to pain one has. Although some believe pain is just a physical awareness and is in the body, pain is all in one’s mind because the perception of pain and the emotion that controls its intensity differs in individuals and when pain itself is administered to the body, the brain determines the emotions one attaches to each painful experience.
Pain not only involves the physical reaction to damaged tissue, but also involves an emotional and cognitive response by the person experiencing the pain (Backer, 1994). A person's prior experience will influence how pain is managed. Pain is a signal that something is not
Gate control theory was first described in 1965 by Melzack and Wall. (Gate Control Theory. 2012). The gate control theory recognizes that stimuli other than pain pass through the same gate. (DeWit, S., Stromberg, H., & Dallred, C. 2017, p.124). The gate control theory states that when the gate is open, pain sensation is allowed through; when the gate is closed, pain is blocked. (DeWit, S., Stromberg, H., & Dallred, C. 2017, p.141). The theory relates to nursing practice in several ways: two type of nerve fibers – small-diameter and large-diameter – carry pain stimuli, activity in small-diameter nerve fibers open the gate, and activity in large-diameter closes it, increase in anxiety open the gate, and decrease in anxiety closes it. Fear that pain will not be controlled may increase pain intensity, and knowing pain is being controlled reduces pain. (DeWit, S., Stromberg, H., & Dallred, C. 2017, p.124). Pain is a “neuromatrix” where pain is a multidimensional experience, which stimuli are influenced by experience, cultural learning, and
To most people, pain is a nuisance, but to others pain controls their life. The feeling discomforts us in ways that can sometimes seem almost imaginable. These feelings can lead to many different side effects if not dealt with or diagnosed. These effects can include depression, anxiety, and incredible amount of stress. The truth about pain is that it is vital to our existence. Without the nervous system responding to pain, we would have no idea if we were touching a hot stove, being stuck by a porcupine’s needles, or something else that could leave a lasting effect upon our bodies without us even knowing anything about it.
Pain perception can be less than might be expected from the extent of a physical injury. This was proven by a scientist called Susana Bantick, Oxford University, and colleagues who carried out a study on the influence of attention distracting pain processing (Bantick et al, 2002). During the experiment, brain processing was measured by measuring brain activity using fMRI. Participants rated pain from 1-10 when noxious heat stimulus was applied to their hand in the scanner. She then followed the same process but gave them a task which required cognitive processing; reducing the amount of focused attention on pain. Bantick, therefore, showed attention distraction can reduce the amount of pain perceived by the individual, also pain processing to the brain was reduced. This provides vital evidence that pain perception does not just depend on the injury alone.
According to The World Health Organisation (1999), defined pain as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Pain is traditionally described as acute or chronic pain. The prevalence of chronic pain (CP) is higher than of acute of pain, as it affects 7.8 million people of all ages in the UK (Chronic Pain Policy Coalition., 2006). The current leading cause of mortality that is accounting for 60% of all deaths is due to chronic diseases and is also a problem as causes an increasing burden on the health care service (World Health Organisation., 2007). CP can affect a person’s quality of life if managed poorly, statistics shows that 25% of people lose their job and 22% leads to depression. (Chronic Pain Policy Coalition.,
Pain is different for everyone, because the brain “…[creates] its own selective picture; a picture largely determined by what is important for the survival and reproduction of the species” (Axel 234). In addition, because “[o]ur perceptions are not direct recordings of the world around us, rather, they are constructed internally according to innate rules” (Axel 234), classifying and treating pain for a large group of individuals is problematic. When attempting to address this issue, the question must be presented: is there a particular type of therapy which hospitals can use to reduce pain perception of patients, thus improving (or upholding) their physical
Adequate pain assessment is essential for measuring the efficacy of treatment in clinical practice, provide patient with target pain treatment, and avoid the high number of non-responders.15 Clinically, valuable pain assessment would associate certain signs and symptoms that comprise the pain phenotype with underlying mechanisms.15 Methods such as quantitative sensory testing, functional imaging, skin biopsies and genetic screening are assessment tools provide valuable information regarding the neurobiology of pain.15 However, these tools are expensive, require technical expertise and not suitable for routine assessment of a patient’s pain.15 Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish biopsychosocial pain profiling of multiethnic
‘Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage’ (International association for the study of pain 2014). Pain can be made up of complex and subjective experiences. The experience of pain is highly personal and private, and can not be directly observed or measured from one person to the next (Mac Lellan 2006). According to the agency for health care policy and research 1992, an individuals self-report of pain is the most reliable indicator of its presence. This is also supported by Mc Caffery’s definition in 1972, when he said ‘Pain is whatever the experiencing patient says it is, existing whenever he says it does’.
Chronic Pain is an interesting problem in society today. The exact cause of Chronic Pain is not the same in every patient. In fact most patients present with different symptoms and associated pathologies, such as the strong link with depression. Treatment of Chronic Pain is often performed a single practitioner whether that be a Medical Doctor, Chiropractor, Nutritionist, or an alternative health care professional. Chronic Pain is often extremely complex, because of this treatment needs to be multidimensional. Effective care of Chronic Pain requires the collective cooperation of health care professionals
What is a cerebral pain ? Migraine is torment in the head with the torment being over the eyes, or in the back of the upper neck. Cerebral pain can grow bit by bit or all of a sudden, and may last from not exactly a hour to a few days. Migraine like mid-section torment or spinal pain, has numerous causes including iliness, stretch, environment ( including second tobacco smoke, solid scents from family chemicals or prefumes, sensitivities and certain
Pain is something that connects all of us. From birth to death we can identify with each other the idea and arguably the perception of it. We all know we experience it, but what is more important is how we all perceive it. It is known that there are people out there with a ‘high’ pain tolerance and there are also ones out there with a ‘low’ pain tolerance, but what is different between them? We also know that pain is an objective response to certain stimuli, there are neurons that sense and feel pain and there are nerve impulses that send these “painful” messages to the brain. What we don’t know is where the pain
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.
This paper is going to talk about how to deal with chronic pain. First of all, this paper will explain what chronic pain means by providing the foremost chronic pain encountered in life such as low back, joints, or other kinds. Next, this paper will cover why it is important to address conditions related to chronic pain, and will explore methods and strategies showing how to cope with continuing pain. Finally, this paper will share some predictable outcomes and a conclusion.
I continued my passion for research in the neuroscience laboratory of Dr. Raimi Quiton in the Psychology Department of the Univeristy of Maryland, Baltimore County UMBC . Through this lab I had the opportunity to investigate the effect of biopsychosocial factors on human pain modulation. Implications of this study stretch to health care and treatment for individuals within diverse groups. With the right application, it can also help to decrease the stereotypes imposed upon certain patient groups when given pain treatment. These outcomes, though far away at this point, have allowed me to be a part of an experience that speaks to my ambition of effecting social change through research. Despite this experience being a world away from the cell culture of the previous summer, I became HIPAA certified, ethics trained, and became trained for human pain testing. In addition to conducting thermal and pressurized pain experiments, I also managed projects within the lab, collected and analyzed data, planned experiments, and trained new research assistants. During extended periods when my mentor and principle investigator were away on