Massage and Bodywork

Taber's Medical Dictionary defines pain as "the sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Thus the pain includes not only the perception of an uncomfortable stimulus, but also the response to that perception....Experiencing pain is influenced by a great number of interacting physical, mental, biochemical, physiologic, psychological, social, cultural, and emotional factors."

It is necessary to distinguish between two basic types of pain, acute and chronic, and they differ greatly.

Acute pain warns us that something is wrong. It is telling us to stop, change what we are doing, or that we have just been injured. It results from disease, inflammation, or injury to tissues. The causes of acute pain can usually be diagnosed and treated. The pain is usually confined to a given period of time and severity. This type of pain generally comes on suddenly, for example, after trauma, injury, or surgery. The pain may also be accompanied by anxiety or emotional distress. Acute pain can, in rare instances, become chronic.
Chronic pain is persistent pain over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most standard medical treatments. Chronic pain is often caused by a debilitating disease or injury. For example: cancer, nerve compression or entrapment due to skeletal degeneration, spinal cord damage, or phantom limb. Chronic pain can often be made worse by environmental and psychological factors. Chronic pain can, and often does, cause severe problems for patients. It robs people of their productivity and their sense of well-being.

Causes of Pain

Arthritis
Abrasions
Back pain
Bruises
Cancer pain
Headaches
- Migraines
- Cluster headaches
- Tension headaches
Head and facial pain
Inflammation
Infection
Joint pain
Muscle pain
Myofascial pain syndromes
Neuropathic pain
Repetitive stress injuries
Sciatica
Shingles
Sports injuries
Spinal stenosis
Surgical pain
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) disorders
Trauma
Vascular disease or injury

History of Pain

Ancient civilizations wrote accounts of pain on stone tablets. Their recorded treatments included: pressure (massage), heat (hot stones), water (hydrotherapy), and sun. Early humans related pain to evil, magic, and demons. They went to sorcerers, shamans, priests, and priestesses, who used herbs, rites, and ceremonies as their treatments of pain.

The Greeks and Romans were the first to theorize that the brain and nervous system have a role in producing the perception of pain. Evidence began to accumulate in support of these theories in the Middle Ages and Renaissance period (1400's and 1500's).

In 1664, the French philosopher René Descartes described what to this day is still called the "pain pathway." Descartes described how the heat from a fire near ones foot, traveled to the brain and he compared the "pain sensation" to the ringing of a bell. (One might say "I think therefore I feel pain".)

In the 19th century, physicians and scientists discovered that opium, morphine, codeine, and cocaine could be used to treat pain. In 1931, the French medical missionary Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote, "Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself." Pharmacists then developed aspirin, the most commonly used pain reliever today.

Today, pain is a serious and costly public health issue. It challenges family, friends, and health care providers who must give support to the individual suffering from the physical as well as the emotional consequences of pain.