In life, the feeling of "pain" is everywhere. The pain of mosquito bites, the pain of knife scratching, the pain of spraining ankle, the pain of surgery...
says that the most painful thing in the world is the mother giving birth, and ordinary people are already trembling in their hearts just by thinking about it.
But how do people perceive and classify pain? What impact will different types of pain have on people?
What is pain?
pain, which is " pain ", is one of the human feelings. It is an unpleasant subjective experience related to human injury or potential damage, including the two parts of "pain sensation" and "pain response".
"Pain Feeling" refers to a person's subjective feeling of "pain", which mainly occurs in the cerebral cortex. "Pain reaction" refers to various reactions made by the human body in the face of noxious stimuli, including the trunk and internal organs, which are usually related to nerve activities, motor reflexes and psychological emotions. "Pain reaction" is a reaction that humans and other animals have, such as increased heart rhythm, increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, fear of sweating, etc. However, "pain sensation" is unique to humans, and other animals do not have "pain sensation".
. From the occurrence to the perception, pain often goes through several stages: **Contact nocitation-feeling-transmission-pain center receives information. **The pain receptors are located in the nerve endings in the skin and other tissues. No matter what stimulation is, they may trigger these receptors , causing pain impulses to quickly spread along the nerves to the spinal cortex and then through the spinal cord to the cerebral cortex, causing perceived pain.
Pain Conduction
Source丨Xinhuanet
Pain necessity and pain classification
Pain is so uncomfortable, isn't it better without it? Not. Some people may think that people who don’t feel pain are really lucky, but they don’t know that “painlessness” is also a disease. ** Pain is actually a warning taken by the human body to protect itself from harm. It will cause a series of defensive protective reactions of the body, thereby reducing the degree of damage.
Without the pain, we will not protect ourselves when we encounter danger or physical injuries, but in this way, we will put ourselves in greater danger. Therefore, as an alarm system for physical condition, pain has the necessity and importance of existence and is one of the indispensable sensations in the human body.
Back pain source | pixabay
Pain rating is the grade divided by the medical community about the degree of pain. **Because pain is a subjective feeling, various factors such as physiology, psychology, and social culture may affect people's perception of pain. **If the pain can be evaluated correctly, doctors will have a more objective and scientific diagnosis of the patient's condition, which has important practical significance for the formulation and implementation of later treatment plans.
Common pain grading methods There are many pain grading methods in the world, including single-dimensional and multi-dimensional evaluation methods. Among them, the single-dimensional pain assessment table is the most commonly used type of assessment in clinical practice.
- Visual Analog Scale (VAS)
VAS is a commonly used assessment tool for measuring pain intensity. It is composed of a straight line of 100mm long. **One end is marked as "completely painless" and the other end is "extremely painful". **Patients need to use marks on this straight line to express their pain feelings, which is relatively simple to operate. However, the evaluation of VAS requires patients to have a certain degree of abstract thinking, which is not friendly to the elderly and children. Therefore, on this basis, experts created a Facebook VAS evaluation table, adding cartoon images with different expressions to the original basis, making the evaluation content more intuitive and vivid.
- Revised version Wong‐Baker Facial Expression Pain Assessment Method (FPS‐R)
also uses cartoon image evaluation method and FPS evaluation method. This is an evaluation program developed specifically for children by Donna Wong and Dr. Connie Baker. It combines various forms such as facebook, numbers, and text, which is both vivid and vivid.However, since different people have different understandings of cartoon expressions, this solution will inevitably have regional and cultural differences, which have certain limitations.
- Digital Rating Scale (NRS)
NRS Scoring Plan has multiple versions, the most commonly used is NRS version 0-10. The patient needs to select a number from 0-10 to represent his or her pain sensation according to his or her own situation, where 0 means no pain, 1-3 means mild pain, 4-6 means moderate pain, and 7-10 means severe pain.
In life, such as clapping hard and being bitten by a mosquito, they can be classified as mild pain, that is, level 1-3, while being cut by a knife, sprained ankle, sprained, etc. are moderate pain (level 4-6). Pregnant women with childbirth, migraine , cancer pain, etc. can be classified as severe pain, i.e. grades 7-10.
NRS Score Method Source | MedSci Official Website - WTO Pain Classification Method
WHO Organization also has its own classification method for pain. It divides pain into 4 degrees:
**0 degrees: **no pain;
**I degree: **mild, intermittent pain, and you can do not use medicine;
**II degree: **moderate, continuous pain, which will affect rest, and you need painkillers;
**III degree: **severe, continuous pain, and if you do not use medicine, the pain cannot be relieved;
**Ⅳ degree: **severe, continuous pain, accompanied by changes in blood pressure, pulse, etc.
Pain is a protective signal for our body. When you feel the pain, you must find out the cause. Don’t endure the pain if you can. Seek medical treatment in time if necessary to avoid delaying the treatment opportunity.
Source: Digital Beijing Science Center
Review expert: Yin Tielun, Deputy Chief Physician of the Department of Neurology, Airport Campus of Peking University Third Hospital
