WHSIC Consumer Health - Chronic Pain

	Wegner Health Science Information Center Consumer Health Digital Library

Description - from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

While acute pain is a normal sensation triggered in the nervous system to alert you to possible injury and the need to take care of yourself, chronic pain is different. Chronic pain persists. Pain signals keep firing in the nervous system for weeks, months, even years. There may have been an initial mishap -- sprained back, serious infection, or there may be an ongoing cause of pain -- arthritis, cancer, ear infection, but some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage. Many chronic pain conditions affect older adults. Common chronic pain complaints include headache, low back pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to the peripheral nerves or to the central nervous system itself), psychogenic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside or outside the nervous system).

Medications, acupuncture, local electrical stimulation, and brain stimulation, as well as surgery, are some treatments for chronic pain. Some physicians use placebos, which in some cases has resulted in a lessening or elimination of pain. Psychotherapy, relaxation and medication therapies, biofeedback, and behavior modification may also be employed to treat chronic pain.

Many people with chronic pain can be helped if they understand all the causes of pain and the many and varied steps that can be taken to undo what chronic pain has done. Scientists believe that advances in neuroscience will lead to more and better treatments for chronic pain in the years to come.

Wegner Center Resources

Pain Management Secrets - Book
Wegner Books WL 704 P1448 2003

The Chronic Pain Solution: the Comprehensive, Step-By-Step Guide to Choosing the Best of Alternative and Conventional Medicine - Book
Wegner Books WL 704 D578c 2002

Managing Pan Before It Manages You - Book
Wegner Books WL 704 C371 2002

Mayo Clinic on Chronic Pain - Book
Wegner Books WL 704 M473 1999

Homespun Medical Tips - Requires RealAudio

Pain Management with Radio Frequency Therapy
with Dr. Bill Cohen, Pain Management Physician from Yankton, SD (February 2002)

Web Resources

American Academy of Pain Management (AAPM)
http://www.aapainmanage.org
The AAPM maintains a section for patient information and resources including: find a professional; find a clinic; publications; and links.

American Pain Foundation
http://www.painfoundation.org
The American Pain Foundation serves as an information clearinghouse and resource center for: people with pain, their families, and their caregivers; the general public; healthcare professionals; policymakers; and the media.

National Pain Foundation
http://www.painconnection.org
This site provides education and support for persons in pain, their families, and physicians. Peer reviewed information is provided on pain and treatment options.

Current Literature

Pain from MEDLINEplus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pain.html
MEDLINEplus provides extensive information from the a variety of trusted sources, in English and in Spanish.

Medem Medical Library - Pain Management
http://www.medem.com/medlb/medlib_entry.cfm
Medem's award-winning Medical Library represents the full rant of patient education information from medical societies and other trusted sources, and is unsurpassed in quality, breadth and depth of health care information.

Wegner Health Science Information Center

Consumer Health Digital Library