Pain management

Pain management uses medical, psychological, and rehabilitative approaches to reduce pain and limit its effects on daily life.

Multimodal analgesia: Pain treatment that combines methods with different mechanisms to improve relief while limiting reliance on any single approach. Combining medicines and non-drug therapies can address pain through several pathways.
Nociception: The neural process by which potentially harmful stimuli are detected and transmitted. It distinguishes sensory signaling from the conscious experience of pain.
Descending pain modulation: Brain-to-spinal-cord signaling that can inhibit or amplify incoming pain signals. Some medicines and behavioral approaches influence the systems that regulate pain transmission.
Acetaminophen: A medicine used to relieve pain and reduce fever, with little anti-inflammatory activity at usual doses. It can be an alternative to anti-inflammatory drugs when their risks make them unsuitable.
Opioid use disorder: A problematic pattern of opioid use causing clinically significant impairment or distress. Long-term opioid exposure can contribute to this disorder, making prevention and monitoring essential.
Opioid analgesic: A medicine that activates opioid receptors to reduce pain, with risks including dependence and respiratory depression. Opioids can help selected cases of severe pain but require careful risk assessment.
Neuropathic pain: Pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. Nerve injury or disease can require treatments different from those used for tissue inflammation.
Gate control theory: A theory that spinal processing of sensory input can modulate transmission of pain signals to the brain. It offers a model for how touch and other input can alter pain signaling.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation: A method that applies low-voltage electrical currents through skin electrodes to modulate sensory input. It is a non-drug option, though evidence of benefit varies by pain condition.
Opioid-induced hyperalgesia: Increased sensitivity to pain associated with opioid exposure. It can complicate treatment when escalating opioid doses coincide with worsening pain.

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