-A-
Ablative surgery: Surgical
procedures performed on peripheral nerves, the spinal cord, the
brain or brain stem that relieve pain by permanent disruption
of nerve pathways.
Acupressure:
An ancient Chinese treatment based on the theory that chi, or
vital energy, circulates in the body along energy pathways, or
meridians, linked to different organ systems. Finger pressure
is used on acupoints to stimulate and rebalance energy, and to
treat ailments such as tension, menstrual cramps, and arthritis.
Acupuncture:
A technique similar to acupressure, except that fine needles are
inserted at specific at specific points along the meridians just
under the skin to stimulate, disperse, and balance the flow of
energy, relieve pain, and treat a variety of chronic, acute, and
degenerative conditions.
Adjuvant
analgesic drug: A drug that is not a primary analgesic
but that research has shown to have independent or additive analgesic
properties.
Aikido:
A Japanese martial art, Aikido is both a method of self-defense
and a spiritual discipline, Its goal is to harmonize one's chi
with that of the opponent, so that the thrust of the opponent's
strength is turned back toward him or her.
Anxiolysis:
Sedation or hypnosis used to reduce anxiety, agitation, or tension.
Anxiolytic:
Medication used to reduce anxiety, agitation, or tension.
Arachnoiditis:
A condition in which one of the three membranes covering
the brain and spinal cord, called the arachnoid membrane, becomes
inflamed. A number of causes, including infection or trauma, can
result in inflammation of this membrane. Arachnoiditis can produce
disabling, progressive, and even permanent pain.
Aromatherapy:
Essential oils extracted from plants are either inhaled or absorbed
directly through the skin to calm emotions and harmonize moods.
It is also used as a supportive treatment for respiratory problems,
skin disorders, and immune deficiencies.
Arthritis:
Millions of Americans suffer from arthritic conditions such as
osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis,
and gout. These disorders are characterized by joint pain in the
extremities. Many other inflammatory diseases affect the body's
soft tissues, including tendonitis and bursitis.
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-B-
Behavioral techniques: A coping
strategy in which patients are taught to monitor and evaluate
their own behavior and to modify their reactions to pain.
Biofeedback
training: A method that teaches how to consciously
regulate unconscious body processes such as breathing, blood pressure,
body temperature, and heart rate, to relieve pain and stress-related
conditions including asthma, hypertension, and migraine headaches.
Breakthrough
pain: Intermittent exacerbation of pain that can occur
spontaneously or in relation to specific activity.
Breathwork:
In a variety of techniques, patterned breathing is used to promote
physical, mental, and/or spiritual wellbeing.
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-C-
Chi Kung (Qi Gong): An ancient
Chinese exercise system that uses breath, movement, and meditation
to enhance the flow of vital energy in the body.
Cognitive
reappraisal: A coping strategy in which patients are
taught to monitor and evaluate negative thoughts and replace them
with more positive thoughts and images.
Conscious
sedation: "Light sedation" during which the
patient retains airway reflexes and responses to verbal stimuli.
Counterirritant:
An agent that is applied to produce irritation at tone site so
as to decrease perception of pain at the same or a distant site.
Cryoanalqesia:
The destruction of peripheral nerves by extreme cold to achieve
prolonged pain relief.
Cryotherapy:
The therapeutic use of cold to reduce discomfort, limit progression
of tissue edema, or break a cycle of muscle spasm.
Crystals:
Crystal-based technologies such as electronic circuitry,
computers, and laser beams, now used in medical diagnostic equipment
and surgical techniques, have revolutionized conventional medicine.
CAT scans, magnetic resonance imaging, mammograms, laser surgery,
and microsurgery are commonplace today. Newer applications are
in development, including Kirlian photography to capture subtle
energy emanating from the physical body (the aura), and sonic
imagers to graphically display the vibrational tones emitted by
the body in illness and health.
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-D-
Deafferentation pain: Pain due to loss of sensory input
into the central nervous system, as occurs with avulsion of the
brachial plexus or other types of lesions of peripheral nerves
or because of pathology of pathology of the central nervous system.
Distraction:
The cognitive strategy of focusing attention on stimuli
other than pain or negative emotions that accompany pain.
Dysesthesia:
An unpleasant abnormal sensation, whether spontaneous or evoked.
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-E-
Electromagnetism: A form
of energy that comes form an electric charge in motion, electromagnetism
is used in medicine to relieve muscle aches, suppress pain, stimulate
knitting of broken bones, pulverize kidney stones, and more. To
heal broken bones, specialized electrodes that create a weak electromagnetic
field are applied externally across a plaster cast of fracture
site and worn during sleep for weeks or months until x-rays show
complete healing.
EMLA (eutectic
mixture of local anesthetic): An ointment that contains
local anesthetics so that topical application causes local anesthesia
without the need for injection.
Energy field
work: Therapies in which practitioners seek to restore
proper circulation and balance of the energy field in and around
the client's body, to relieve stress and promote healing. Treatment
may involve physical laying-on of hands.
Epidural:
Situated within the spinal canal, on or outside the
dura mater (tough membrane surrounding the spinal cord); synonyms
are "extradural" and "peridural."
Equianalgesic:
Having equal pain killing effect; for example, morphine
sulfate 10mg intramuscular is generally used for opioid analgesic
comparisons.
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-F-
Feng Shui: This ancient Chinese
practice configures work or home environments in ways that promote
health, happiness, and prosperity. Furniture, colors, and structures
are arranged to enhance the healthy flow of chi.
Flower remedies:
Popularized by Edward Bach, MD in the 1930s; flower
essences are distilled from plants and trees, then taken in solution
to relieve negative emotional states thought to prevent healing.
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-G-
Guided imagery:
This relaxation and stress-reduction technique uses positive thoughts
and images to relieve pain, slow the heart rate, and stimulate
the body's healing responses.
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-H-
Homeopathy: A medical system
based on the principle that "like heals like, " homeopathy
uses highly diluted solutions of natural substances from plants,
animals and minerals-called "remedies" — to stimulate
the body's healing responses.
Hyperpathia:
A painful syndrome characterized by increased reaction
to a stimulus, especially a repetitive stimulus, as well as an
increased threshold.
Hypnotherapy:
Refers to techniques that bypass the conscious mind and use altered
mental states to facilitate behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal
change, to treat stress, phobias, and therapeutic side effects,
and to promote healing.
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-I-
Iatrogenic: Induced inadvertently
by the medical treatment of procedures of a physician.
Incident
pain: See "movement-related pain."
Intrapleural:
Situated between the membrane surrounding the lungs
and the membrane lining the thoracic cavity.
Intrathecal:
Within a sheath (e.g., cerebrospinal fluid that is contained within
the dura mater).
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-J-
Jin Shin Jutsu: An Oriental
system for harmonizing the flow of chi by releasing trapped energy,
reducing stress, and restoring energy balance.
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-K-
As
of now, no terms for K here
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-L-
Lancinating: Characterized
by piercing or stabbing sensations.
Light and
color therapy: Controlled exposure to sunlight, full-spectrum,
ultraviolet, colored or laser light as a treatment for chronic
pain and depression, or to stimulate the immune system.
Local nerve
block: Infiltration of a local anesthetic around a
peripheral nerve so as to produce anesthesia in the area supplied
by the nerve.
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-M-
Magnetic therapy: Also known
as magnetic field therapy, it involves the use of magnets and
electromagnetic devices to generate controlled magnetic fields
useful in medical diagnosis and treatment.
Meditation:
Refers to techniques that focus the mind and promote
a state of calmness so that the mind and body can be brought into
greater harmony to facilitate health and healing.
Mixed opioid
agonist-antagonist: A compound that has an affinity
for two or more types of opioid receptors and blocks opioid effects
on one receptor type while producing opioid effects on a second
receptor type.
Movement-related
pain: A type of breakthrough pain that is related to
specific activity, such as eating, defecation, socializing, or
walking. Also referred to as "incident pain."
Mucositis:
Inflammation of a mucous member. Oral mucositis is
a common complication of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Myofascial
pain: A large group of muscle disorders characterized
by the presence of hypersensitive points, call "trigger points",
within one or more muscles and/or the investing connective tissue
together with a syndrome of pain, muscle spasm, tenderness, stiffness,
limitation of motion, weakness, and occasionally autonomic dysfunction.
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-N-
Neurolytic block: The injection
of a chemical agent to cause destruction and consequent prolonged
interruption of peripheral somatic or sympathetic nerves, or in
some cases, the neuraxis.
Neuropathic
pain: Pain that arises from a damaged nerve; pain that
results from a disturbance of function or pathologic change in
a nerve; in one nerve mononeuropathy; in several nerves, mononeuropathy
multiplex, if diffuse and bilateral, polyneuropathy.
Nociception:
The process of pain transmission; usually relating to a receptive
neuron for painful sensations.
NSAID (nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drug): Aspirin-like drug that reduces
pain and inflammation arising from injured tissue.
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-O-
Opiate receptor: Opiate-binding
sites found throughout primary afferents and the neuraxis.
Opioid agonist:
Any morphine-like compound that produces bodily effects
including pain relief, sedation, constipation, and respiratory
depression.
Opioid partial
agonist: A compound that has an affinity for and stimulates
physiological activity at the same cell receptors as opioid agonists
but that produces only a partial (i.e., submaximal) bodily response.
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-P-
Pain threshold level: The
level of intensity at which pain becomes appreciable or perceptible.
Palliative
therapy: A procedure or treatment such as chemotherapy,
radiation therapy, or surgery that is performed to relieve or
ease pain.
Paradoxical
reaction: A response (e.g., to a drug) that is the
opposite of the usual response, such as agitation produced in
an individual patient by a drug normally considered to be a sedative.
PCA (patient
controlled analgesia): Self-administration of an analgesic
by a patient instructed in doing so; usually refers to self-dosing
with intravenous opioid (e.g., morphine) administered by means
of a programmable pump.
Peridural:
Synonym for "epidural" and "extradural."
Perineural:
Surrounding a nerve.
Progressive
muscle relaxation: A cognitive-behavioral strategy
in which muscles are alternately tensed and then relaxed in a
systematic fashion.
Pseudoaddiction:Pattern
of drug-seeking behavior of pain patients receiving inadequate
pain management that can be mistaken for addiction.
Psychosocial
intervention: A therapeutic intervention that uses
cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, behavioral, and supportive interventions
to relieve pain. There include patient education, interventions
aimed at aiding relaxation, psychotherapy, and structured or peer
support.
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-Q-
As
of now, no terms for Q here
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-R-
Reiki: An ancient Tibetan
healing system in which light hand placements channel healing
energies to the patient. Used to treat emotional and mental distress
as well as chronic and acute physical problems, it assists the
patient in achieving spiritual focus and clarity.
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-S-
Sound therapy:
The therapeutic use of sound and music to reduce anxiety
and emotional stress, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and
promote healing.
Suffering:
A state of distress associated with events that threaten the intactness
of a person.
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-T-
Tactile strategies: Strategies
that provide comfort through the sense of touch, such as stroking
or massage.
TENS (transcutaneous
electrical nerve stimulation): A method of producing
electroanalgesia through electrodes applied to the skin.
Tolerance:
A common physiologic result of chronic opioid use;
it means that a larger dose of opioid is required to maintain
the same level of analgesia. Note: tolerance can sometimes be
confused with progression of the cause of pain.
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-U-
As
of now, no terms for U here
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-V-
Vascular disease or injury-such as
vasculitis or inflammation of blood vessels, coronary artery disease,
and circulatory problems-all have the potential to cause pain.
Vascular pain affects millions of Americans and occurs when communication
between blood vessels and nerves is interrupted. Ruptures, spasms,
constriction, or obstruction of blood vessels, as well as a condition
called ischemia in which blood supply to organs, tissues, or limbs
is cut off, can also result in pain.
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-W-
As
of now, no terms for W here
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-X-
As
of now, no terms for X here
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-Y-
Yoga: An ancient practice
for bringing body and mind into harmony using meditation, physical
postures, breathing, and exercise.
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-Z-
As
of now, no terms for Z here
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Source: http://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/pain/glossarydef.html
