Describing pain is a difficult task because of the subjectivity that characterises it. A more complete definition was first given by the IASP – “International Association for the Study of Pain” in 1986, which defined it as: “a sensory and emotionally unpleasant experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described as such”.
Recent estimates have identified the presence of chronic pain in 35% of the total population, providing an empirical but effective measure of the severity on general health. The concept of pain has evolved over the years: from being a condition mostly ‘reserved’ for the terminally ill, it is now considered a ‘disease within a disease’ with characteristics that vary from person to person.
The main characteristic of chronic pain is its persistence over time after the cause has been resolved: the disappearance of the cause/effect relationship that characterises acute and persistent pain. The dual concept of pain/disease significantly impairs quality of life and the removal of the pain symptom coincides with the disappearance of the disease.
Medical science is fortunately coming to the rescue in this field, proposing ever newer medical treatments and techniques, such as electrical nerve neuromodulation (radiofrequency) or spinal cord neurostimulation.
Just as the treatment of the original pathology requires the intervention of the specialist, pain in its complexity also requires the intervention of the specialist in pain therapy, who not only knows how to correlate it with a correct diagnosis, but also how to administer appropriate analgesic medication including opiates, carry out minimally invasive interventional treatments, and manage the patient psychologically as well, assisting with therapy and promoting social integration.
