Journal of Pain & Relief
Open Access

 Index Copernicus Value 2016: 84.15

Journal of Pain & Relief covers information regarding types of distressing symptoms during treatment and healing. It is a peer reviewed medical journal that includes a wide range of topics in this fields such as Pain, Depression, Anesthesia, Nociceptive Pain, Neuropathic Pain, Chronic Back pain, Antidepressants and Antiepileptic drugs, Traumatology, Post-Operative Pain, Hypnosis and creates a platform for the authors to contribute towards the journal and the editorial office promises to peer review the submitted manuscripts to ensure quality. It's a peer reviewed journal, serving the International Scientific Community using Editorial Manager System for online manuscript submission, review and tracking. Editorial board members of the Journal of Pain & Relief or outside experts review manuscripts; at least two independent reviewer’s approval followed by the editor is required for the acceptance of any citable manuscript.

Analgesics

Analgesics are medications designed to relieve pain without affecting consciousness. They are categorized into two main types: non-opioid and opioid analgesics. Non-opioid analgesics, such as acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), are often used for mild to moderate pain and can also reduce inflammation. Opioid analgesics, including morphine and oxycodone, are prescribed for more severe pain but carry a risk of addiction and side effects. Both types of analgesics work by blocking pain signals in the nervous system or altering the brain's perception of pain. Effective pain management often involves a combination of these medications tailored to individual needs.

Musculoskeletal pain

Musculoskeletal pain refers to discomfort or pain that affects the muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, and nerves. It can be localized, affecting a specific area like the lower back or a joint, or widespread, impacting multiple regions of the body. Common causes include injury, overuse, strain, repetitive movements, poor posture, or conditions like arthritis and fibromyalgia. Symptoms can range from mild aches to severe, debilitating pain, often accompanied by stiffness, swelling, or muscle weakness. Treatment varies based on the underlying cause and may include physical therapy, pain medications, lifestyle modifications, and, in some cases, surgical intervention. Proper diagnosis and management are essential to prevent chronic pain and improve quality of life.

Pain Mechanisms and Pathophysiology

Pain mechanisms and pathophysiology involve complex processes that include nociceptive, neuropathic, and inflammatory pathways. Nociceptive pain arises from tissue damage or inflammation, activating peripheral nociceptors that send signals to the brain via the spinal cord. Neuropathic pain results from damage or dysfunction in the nervous system, leading to abnormal signal processing. Central sensitization enhances pain sensitivity in the spinal cord and brain, amplifying pain perception. Neurotransmitters like glutamate, substance P, and cytokines play crucial roles in pain transmission and modulation. Understanding these mechanisms is essential for developing targeted therapies to manage various pain conditions effectively.

Pain and Mental Health

Pain and mental health are intricately connected, as chronic pain often leads to psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion. Persistent pain can affect mood, behavior, and quality of life, while mental health conditions can exacerbate the perception and experience of pain, creating a vicious cycle. This relationship is mediated by shared neural pathways and neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, influencing both mood and pain perception. Effective management involves a multidisciplinary approach, including pharmacological treatments, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and lifestyle changes, to address both physical and psychological aspects, aiming to break the cycle and improve overall well-being.

Pain Relief and Traditional Medicine

Pain relief through traditional medicine often involves practices like acupuncture, herbal remedies, and massage, reflecting a holistic approach that considers physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects. These methods, rooted in centuries-old traditions, aim to balance the body's energy and treat the root cause of pain rather than just symptoms. In contrast, modern pain relief strategies often focus on pharmacological treatments and physical therapies. While traditional methods emphasize natural and integrative approaches, they are increasingly being evaluated alongside contemporary techniques to enhance understanding and potentially combine the benefits of both practices for more effective pain management.

Opioid

Opioids are medications that relieve pain. They reduce the intensity of pain signals receiving to the brain and affect the brain areas those control emotions, which diminishes the effects of a painful stimulus. Medications that fall within this class include hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, codeine, and related drugs. Opioids reduce the intensity of pain signals reaching the brain and affect those brain areas controlling emotion, diminishing the effects of a painful stimulus. Opioids can also produce drowsiness, depending upon the amount of drug taken, mental confusion, constipation, nausea and depress respiration. Pains that may not respond well to other pain medications, are treated by Opioids, are also used to treat moderate to severe pain.

Pain killer drugs

Pain killers are powerful drugs that interfere with the nervous system’s transmission of the nerve signals we perceive as pain. Most painkillers also stimulate portions of the brain associated with pleasure. The most powerful prescription painkillers are called opioids, which are opium-like compounds. They are manufactured to react on the nervous system in the same way as drugs derived from the opium poppy, like heroin. The most commonly abused opioid painkillers include oxycodone, hydrocodone, meperidine, hydromorphone and propoxyphene. Each person may also have a slightly different response to a pain reliever.

Chronic Back Pain

Chronic pain is any pain that lasts for more than three months. Chronic pain may arise from an initial injury, such as a back sprain, or there may be an ongoing cause, such as illness. Other health problems, such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, decreased appetite, and mood changes, often accompany chronic pain. Chronic pain may limit a person’s movements, which can reduce flexibility, strength, and stamina.Low back pain is considered to be chronic if it has been present for longer than three months. The type of pain may vary greatly and may be felt as bone pain, nerve pain or muscle pain. For instance, pain may be aching, burning, stabbing or tingling, sharp or dull, and well-defined or vague. The intensity may range from mild to severe.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain has the active pain for more than six months unlike acute pain. Chronic pain can be mild or excruciating, episodic or continuous, merely inconvenient or totally incapacitating. Chronic pain describes pain that lasts more than three to six months, or beyond the point of tissue healing. Chronic pain is usually less directly related to identifiable tissue damage and structural problems. There are at least two different types of chronic pain problems - chronic pain due to an identifiable pain generator (e.g. an injury), and chronic pain with no identifiable pain generator (e.g. the injury has healed) often termed “chronic benign pain”. Chronic pain and depression are two of the most common health problems that health professionals encounter. The type of depression with chronic pain is referred to as major depression or clinical depression.

Nociceptive Pain

Nociceptive pain is caused by damage to body tissue and usually described as a sharp, aching, or throbbing pain. Nociceptive pain is due to benign or by tumors or by cancer cells that are growing larger and gathering other body parts at the cancer site. Nociceptive pain may also be caused by cancer spreading to the bones, muscles, or joints, or that causes the blockage of an organ or blood vessels. Nociceptive pain can be due to benign pathology; or by tumors or cancer cells that are growing larger and crowding other body parts near the cancer site. Nociceptive pain may also be caused by cancer spreading to the bones, muscles, or joints, or that causes the blockage of an organ or blood vessels. When nociceptors are stimulated they transmit signals through sensory neurons in the spinal cord. These neurons release the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate at their synapses. Nociceptive pain is caused by damage to body tissue and usually described as a sharp, aching, or throbbing pain. Nociception can also cause generalized autonomic responses before or without reaching consciousness, hypertension, diaphoresis, cause pallor, tachycardia , nausea, light-headedness and fainting.

Low Back Pain

Pain in the lower back area that can relate to problems with the lumbar spine, the discs between the vertebrae, the ligaments around the spine and discs, the spinal cord and nerves, muscles of the low back, internal organs of the pelvis and abdomen, or the skin covering the lumbar area.

Pain Sensation

Pain sensation is the specific quality of sensation derived from the pain-spots of the skin and from the terminal organs of pain within the body. Pain is an unpleasant sensation caused by the activation of nociceptors by thermal, mechanical, chemical, or other stimuli. If you feel pain it hurts, you feel discomfort, distress and perhaps agony, depending on the severity of it. Pain can be steady and constant, in which case it may be an ache

Acute Pain

Acute pain might be mild and last just a moment, or it might be severe and last for weeks or months. In most cases, acute pain does not last longer than six months, and it disappears when the underlying cause of pain has been treated or has healed. Unrelieved acute pain, however, might lead to chronic pain.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is originally a Chinese practice of inserting fine needles through the skin at specific points especially to cure disease or relieve pain. Acupuncture is a complementary medical practice that entails stimulating certain points on the body, most often with a needle penetrating the skin, to alleviate pain or to help treat various health conditions. By inserting needles into specific points along these meridians, acupuncture practitioners believe that your energy flow will re-balance. Acupuncture is really used to alleviate cancer treatment-induced side effects or cancer-induced symptoms; Traditional acupuncture is based on the belief that an energy, or "life force", flows through the body in channels called meridians.

Pain Medication

Pain medications work chemically to interrupt pain signals producing an analgesic effect and some medications also have an anti-inflammatory component that is particularly effective for inflammation associated with back pain.

Orthopedics

Orthopedics is a branch of medicine concerned with the correction or prevention of deformities, disorders, or injuries of the skeleton and associated structures as tendons and ligaments. Osteoarthritis is a joint disease that mostly affects cartilage. Cartilage is the slippery tissue that covers the ends of bones in a joint. Healthy cartilage allows bones to glide over each other. It also helps absorb shock of movement. In osteoarthritis, the top layer of cartilage breaks down and wears away. This allows bones under the cartilage to rub together. The rubbing causes pain, swelling, and loss of motion of the joint. Over time, the joint may lose its normal shape. Also, bone spurs may grow on the edges of the joint. Bits of bone or cartilage can break off and float inside the joint space, which causes more pain and damage.People with osteoarthritis often have joint pain and reduced motion. Osteoarthritis occurs most often in older people. Younger people sometimes get osteoarthritis primarily from joint injuries.Osteoarthritis usually happens gradually over time. Some risk factors that might lead to it include: being overweight, getting older, joint injury, joints that are not properly formed, a genetic defect in joint cartilage and stresses on the joints from certain jobs and playing sports.

Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy is a surgical procedure is performed for diagnosis and treatment of joint abnormalities. Arthroscopy is an outpatient procedure. Arthroscopy is done by using general, spinal, regional, or local anesthetic. It is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the joint through a small incision.

Post-Operative Pain

Post-surgical pain is a complex response to tissue trauma during surgery that stimulates hypersensitivity of the central nervous system. The result is pain in areas not directly affected by the surgical procedure. Post-operative pain may be experienced by an inpatient or outpatient. It can be felt after any surgical procedure, whether it is minor dental surgery or a triple-bypass heart operation. Post-Operative Pain: The amount of pain a patient suffers after surgery is related to the extent of tissue damage and the site of surgery. It interfere sleep and physical functioning and can negatively affect a patient’s health on multiple levels. Joint replacement is associated with severe postoperative pain. Postoperative pain management includes minimise patient discomfort, facilitate early mobilisation and functional recovery, and prevent acute pain developing into chronic pain.

Surgery: Pain Management and Recovery

Surgery aims to treat medical conditions by altering tissues or organs, but it often causes pain that can delay recovery. Pain management is crucial for a smooth healing process. Major Surgeries: These complex procedures, like organ resections and joint replacements, Brain surgery, Organ transplants, Spinal surgery, Cancer surgeries, Joint replacement surgery, Bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery),Abdominal surgeries, Lung surgery, Pelvic surgery, typically cause significant pain and require longer recovery. Minimally Invasive Surgeries: Procedures like laparoscopic or robot-assisted surgery, Bronchoscopy, Colonoscopy, Gastroscopy, Arthroscopy, Endoscopic surgery, Minimally invasive spine surgery, Cataract surgery, cause less pain and lead to faster recovery due to smaller incisions. Postoperative pain is common and varies based on the surgery type, site, patient health, and technique used. Effective pain management ensures better recovery.

Meditation

Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth. Meditation may involve generating an emotional state for the purpose of analyzing that state such as anger, hatred. Meditation is the practice of turning your attention to a single point of reference. It can involve focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, or on a word or phrase known as a mantra. In other words, meditation means turning your attention away from distracting thoughts and focusing on the present moment.