Notion Of Pain Research Articles

Remote Effect of Fascial Manipulation on Knee Pain: A Case Report

The study on the remote effect of fascial manipulation on knee pain presents a case report of a patient with knee pain who underwent a single session of fascial manipulation to reduce pain and improve daily activities. The report explains the anatomy of the knee joint and the potential causes of knee pain, including bony and soft tissue involvement. Fascial manipulation is a technique that involves applying mechanical force to areas of fascial dysfunction to stimulate the body’s natural inflammatory response. The therapy is based on applying physical friction to the densified connective tissue with an elbow or knuckle to raise the temperature and change the consistency of loose connective tissue rich in hyaluronic acid. The locations picked were proximal and distal to the problematic area, and no point was treated over the painful region, which is consistent with the notion of pain being caused by aberrant fascial tensions. Manipulation of the connective tissue is thought to cause mechanical stress and heat, resulting in less macromolecular crowding and defragmentation of the Hyaluronic Acid (HA) polymers and normalised fascial gliding across the connective tissue. Reduced discomfort and enhanced range of motion are two more regularly reported effects of Fascial Manipulation. The patient was urged to resume his everyday activities after each treatment session to favour typical physiological motions that would align collagen fibres along normal lines of force. The report concludes that fascial manipulation can be a beneficial technique for managing knee pain, and it can be complemented with exercises and stretches to improve outcomes.

What if Wittgenstein could speak Japanese?

ABSTRACTWittgenstein’s criticism of the notion of ‘private language’ is related to the putative centrality of “being“ and the ‘subject-predicate’ distinction . However, his efforts would prove to be more fruitful if he could use data from Japanese language. There is a list of Japanese terms to translate ‘being’: sonzai, de-aru, ga-aru, and iru. Among all of their variants, the only subject-predicate-form-related expression is the combination of the ‘Y ga Z aru’-part of ‘X wa Y ga Z aru.’ Hence, Japanese subject-predicate-form-related expressions are not as fundamental as their western counterparts. Insofar as ‘pain’ is concerned, in Japanese, there are two series of expressions on pain: in the first one, the notion of pain is deobjectied and hence immune to subject-predicate logic, while in the second one, it is barely objectified in a limited sense. Hence, a Japanese speaker could avoid the fallacy of attributing subjective sensations to a particular person.

Communicating and diagnosing non-specific low back pain: A qualitative study of the healthcare practitioners’ perspectives using a social diagnosis framework

There is general agreement that non-specific low back pain is best understood within a biopsychosocial understanding of health. However, clinicians and patients seemingly adhere to a biomedically derived diagnostic model, which may introduce misperceptions of pain and does not inform treatment or prognosis. To explore, from the perspective of health-care practitioners, how persistent non- specific low back pain may be communicated in a way that moves beyond a biomedical diagnosis. An explorative qualitative investigation using a constructivist diagnostic framework. Focus group and individual interviews of 10 purposefully selected chiropractors, physio-therapists and general practitioners were codified and thematically analysed. Four themes emerged: "Clinicians' nuanced understanding of back pain"; "The challenges of shared decision-making"; "Cultural barriers to moving beyond biomedicine"; and "More than a label - individual explanations for pain". Pain and disability were perceived as products of multiple bio-psycho-social factors. Clinicians identified the impact of multiple social actors, an unhealthy work culture, and the organization of the medical system on the notion of pain and suffering. Clinicians perceived a need to communicate the complexity of non-specific low back pain in order to help patients make sense of their condition, rather than applying diagnostic labelling. There are multiple barriers to integrating a constructivistic diagnostic framework that need to be overcome.

Aquinas’ De malo and the Ostensibly Problematic Status of Natural Evil as Privation

Arguments concerning the nature of natural evil vary in their conclusions depending on the particular approach with which they commence inquiry; one of the most contested conclusions regards evil as privation, sourcing its justification primarily from Aquinas’ metaphysical conception of good as being and evil as non-being. It should be of no surprise, then, that the dismissal of natural evil’s privative nature comes about when the understanding of natural evil favours a phenomenological approach rather than a metaphysical one. Proponents of said dismissal generally centre their claims around the notion of pain and suffering as substantially contentful – as in, non-privative – experiences of evil. On the other hand, theorists espousing the privation account generally argue that characterisations of pain and suffering as necessarily evil do not consider the context of orientation towards individual wellbeing within which pain/suffering experiences naturally function. Furthermore, some of the arguments for the privation account’s dismissal seem to disregard completely the Thomistic sense of the form and hierarchy of the good, which ends up straw-manning the privation account to a point where it can no longer reconcile the awfulness of experienced pain and suffering with these experiences not being necessarily evil. The importance of understanding this Thomistic sense is further emphasised in its capacity to explain why a divine and fully good Creator would involve the world with such evil. Thus, this paper first considers the account of evil given in question one of Aquinas’ De malo, along with contemporary arguments for the nature and purpose of evil as privation; second, these are then used as resources to help make sense of, one, the general nature of pain and suffering, and two, some of their specific expressions as found in disease and depression, and throughout evolutionary history.

Connecting global health interventions and lived experiences: suspending ‘normality’ at funerals in rural Tanzania

In this paper, we use the funeral space and its liminal nature as a milieu for exploring how a ‘modern’ health intervention, the mosquito bednet, is negotiated by its recipients in relation to its (non)-usage in such spaces. With a focus on sleeping arrangements at funerals and drawing on empirical data from participants living in rural southern Tanzania, we discuss how the bednet is linked to the notion of being unsympathetic to the death. Viewed as a symbol of modernity and a reflection of wealth and individual pride, the bednet becomes physically and symbolically inappropriate in the more sacred, ‘in-between’ site of the funeral. We also uncover how risk perceptions regarding malaria transmission are re-cast in funeral spaces, with socio-cultural practices and health-related behaviours being simultaneously ‘risky’ for individual mourners and reinforcing in terms of group social cohesion. As individual mourners' concerns about malaria risks are suspended, notions of pain and discomfort come to the fore as part of the mourning process and respect for the deceased.

Visual narratives performing and transforming people living with autoimmune illness: A pilot case study

Abstract Identity perspectives underpin an arts health intervention research project titled ‘Artmaking, visual narrative and wellbeing’. This article considers the adaptability benefits of working with art-making narratives to support the long-term emotional and physical well-being of people living with chronic autoimmune illness. The article describes the methods and background to the pilot transdisciplinary case study of twelve participants, the intervention, data sources and qualitative strategies that were intersected with quantitative, medical, physical and functionality indicators. It identified that time and memory work, using montage methods in visual narratives, supported a renewed confidence in the participants’ life journey. Notions of pain and time temporarily retreated when strong affective responses emerged from new storied possibilities. These findings demonstrate how visual narrative methods work as a sense-making experience for the collision between past narratives and present specific medical and/or sociocultural contexts. The findings are discussed in the context of their potential contribution to the wider arts and health debate.

Whatever the individual says it is: A phenomenological analysis of chronic pain in people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus‐associated Distal Symmetrical Polyneuropathy

BackgroundDistal symmetrical polyneuropathy [DSPN] is the commonest neurological manifestation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV] disease, occurring in approximately 35% of individuals diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS]. DSPN is characterised as a length dependent axonopathy; and is associated both with chronic pain and a resultant profile of functional impairments associated with this condition. Aetiology is uncertain, however incidence rates currently appear to be increasing. DSPN responds poorly to management, and there remains little consensus as to optimal treatment. To date, few interventions have been validated in clinical trials; however these studies have used a profile of outcome measures that is both highly variable and arguably excludes much of the symptom experience. What is most notably absent from the research related to DSPN to date are the voices of those who are living with the condition on a daily basis. What DSPN is actually like to experience remains relatively unexplored; and when what is known about DSPN is examined in greater detail it is apparent that there remains a great deal yet to learn. This study seeks to further develop the knowledge base of pain in HIV disease by describing the experience of pain associated with DSPN from the perspective of the individual who is experiencing it. Methods Nineteen individuals with a diagnostic profile consistent with DSPN were recruited to the study from two specialist HIV treatment facilities in central London, United Kingdom. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted at entry, with follow-up at 6, 12, and 18 months post-entry. Participants were asked to describe any aspect of the experience of DSPN they thought was relevant. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed according to phenomenological method to identify significant themes characteristic of the data. Participants were actively engaged in the process of data analysis and endorsed all findings prior to the compilation of final results. Results. Analysis of the data identified seven themes describing the structure of the relationship between the individual and their experience of DSPN. The defining quality of the experience of DSPN is that of a constant variation of symptoms, rather than a relatively fixed and unchanging phenomenon (1). This is experienced at a magnitude sufficient to create an impact in the performance of functional activities (2). As a direct consequence of the experience of fuctional impairment, the individual is compelled to engage in a process of occupational adaptation (3) whereby routine activities are modified in order to allow for continued engagement with them. Symptoms are not perceived passively by the individual but rather are actively constructed on the basis of the individual's belief system in an ongoing evaluation of the symptom experience (4). The individual's sense of self-identity undergoes a process of reconstruction (5) in response to the chronic nature of the symptom experience. The individual attempts to create balance between the perceived costs and benefits of engagement in the domains of pain management, activity performance, and adherence to antiretroviral [ARV] therapy (6). The environment - including the natural, man-made, and social environments - is acknowledged as a significant influence on the illness experience (7). Conclusions. This conceptualisation has significant implications for how DSPN - and in particular the primary symptom of pain - has been assessed to date. Self-report is the gold standard for the evaluation of pain, and the notion of pain as whatever the individual says it is, is repeatedly emphasised in the literature. The results of this study underscore the importance of self-report, however they also suggest that in practice approaches to date have fallen somewhat short of this ideal. Externally defined conceptualisations of DSPN are unlikely to be capable of capturing the range of symptoms associated with or attributed to DSPN by the individual. In applying these, the healthcare professional risks not only inadequate representation of experience, but potentially reinforces a conceptual gulf between the individual and their environment. Potential mechanisms for addressing this are already available, and have been explored in other pain states. Our findings support the application of such approaches to DSPN; and suggest a potential role for cognitive behavioural therapy in the management of this population.

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake”

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake”

Educating pain

In times in which we ask ourselves how political cruelty and torments can be forgotten, Nietzsche’s pleadoyer for pain to serve the purpose of education, surprises. What might sound like a mere provocation, rather lies at the heart of the Nietzschean philosophy. As is pointed out, Nietzsche’s contention that pain is the most powerful aid to mnemonics, originates from his philosophy of pain as the main condition of all forms of creation. The title “educating (bilden) pain” expresses Nietzsche’s advocacy of an education towards pain as the dynamo of creation. In this paper I explore how Nietzsche’s notion of pain is linked to two concepts of Bildung. In the first part I investigate the relation between pain and “Bildung” in the sense of “creation”, and in the second part I link this to the relation between pain and “Bildung” in the sense of “education”. By these means, I try to answer the question: how far can pain, which is seen as the condition of creation, be linked to conditions of education.

PROBLEMS OF VIOLENCE, STATES OF TERROR: TORTURE IN COLONIAL INDIA

The 'discovery' of torture and its prevalence in the extraction of confessions produced a dilemma for the colonial state in India. Especially with the publication of the two-volume Report of the Commissioners for the Investigation of Alleged Cases of Torture in the Madras Presidency in 1855, colonial administrators became uncomfortably aware of the contrived nature of the 'truth' produced before magistrates and the police. This paper traces the significance of colonial efforts to contain such practices by examining in detail a case of torture that scandalized the Bombay government in 1855, on the heels of the publication of the Madras Report. Attempts to define the practice of excessive violence as 'torture' in order to discipline and reform the police encountered the simultaneous denial of these practices as specifically 'colonial'. Excessive violence was instead attributed to precolonial penal regimes regularly used excessive violence, thereby blurring the boundaries between law and brutal violence. Torture came to be viewed as a remnant or relic of oppressive 'native' practices of punishment. This paper explores the anxieties about legitimating colonial governance that underwrote the logic of 'discovery' and 'refusal', and suggests that attempts to contain torture were double-edged. On the one hand, they were significant in the constitution of transhistorical notions of pain, suffering, and 'the human' that accompanied the moral discourse of the horrific experience of torture. Medical discourses that measured the extent of injury and violation were important for the 'scientific'validation of such claims. On the other hand, the colonial government in Bombay refused to consider the possibility that novel demands for proof, motive, and intention in the commision of crime might have, paradoxically, produced a police force that understood torture as 'legitimate' in the production of juridical truth.

Pain and folk theory

Pain is not a primitive sensory event but rather a complexperception and a process by which a person interacts with theinternal and external environments, constructs meaning, andengages in action. Because folk beliefs are central to meaning,folk concepts of pain play multiple causal roles in a painpatient's interaction with health care providers and others.In every case, the notion of pain is linked to a goal-directedbehavior that is useful to the person. The wide variation inconcepts of pain across individuals suffering with painunderscores the richness and complexity of the pain experience.In some cases involving chronic pain, the patient may form amaladaptive cluster of behaviors around the concept of pain.Patient beliefs and expectations are an important part of manychronic pain syndromes, and patients can benefit fromintervention directed at revising the individual's folk model of pain. Memetics offers a framework for identifying the memesthat patients hold and determining whether patient memes fitor clash with provider memes.

Neurobiological Background of Pain and Analgesia: The Attempt at Revaluation According to Position of the Organism's Adaptive Activity

The most adequate and successful way to understand the essence of any complex psychophysiological phenomenon, including pain, is obviously the study of its origin, its genesis, i.e., its biological background. Based on critical analysis of recent literature and our own electrophysiological, biochemical and pharmacological data we tried to overcome the difficulties and contradictions derived from the traditional reflex approach and analytical orientation in understanding the experimental investigation of pain-related problems and to determine the neurobiological background of pain and analgesia through the notion of the organism's adaptive activity. Interrelations between the notion of pain and other biological and psychological ideas, the place and functional significance of pain and endogenous analgesic mechanisms in the organization, maintenance and regulation of the organism's adaptive activity, characterization of the involvement of endogenous opioid peptides and monoamines in central processes associated with pain and analgesia, the essence and mechanisms of pain-depressing activity of the opiates are the main stages in our neurobiological consideration of the phenomenon of pain and its natural and pharmacological regulation.