Pain is a universal experience for every human being and is an indication that something is wrong. Relatively few people have never experienced any type of pain, and those who lack the ability to feel pain have a rare genetic defect (called “congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis [lack of sweating]”) (U. S. National Library of Medicine, 2017).
For most individuals, pain is a negative experience, so they seek a quick way to end it. Medicine cabinets in the United States and across the globe are filled with home remedies and over-the-counter therapies as well as prescription and nonprescription pain relievers. Commercial options abound for headaches, sprains, strains, muscle aches, and other aches and pains. If their acute pain is minor, most individuals will attempt to treat it themselves without seeing a healthcare provider. More severe acute pain usually results in a trip to the emergency department or a visit to a physician (D’Arcy, 2011a).
Pain is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (2012) as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. This definition is important as it recognizes both the physiologic and psychological nature of the pain experience. It also acknowledges that pain is highly individual and subjective (Wuhrman, & Cooney, 2011). Margo McCaffery first defined pain in 1968 as “whatever the person experiencing it says it is, existing where the person says it does,” and this definition is still relevant today (Pasero, & McCaffery, 2011).
The two major categories of pain are acute pain and chronic pain. Each one has distinct causes and characteristics. Both acute and chronic pain share similar treatment options depending on the cause of the pain.