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trolling chronic pain without drugs have been developed. These in-
clude hypnosis, acupuncture, massage, and electronic stimulation of
nerves.
Pain sometimes works in strange ways. It is possible, for exam-
ple, to suffer a serious injury but not feel any pain – soldiers in battle
may not feel pain from wounds until after the battle. The opposite can
happen too – patients who lose a limb continue to feel pain in the limb
long afterwards, even though it is missing. This “phantom limb” pain
is an example of neuropathic pain, caused by damage to the remaining
nerves. The fact that we instinctively deal with pain by rubbing the
part that hurts suggests to scientists that stimulating touch signals
closes a ’gate’ to pain signals. Physiotherapy and acupuncture takes
advantage of this phenomenon. The gate can also be shut by the re-
lease of pain-relieving opioids, either produced naturally by the body
or introduced artificially in the form of analgesics like Aspirin and
Morphine. Phychological stress can temporarily shut off pain too,
which is why a footballer may continue to play despite injury and a
soldier continue to fight despite wounds.
Assessing pain is an important part of diagnosing an illness and
measuring the progress of treatment. One method is the McGill Pain
Questionnaire, which consists of a list of adjectives which the patient
chooses from to describe their pain. Words are not always reliable,
and many nurses and doctors prefer a numerical scale (0 is no pain
and 10 is the worst pain you can imagine). The Verbal Pain Scale is
another method which uses vertical lines in colours ranging from light
blue (no pain) to bright red (severe pain).
2. Answer the following questions:
1. How can you define the notion “pain”?
2. Is it important that a child has the ability to feel pain? Why?
3. What main views of pain were there in ancient time?
4. What are the main mechanisms of transmitting pain to brain?
5. What does it mean “chronic pain” and “acute pain”?
6. What facts about Ambroise Pare have you kept in mind?
7. How can you explain such phenomena as “phantom pain”?
8. Can you agree with the middle-aged common idea that pain was
inflicted by God as a divine challenge?