Pharmacological and Device-Based Therapeutic Approaches to Pain Management

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” Research also has revealed the fact that pain is more than an unpleasant experience—it may be harmful to the body, releasing negative hormones such as cortisol that adversely affect the immune and organ systems. In addition, it has been demonstrated that pain is more than merely
a symptom of an underlying disorder that disappears when the disorder is treated, and that if it is left untreated, pain may outlive its original cause, worsen over time, and begin to resemble a disease itself.