NRSG 126 - Week 4 Flashcards
comfort and mobility (57 cards)
Pain definition
- Pain is NOT normal and not normal with ageing!
- Most common reason individuals seek medical care.
- Pain is a general term describing uncomfortable sensations in the body.
o Activation of the nervous system.
Pain and subjective
o Subjective – but we must believe them and try to find a root cause. Check for signs of pain, swelling, grimacing, withdrawal, wounds, change in vitals in major events or shock. Acute vs chronic pain. Acute pain shows in vitals but chronic pain does not.
o 6th vital sign
Purpose of pain
- Purpose of pain: Defense mechanism. Good reminder for people to be careful to not injury themselves after surgery. Number on a scale can be different for everyone
Older Persons Experiencing Pain
- Experience of pain changes with age. Pathways might be slower, burns are a higher risk because detection is slowed. Reflexes slowed
- May have atypical presentation.
- Pain or pain treatments can have increased negative effects. Medications cannot dissolve right so they might be given less medication. NASAIDs increase the chance of GI bleeds, also steroids
- May have misconceptions re: pain management.
- 37% at home and 41% in institutions live with chronic pain
Transduction
- First phase: injury and response initiation
- Refers to how the pain nerve fiber recognizes the signal of tissue or cell damage.
- Nociceptors are sensory nerve cells that react to noxious stimuli by sending signals to the spinal cord and brain
o Damaged cells – burns, cut, etc.
o Chemical release – Pain-sensitizing & inflammatory substances
o Nociceptor activation – action potential
Transmission
- Second Phase: pain moves from PNS to CNS
- Pain-sensitizing & inflammatory substances spread the message
- via nerve fibers
- transmission of PAIN in dorsal horn
- spinothalamic tract (goes to the brain)
Peripheral Nerves: Types of Fibers
- A-delta fibers - myelinated, sharp, well localized, and short in duration
- C fibers- unmyelinated, dull, aching, diffuse nature, slow onset, and relatively long duration
Perception
- Third phase: conscious awareness of pain and interpretation
- Pain interpretation – somatosensory cortex – association cortex
- Intensity, quality, character, experience, location – location and intensity – how do we fell about the pain?; limbic system: emotion and memory (anxiety)
Mobility (what are you testing for in mobility)
- ROM- passive & active (passive is someone else moving for you)
- Gait - a person’s manner of walking
- Exercise
- Activity tolerance – how much activity can they tolerate. Pain can impact that, lung or heart conditions can affect it, also amenia.
- Proprioception- awareness of the body position and its parts. Proprioceptors are in muscles, bones and joints. The ability to walk without watching our feet. Controlled by our nervous system!
- Balance- Cerebellum and inner ear.
modulation
- Fourth phase: altered signals and response
- Pain increases or pain decreases
Mobility (what you check for)
- ROM- passive & active (passive is someone else moving for you)
- Gait – a person’s manner of walking
- Exercise
- Activity tolerance – how much activity can they tolerate. Pain can impact that, lung or heart conditions can affect it, also amenia.
- Proprioception- awareness of the body position and its parts. Proprioceptors are in muscles, bones and joints. The ability to walk without watching our feet. Controlled by our nervous system!
- Balance- Cerebellum and inner ear.
Skeletal System – 206 Bones!
- 5 functions:
o Support (e.g. all of our feet bones)
o Protection (e.g. our ribs & sternum)
o Movement (e.g. arms & legs)
o Mineral storage (e.g. femur)
o Hematopoiesis (e.g. hip bones) - Characterized by shape:
o Long (e.g. femur)
o Short (e.g. carpels)
o Flat (e.g. sternum)
o Irregular (e.g. vertebrae)
Support: Joints
- Connections between the bones
- Synarthrotic: bone on bone
- Cartilaginous: joints with little movement; cartilage found in between bones
- Fibrous: a joint where 2 bony surfaces meet with a ligament
- Synovial: freely moving joint covered by articular cartilage & connected by ligaments
Support: Ligaments, Tendons & Cartilage
- Ligament: flexible bands of fibrous tissue. They connect bones and cartilage; or bone to bone
- Tendons: fibrous bands of tissue that connect bone to muscle
- Cartilage: supporting connective tissue, used for shock absorption
Skeletal Muscles
- Muscles are made from fibers that contract when stimulated by impulses that travels from one nerve to the muscle across the neuromuscular junction.
- Functions of muscles:
o Moving, Stabilizing, Posture
o Heat, Circulation, Organ protection (muscles help move the venous blood to the heart, risks of blood clots) (compressions socks help)
Skeletal Muscles – 2 types of contractions
- Isotonic- muscles contraction and change in length
example- weight lifting - Isometric- muscles being tightened/ tense without moving body parts
example- yoga
Alignment, Postures and Balance
- Together these reduce risk of injury and facilitate proper function of other organs.
- Body alignment is relationship from one body part to another e.g. distal, mid, proximal.
- Body balance (equilibrium) happens when your center of gravity is balanced over a stable base.
Pain - Acute and Chronic
- Acute pain
o Sudden and typically resolves
o cause- illness or injury- trauma, surgery, infection, angina etc.
o vitals change, sympathetic nervous system activation (SNS)
o delirium, anxiety, agitation - Chronic pain
o Lasts over 3 months and often not resolved
o causes- illness or injury- cancer treatment, RA, OA, fibromyalgia etc.
o no vital change, body adaptation
o can cause anxiety, depression
Pain- Defined Levels
- mild
o not a problem, I can deal with is… ish - moderate
o Okay, starting to be an issue! - Serve
o OUCH! Medication STAT!!!
factors affecting pain
- Physiological
o Age
o Sleep
o Heredity
o Neurological Function - Psychological
o Anxiety
o Meaning of pain
o Spiritual
o Cultural - Social
o Attention
o Previous Experiences
o Family & Social Support
types of nociceptive pain
somatic pain - arises from bone, joint muscle, skin, or connective tissue, it is usually aching or throbbing in quality and is well localized
visceral pain - arises from visceral organs such as the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas
types of neuropathic pain
- deafferentation pain - injury to either the peripheral or central nervous system. Examples: Phantom pain may reflect injury to the peripheral nervous system; burning pain below the level of a spinal cord lesion reflects injury to the central nervous system
sympathetically maintained pain - - Sympathetically maintained pain. Associated with dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system. Examples: May include some of the pain associated with complex regional pain syndrome - Painful polyneuropathies. Pain is felt along the distribution of many peripheral nerves. Examples: Diabetic neuropathy, alcohol-nutritional neuropathy, and those associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome
2. peripheral - Painful mononeuropathies. Usually associated with a known peripheral nerve injury, and pain is felt at least partly along the distribution of the damaged nerve. Examples: Nerve root compression, nerve entrapment, trigeminal neuralgia
Which of the following are examples of Somatic pain?
o Tibia Fracture
o Superficial Burn
o Arthritis
Which of the following are examples of Visceral pain?
o Menstrual Cramps
o Myocardial Infarction (MI) acute unless angina
o Appendicitis