I know this question can be answered pretty simply but I wanna have a discussion with you all to see what everyone thinks.
Question - What qualifies as Pain science and what does not? What needs to be asked and answered for a topic/item/model to be considered as “Pain science”?
If someone asked my my opinion on the matter I would say that if a study or item or even though pertained to or benefited someone’s idea and belief on what pain is and what pain isn’t, it would be considered Pain Science.
My definition of pain science is the study and analysis of an individuals experience with pain and how the field of science influences both positively and negatively influence the individuals physical, mental and emotional experience.
Areas that I would include would be Neurology(Neurobiology, Emotional input, Sympathetic and Parasympathetic) Musculoskeletal, as I learned in Explain Pain, Dermatological, Immunological, and some others I probably can’t think of.
What I wouldn’t consider pain science is hard to draw up other than giving a basic answer of everything that doesn’t pertain to pain science.
Sorry if this discussion doesn’t really make sense, it does in my head. But I’m weird.
Dhruv, admittedly I don’t think pain science is an appropriate phrase as this typically implies some weapon that needs to be wielded for particular patient cases vs. others. We have research as it relates to the topic of pain but this doesn’t warrant a separate title. When discussing the topic of pain with patient’s I typically just discuss the broad topic of pain as it relates to biology, psychology, and sociology in context of their goals/case.
Yeah i’ve heard your opinion on this as well as Jarod Hall’s opinion being pretty much the same. I like the label of pain science because it gives a specific label to an area of study and multiple disciplines of the study and as complex and multi-directional pain is i think its both good and bad to call the study of pain, “pain science”. Just my 2 cents.
I dislike the term “pain science.” Is there a “love science?”
Pain is an emergent, multifactorial subjective experience. We can use the scientific method to better understand it. We can use the information from the science to inform people experiencing it and guide treatments. There appears to be some benefit when people better understand this experience.
I find the folks that use the term “pain science” the most understand it the least. “Do you use pain science in the clinic?” is something I’m asked routinely.
