Pain management
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Pain management is the discipline concerned with the relief of pain. Acute pain, such as occurs with trauma, often has a reversible cause and may require only transient measures and correction of the underlying problem. In contrast, chronic pain often results from conditions that are difficult to diagnose or impossible to reverse. Some examples include cancer, neuropathy, and referred pain. In such situations, the pain itself is frequently managed separately from the underlying condition of which it is a symptom.
Pain management generally benefits from a multidisciplinary approach that includes pharmacologic measures (such as analgesics and narcotics), non-pharmacologic measures (such as ice and heat), and psychological measures (such as biofeedback and cognitive therapy).