Who Has Pain?

More than 150 million Americans suffer from some sort of pain. Arthritis and chronic pain symptoms and conditions affect nearly 70 million Americans, or about one in three adults, making it one of the most prevalent diseases-- and the leading cause of disability-- in the United States, according to all Centers for Disease Control.

The most common form, “osteoarthritis" involves a breakdown of cartilage, the cushioning tissue between joints and bones. When cartilage deteriorates, joint motion causes friction that can lead to pain, stiffness and loss of movement.

Approximately 2.5 million people have Rheumatoid Arthritis or 1% of the US population. The condition is 2 to 3 times more common in women than men in the United States.

What is Pain?

Pain is a universal experience. The degree to which you feel pain and how you react to it, however, are the results of your own biological, psychological and cultural makeup. Past encounters with painful injury or illness also can influence your sensitivity to pain and pain treatment as well.

Pain comes in many forms: sharp, jabbing, throbbing, burning, stinging, tingling, nagging, dull and aching. Pain also varies from mild to severe pain. Severe pain grabs your attention more quickly and generally produces a greater physical and emotional response than mild pain. Severe pain can also incapacitate you, making it difficult or impossible to sit, stand, or move.

Chronic pain hangs on after the injury is healed. Pain is generally described as chronic when it lasts 6 months or longer. This is reflected in the word itself. Chronic comes from the Greek word for "time."

As with acute pain, chronic pain spans the full range of sensations and intensity. It can feel tingling, jolting, burning, dull or sharp. The pain may remain constant, or it can come and go, like a migraine headache that develops without warning.

Unlike acute pain, however, with chronic pain you may not know the reason for the pain. The original injury shows every indication of being healed, yet the pain remains and may be even more intense.

Chronic pain can also occur without any indication of injury. Years ago, people who complained of pain that had no apparent cause were thought to be imagining the misery or trying to get attention. Doctors now know that’s not true. Chronic pain is real!!!

What Causes Chronic Pain?

Frequently, the cause of chronic pain is not well understood. There may be no evidence of disease or damage to your body tissues that doctors can directly link to your pain.

Sometimes, chronic pain is due to a chronic condition, as can be the case with arthritis, which produces painful inflammation in your joints, or fibromyalgia, which causes an aching pain in your muscles.

Occasionally, chronic pain may stem from an accident, infection or surgery that damages a peripheral or spinal nerve. This type of nerve pain that lingers after the original injury heals is called neuropathic (noor-o-PATH-ik) meaning the damaged nerve, not the original injury, is causing the pain. Neuropathic pain can also result from diseases such as diabetes or alcoholism.

Once damaged, the nerve may send pain messages that are unwarranted. For example, an increased blood sugar level associated with diabetes can damage the small nerves in your hands and feet, leaving you with a painful burning sensation in your fingers and toes.

Little is known about why injured nerves sometimes misfire and send painful messages. However, one reason is that when a nerve cell is destroyed, the severed end of the surviving fiber can sprout a tangle of unorganized nerve fibers (neuroma). This bundle of nerve tissue then starts sending spontaneous pain signals. These fibers also refuse to follow normal checks and balances that control the rest of your nervous system functioning to keep pain at bay.

The thinking used to be that pain transmission pathways in the peripheral nerves, spinal cord and brain were hardwired circuits that simply communicated pain signals from injured or diseased parts of the body to message centers in the brain. But based on recent scientific research, there is new knowledge of how pain transmission actually works and how the conscious experience of pain is created in the brain.

Sensitization

Although the neurobiology of sensitization is complex, the basic idea behind it is straightforward. When pain signals are transmitted from injured or diseased tissues, these signals can then activate (sensitize) pain circuits in the peripheral nervous system, spinal cord and brain.

The process of sensitization can be compared to the volume control on your stereo, amplifying and sometimes distorting the pain message. The result is a painful condition that is severe and out of proportion to the disease or original injury. Sensitization may affect all regions of your nervous system that process pain messages, including the sensing, feeling and thinking centers of your brain. When this occurs, chronic pain may be associated with emotional and psychological suffering.

Who Is At Risk?

The world is focused on identifying the molecular and cellular processes that cause sensitization. The results of this research are likely to provide new and better treatments for many types of pain. Pain most often affects middle-aged or older adults.However, age is not the only risk factor for adults and children alike.Others factors include genetics, obesity (which can lead to osteoarthritis of the knees), joint injuries or being born with defective cartilage. Injuring a muscle or joint through an accident, a sports injury, or a repetitive activity at work can also increase the likelihood that pain in the muscles or joints will develop.

The purpose of this web site is to bring to you information about pain relief and pain relief products that have proven pain relief effective but are not invasive in nature...that is...every product on this web site dealing with pain is either an external application applied pain remedy or taken by mouth as with pills but not addictive. Pain products that are addictive or delivered by an intravenous method such as from a hypodermic needle will not be addressed on this web site. This site is about Preventing Pain, Pain Management and Pain Relief not addiction to products that while effective in the beginning become addictive over time and cause more problems than they solve.

Our pain content and pain relief solutions are not influenced by any medical physician, medical institution, government agency, or by corporate or product sponsorship...Never will be!

Not a day goes by without some negative press on a prescription drug. Television commercials spend most of the air time informing you of harmful side effects of their product if you use the product they are advertising..incredible! but true! We choose to utilize informed minds to seek out the truth about pain relief products that do more harm than good. If they harm, we will let you know, if they have merit, we will let you know as well. The key is to make sure the pain treatment isn't worse than the "cure".

While we will always listen to advice, research, and etc. on pain remedies from such entities, we will not include pain information or pain products on this web site until we have determined they are viably "pain relief" effective as evidenced by real world "tests" and testimonials from credible institutions and individual users. In other words, if it's a product for pain relief not tried and proven, you won't find it on this web site.

While we believe that certain institutions can be and in many cases are helpful. We do not believe that any government or private sector institution for that matter is the holy grail acting in the best interest of the general public. Every product that has proven lethal and/or with dire side effects were for the most part approved by a government agency at one time or another. They are institutions ran by people with good and bad intentions, and therefore act in their own or other's self interests rather than that of the good of the general public. This isn't just our opinion, we have a considerable body of published knowledge to make this case.

You should know...We are not medical practioners, but we seek their insights on pain relief. We are not doctors, but we welcome and seek their viewpoint on pain relief. We are not associated with any local, state, or government agency, although in some cases they have value. We are however, a group of dedicated researchers with a great reputation for getting behind and surfacing the truth about the value of medical information and product efficacy.

We intend to earn your respect for our ability to bring you actionable pain relief information and pain relief products that deliver tried and proven pain relief solutions. Unfortunately, pain relief products are not a one size fit's all solution for a given pain condition.

From time to time you will see pain relief products and pain management information on this website that appear to address a particular condition in a very similar way. And your are right. The reason for this is all of us have different physiological make-up's and each of us must find a pain relief solution that works for our own body. To this end, we are dedicated to helping you find the pain relief information, pain management and pain relief products that are right for you such as ELMORE OIL which is one of the best topical treatments on the market today for pain relief.

We are responsible for bringing you credible, accurate information about pain as well as accountability for bringing you pain relief information and pain relief products that real world tests on pain have proven effective. You are responsible and accountable for reading provided pain relief information and finding out which pain relief products work for you...and the only way to find out is to try them out to see if they help relieve your pain. Sooner or later you will find that one piece of information and/or that one specific pain relief product that proves the most effective for you... and when you do... it will be well worth the price of your patience and the price of the pain relief information and/or pain relief product.

If your suffer from pain as I do, you know as well as I, that Effective Pain Relief has no price tag...if it works, I want to know about it...life is too short to spend my time or yours with a painful condition that can be effectively treated with non addictive, effective pain relief results.

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DISCLAIMER: Sponsors do not influence the content of this Web site. The site is primarily designed for use by consumers seeking information about painful conditions and products that could potentially assist in their pain management.The information contained herein should NOT be used as a substitute for the advice of an appropriately qualified and licensed physician or other health care provider. The information provided herein is for educational and informational purposes only and in no way should be considered as an offering of medical advice or medical cure in the case of any and all information and products. Please check with a physician in all cases of pain no matter how minor they may be. A qualified physician is absolutely essential to an effective pain management program for the relief of pain. For additional information, please refer to our Privacy Policy on this web site.


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