Pain Relief Glossary



Acupuncture - Chinese practice of inserting needles into the skin at specific points of the body to relieve stress and pain.
Acute pain - Pain associated with acute injury or disease.
Analgesics - A group of medications that reduce pain.
Anesthetic - A substance that reduces pain.
Anti-inflammatory - Medication to reduce inflammation.
Arthritis - Inflammation of the joints, causing pain, swelling and stiffness.
Bradycardia - A slow heart rate.
Central Pain - Pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the central nervous system.
Cervical vertebrae - The first seven bones of the spinal cord.
Chronic pain - Pain that has persisted for longer than three months or past the
expected time of healing.
Delirium - A mental state characterized by disorientation and hallucination.
Delta receptors - a term used collectively to refer to two characterised subtypes of opioid receptors (delta-1, delta-2) that possess numerous features in common which are not present in the mu receptors or kappa receptors.
Drowsiness - sleepiness, irresistible urge to fall asleep at inappropriate times.
Dynorphin - an endogenous peptide which functions as a selective agonist for the kappa opioid receptors.
FDA - Food and Drug Administration
Hallucination - false sensory perception in the absence of an external stimulus.
Headache - Pain in the head. Sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache.
Hives - A skin reaction that causes raised red skin.
Hypothermia - Abnormally low body temperature.
Ligaments - are bands of cordlike tissue that connect bone to bone.
Miosis - contraction of the pupil.
Nausea - Feeling sick to your stomach, sometimes including the urge to vomit.
Nerve Block - Pain Relief method in which medicine is injected directly into or around a nerve
Opioids - A family of synthetic drugs used to treat moderate to severe pain. They are similar to opiates such as morphine and codeine.
Orthostatic, Hypotension - low blood pressure when you're standing.
Overdose - Dose too heavily.
Pain - is the most prominent symptom, occurring for at least three months and taking many different forms.
Painkillers - Any drug or medications that reduce pain.
Pain management - Pain management is the discipline concerned with the relief of pain.
Pain medicine - Pain medicine is a branch of anaesthetics concerned with the treatment of acute and chronic pain
Pain Relief - Pain therapy is treatment given to patients experiencing chronic or acute pain.
Rotator Cuff - A group of 4 muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the shoulder.
Sciatica - Pain of the sciatic nerve that runs from the lower back down the inside of the each leg.
Semi-synthetic opiate/opioid - a compound with some opioid receptor affinity, synthesised by functional modification of a product extracted from opium.
Side Effects - An undesirable or harmful reaction to a drug.
Synthetic opiate/opioid - a compound with some opioid receptor affinity, synthesised using no products extracted from opium.
Tachycardia - A fast heart rate.
Tramadol - Tramadol is an opioid used as an analgesic for treating moderate to severe pain.
Trigger Point - A specific spot on the body that will elicit pain if touched in people with fibromyalgia.
Tumor - An abnormal growth of cells or tissues. Tumors may be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous).
Urinary retention - A lack of ability to urinate
Vormiting - The release of stomach contents through the mouth