According to the International Society for the Study of Pain, there are two different terms: pain and nociception. Pain is a subjective experience that accompanies nociception, but can also arise without any stimuli. It includes the emotional response. Nociception is a neurophysiologic term and denotes the activity in the nerve pathways. These pathways transmit the unpleasant signals that are not always painful. Although pain can be associated with tissue damage or inflammation, this is often not the case.
Despite its unpleasantness, pain is a critical component of the bodys defense system. It is part of a rapid warning and defense relay instructing the motor neurons of the central nervous system to minimize detected physical harm. |
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