Relaxation and pain control

Abstract

Pain is the most predominant symptom of rheumatoid disease and the most frequent reason for seeking medical assistance. The most common form of pain relief for clients with rheumatoid disease is the prescription of analgesia. Many clients, however, express concern about the long term implications of prolonged use of analgesia and seek alternative methods of control. Some of these have been discussed already, the use of heat and ice and joint protection, others extend into the field of complimentary medicine. It is now acknowledged widely that the explanation and definition of pain is a complex issue which is no longer sought purely on the basis of a physiological cause. Recent theories of pain have acknowledged the fact that they must account for:

• 1. the high degree of physiological specialization of receptor—fibre units and of pathways in the central nervous system;

• 2. the role of temporal and spatial patterning in the transmission of information in the central nervous system;

• 3. the influence of psychological processes on pain perception and response;

• 4. the clinical phenomena of spatial and temporal summation, spread of pain and persistence of pain after healing (Melzack, 1982).