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Spinal Cord Stimulation pp 3–18Cite as

Basic neurophysiological mechanisms of pain and pain control

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Abstract

In this article, I will give an overview of the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms in the nervous system that are relevant for pain, with emphasis on ischemia-related pain. First of all, it is practical to subdivide pain according to the supposed pathogenic mechanisms into the following four major classes, as seen from a neurophysiologist’s point of view:

  • Nociceptor pain, due to excitation of high threshold sensory nerve endings by potentially destructive mechanical, thermal or chemical stimuli, or by ischemia.

  • Neuropathic pain or neuralgia, due to mechanical or metabolic injury of nerves, including nerve ischemia, resulting in ectopic impulse generation in peripheral or central neurons and axons.

  • Dysregulation or reactive pain, due to inadequate regulatory effects by motor, sympathetic or neurohumoral systems, e.g., pain related to muscle spasms, headache of vascular origin or ischemia pain.

  • Psychosomatic pain, due to, for example, emotional stress from the social environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. II. Physiologisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Dr. med. h.c. M. Zimmermann

  2. Abteilung für Physiologie des Zentralnervensystems, II. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, Im Neuenheimer Feld 326, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Dr. med. h.c. M. Zimmermann

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  1. Abteilung für Allgemeinchirurgie — Gefäßchirurgie und Traumatologie, Krankenhaus Porz am Rhein Akademisches Lehrkrankenhaus der Universität zu Köln, Urbacher Weg 19, 51149, Köln, Deutschland

    Svante Horsch  & Luc Claeys  & 

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© 1994 Dr. Dietrich Steinkopff Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Darmstadt

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Zimmermann, M. (1994). Basic neurophysiological mechanisms of pain and pain control. In: Horsch, S., Claeys, L. (eds) Spinal Cord Stimulation. Steinkopff. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48441-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48441-4_1

  • Publisher Name: Steinkopff

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-48443-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-48441-4

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