Explanation of Pain

Everyone feels pain differently. Overall, pain is an unpleasant sensation that occurs in varying degrees of
severity and is a consequence of a number of processes. In order to manage pain, doctors determine its
intensity, frequency and the circumstance from which it springs. Throbbing, burning, aching, stinging the terms
patients use to describe pain are often different because pain is personal and subjective. Pain is influenced by:

• age
• gender
• race / ethnicity
• psychosocial factors

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines it as an unpleasant experience associated with
actual or potential tissue damage to a person’s body.