ABSTRACT
Orthopaedics is typically concerned with the treatment of arthritis, fractures, sprains/strains, infection, cancer/metastasis, spinal care/surgery, nerve injury, and osteoporosis/vertebral compression fractures, all of which are likely to result in a manifestation of pain. Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage (Mersky & Trimble, 1979). Pain is not a primary sensation such as smell, taste, touch, or vision, but rather it is an emotional state like sorrow or love. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines neuropathic pain as “pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system” (Mersky & Trimble, 1994). Neuropathic pain is characterized by lesions or dysfunction of the systems that under normal conditions, transmit noxious information to the central nervous system. This definition has been called vague, and the inclusion of “dysfunction” allows it to be assigned to disorders such as chronic regional pain syndrome.
