Pain
Pain is a signal that our bodies send us in order to warn us of a malfunction. It can be caused by trauma (burn, shock, etc.) or illness. There are several types of pain, corresponding to different mechanisms:
- Nociceptive pain is a signal sent to the brain after a lesion, tissue inflammation, or a trauma (on muscles or joints). Nociceptive pain is generally caused by a cut, a burn, or a trauma.
- Neuropathic pain, also known as neurogenic pain, appears after a damage of the nervous system, whether central or peripheral, meaning that it has to do with the brain, spinal cord, or nervous system.
- Pain is mixed when it combines those two (nociceptive and neuropathic) mechanisms.
Although, in certain cases those two types of pain can coexist, treatments needed for each type of pain are different.
