Pain Relief Therapy - History of Pain Management

Throughout the ages, no matter what medical problem a patient suffered from, whether caused by illness or injury, one common factor always prevailed and this was pain. The only difference was the degree and intensity of the pain experienced by the patient. Pain is the oldest medical problem and even before a medical profession existed, and the cause of the problem was not understood, the “patient” understood the pain he was experiencing. Within the medical profession, pain is always the common element that must always be addressed today. The sense of pain has an essential protective value in that it serves to warn the body of damaging stimuli like tissue damage or an inflammatory process or reaction. Examples of such damage and inflammation include acute and chronic trauma, arthritis, osteoporosis and infections (bacterial and viral) amongst many others. According to The International Association for the Study of Pain:- Pain is “an unpleasant and emotionally charged experience, associated with the actual or potential existence of tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.”( IASP, 1986). Linton (2005) added that pain is “expressed in behaviour.” But what was done to relieve pain in decades gone by? Drugs were used for this: Opium after 1680, Laudanum which is a combination of Opium and Sherry after 1680 and Chloroform after 1830. Then after 1846 Anesthesia with ether was used. Prior to drug use for many injuries and infections, the life changing action of amputation was used, which often in itself caused a whole new set of problems, including chronic pain, for the patient. And of course today, our pharmacies are filled with all sorts of pain killers, many with side effects that can cause other medical problems, including death, and in the long term are often addictive. In recent years pain, its symptoms and causes, has become much better understood by medical professionals. Research has shown that pain can be relieved by using drug free, non-invasive pain relief therapy which is safe and simple, highly effective and non-addictive. Millions of people throughout the world are dependent on pharmaceutical drugs and other forms of patented medication for the relief of pain which often result in serious side effects, which in many cases prove to be fatal. In the United States alone 300 000, a staggering number of people, die each year from the use of prescription drugs. [Null, et al 2003) Now we have bio medical therapeutics – technology meets biology and with the new understanding of how pain works, pain is now able to be relieved by digitally generating specialised waveform to simulate action potentials for the relief of pain and inflammation and to repair and heal tissues. No longer do patients have to suffer unnecessary pain or use drugs that can cause a whole new set of medical problems!