It has personal, social, emotional, and economic consequences that can be as damaging to the patient and his or her family as the pain itself.
Most patients have more than one kind of pain in the course of the year.
P ain has in the past been regarded merely as a symptom of a disease rather than a disease itself. We now believe that acute pain is a diagnostic tool, while chronic pain is a disease itself. Acute Pain Usually of short duration. Pathology predicts outcome. Patients' mood and attitude are not as important to the healing process.