This program was designed to help health professionals better understand the problems associated with the undertreatment of pain in the senior care setting. Participants also explored appropriate treatment modalities and team approaches to pain management. According to Mr. Martin, incidence of pain in individuals over the age of 60 is twice that in those under the age of 60. Headache and lower back pain are the most common types of pain suffered by the senior population. Osteoarthritis affects an estimated 20 million Americans.
Temporal pain is defined as acute or chronic, nonmalignant pain.
Temporal pain is sudden, beginning and subsiding with tissue improvement. Etiologic pain can be either malignant or nonmalignant. Physiologic pain is nociceptive and neuropathic. Pain becomes chronic if it has not abated by six months after the initial injury has healed and there has not been a response to the pain or relief of the pain. By definition, chronic pain is resistant to treatment.