Chronic Pain Management and Arthritis
Deborah Fish Ragin in Health Psychology, 2017
The second category is neuropathic pain, best described as a malfunction of our nervous system. It is believed to result from lesions of or damage to the somatosensory system, a network of receptors and pathways that transmit sensory information about us and our environment—such as pain, temperature, and position and movement of our body—to our central nervous system. Common examples of neuropathic pain caused by lesions include spontaneous shooting or burning sensations, greater discomfort than normal in response to normally painful stimulus, and sensations of aching, throbbing, or soreness when encountering nonpainful stimuli (University of Bristol, 2012). Illnesses such as diabetes, certain types of cancer, or chronic alcohol use can trigger neuropathic pain because of the damage they can cause to the nervous system.
Sensory Development and Motor Control in Infants and Children
Mark De Ste Croix, Thomas Korff in Paediatric Biomechanics and Motor Control, 2013
The term proprioception refers to the ‘sensing of the body’s own movements’ (Prochazka 1996, p. 93) and includes the vestibular system as well as muscle, joint and cutaneous receptors (Schmidt and Lee 1999). An examination of the literature shows that definitions in relation to this sensory system vary considerably. For example, Goldstein (2010) describes the somatosensory system as including the cutaneous senses, proprioception (sense of body position) and kinaesthesis (sense of body movement), whereas Gandevia (1996) includes skin, joint and intramuscular sensations in his description of kinaesthesia. Others use the terms proprioception and kinaesthesis interchangeably. It is therefore important to have a clear definition from authors if they are referring to proprioception, kinaesthesis or the somatosensory system. In this chapter, kinaesthesis is described as information gained through sensors in the muscles, joints and tendons; the somatosensory systems includes kinaesthetic and tactile sensations; and proprioception refers to information gained from somatosensory and vestibular systems.
Management of residual physical deficits
Mark J. Ashley, David A. Hovda in Traumatic Brain Injury, 2017
Three systems are required to maintain spatial orientation and balance while moving about the environment. These are the visual system, vestibular system, and the somatosensory system (proprioception). Information from each system is gathered and processed through neuronal pathways with information from the other two systems. This normally results in a coordinated effort to maintain uprightness or orientation in space during a variety of activities. Dysfunction in one or more of these systems can greatly handicap the patient. During the initial PT/OT evaluations, the patient may have complaints of dizziness and difficulty keeping balance when turning the head to one side or the other while walking. Looking up or down, rolling over in bed, or arising from the supine position may provoke symptoms.50,51
Mechanisms of action of vitamin B1 (thiamine), B6 (pyridoxine), and B12 (cobalamin) in pain: a narrative review
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2023
A. M. Paez-Hurtado, C. A. Calderon-Ospina, M. O. Nava-Mesa
Pain is a serious and widespread public health problem affecting around 10%–20% of adults worldwide [1–5]. There are three different types of pain subcategorized according to their pathophysiological mechanisms by the International Association for the Study of Pain. Nociceptive pain is a pain sensation caused by ‘an actual or threatened damage to non-neural tissue and is due to activation of nociceptors’ [6]. Pain initiated or caused by a lesion or a disease of the somatosensory system is referred to as neuropathic pain. Nociplastic pain is defined as ‘pain that arises from altered nociception despite no clear evidence of actual or threatened tissue damage causing the activation of peripheral nociceptors or evidence for disease or lesion of the somatosensory system causing the pain’ [6]. Inflammatory pain is a type of nociceptive pain which results from hypersensibility of nociceptors by inflammatory mediators [7].
Neuropathic ocular surface pain: Emerging drug targets and therapeutic implications
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 2022
Sneh Patel, Rhiya Mittal, Konstantinos D. Sarantopoulos, Anat Galor
However, crucial gaps in our current scientific understanding still exist. A major challenge that exists in the field currently is our reliance on clinical diagnosis for patients with signs of neuropathic ocular surface pain. While an array of high specificity/sensitivity in-clinic tools exist for nociceptive pain, this is in stark comparison to the paucity of available in-clinic testing which can help to precisely determine whether there is a dysfunction within the somatosensory system, and if so, where it exists in the body, as well as what might be the underlying mechanisms. This lack of diagnostic capability binds together researchers in the field as it forces reliance on clinical judgment, and thereby brings forth an important target in future research: improved diagnostic testing, which can in turn help us to identify which individuals may be more likely to benefit from specific mechanism-based therapies.
The forgotten sixth sense in cerebral palsy: do we have enough evidence for proprioceptive treatment?
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2020
Bilge Nur Yardımcı-Lokmanoğlu, Hasan Bingöl, Akmer Mutlu
Besides all these, somatosensory system and especially proprioception sense play a critical role in the sensory control of balance [14]. Children with CP commonly have reduced balance and are inclined to rely disproportionately upon visual input to protect their posture and position their limbs during gait, which may indicate proprioceptive impairment [15]. Balance with normal postural control requires integration of visual, somatosensory (proprioceptive, cutaneous, and joint) and vestibular inputs and adaptation of these inputs accordingly with environmental conditions and task changes [14,16–19]. Moreover, the contribution of visual information to kinesthesia and its interaction with muscle proprioception is more fully documented than tactile knowledge. This is thought to be based on the fact that it is difficult to differentiate these somatosensory inputs experimentally [20]. It has been shown that instability in people with neurological problems may result from inappropriate interaction between the three sensory inputs that provide this information [21,22].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Auditory System
- Haptic Perception
- Nervous System
- Physiology
- Proprioception
- Thermoception
- Visual System
- Pain
- Sensory Nervous System
- Sense of Smell