Der Schmerz
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Medicine is increasingly being confronted with expectations that it provide more permanent and comprehensive freedom from pain - and the prospect of being pain free is partially even being held out by medical science itself. In our cultural context, there is now the established idea that pain is something that medical science and technology can - and must - "get rid of." This idea is particularly problematic when it comes to chronic pain. Furthermore, it obscures the fact that pain is a significant element of life and one that can have existential meaning. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on the scope of this wish for medicine to relieve and eliminate pain.
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Every professional segment has its own typical forms of stress, which for members result in patterns of bodily conception and interpretation of pain. The way individuals cope with these typical forms of pain reflects their social identity, social status and group membership. In this study pain was investigated from a sociological perspective as a medium contributing to socialization processes in stress collectives. ⋯ The success of specialized treatment of headache depends to a certain extent on the ability of patients to impose a medically regulated life style on their significant others; however, this can conflict with the demands of everyday life.
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Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is an extremely painful and partially disabling disease. It often occurs secondary to trauma, but also spontaneously. The emergence of CRPS has been reported following nerve root compression and/or spinal surgery, but its incidence is unknown. In this article, the present knowledge about the incidence of CRPS in the context of nerve root compression and spine surgery is reviewed and therapeutic and diagnostic consequences are discussed.