WHY DOES THAT HURT? WHAT WE KNOW (AND DON’T KNOW) ABOUT HOW PAIN EMERGES AND PERSISTS

Associate Professor Tory Madden, Neuroscience Institute, African Pain Research Initiative, Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town 

Wednesday 28 January 9.15 am COURSE FEES R115; Staff and Students R58.

This lecture is part of the Neuroscience Institute’s Hot Topics in Neuroscience series.

Sometimes pain is useful – next time you will avoid the sharp corner on that table. But sometimes pain continues, interfering with your life even long after an injury has healed. Where does pain come from, and what can we do about it? How can we make sense of pain that is no longer helpful?

This lecture will address current concepts of what pain is, how it emerges and what can alter it, and will discuss how pain shapes our behaviour to protect us from harm. Participants will be introduced to a perceptual inference framework for pain, which considers the challenge of integrating diverse – and sometimes conflicting – information to work out whether we are under threat and if pain is the best way to protect ourselves. By considering how the human system receives and integrates information, and by thinking about pain as the result of this process of integration, we can better identify opportunities to reduce pain itself.

If you are interested in the topic of persistent pain, note the panel discussion hosted by the African Pain Research Institute: How can I find the right person to help me with persistent pain? A panel discussion on navigating the healthcare system in South Africa on Friday 30 January at 1.00 pm. See page 103.

 

Recommended reading

Parker, R and Park-Ross, J (eds). 2024. Understanding Pain. Unravelling the Physiology, Assessment, and Management of Pain through South African stories. Cape Town: University of Cape Town. https://doi.org/10.15641/978-0-7961-8936-3

Stilwell, P and Harman, K. 2019. For a Deep Dive into Theories of Pain: An Enactive Approach to Pain: Beyond the Biopsychosocial Model. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 18(4), pp. 637–665. https://tinyurl.com/2y9w8teh

Tabor, A et al. 2017. Embodied Pain: Negotiating the Boundaries of Possible Action, PAIN, 158(6), pp. 1007–1011. https://tinyurl.com/3fprbe56

Health professionals can earn CPD points for this lecture.

TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575448344